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A HISTORY 



THE UNITED STATES 



AMERICA. 



INTENDED FOR STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES, COLLEGES, 

UNIVERSITIES AND AT HOME, AND FOR GENERAL 

READERS. 

ROBERT REID HOWISON, 

AUTHOR OF "a HISTORY OF VIRGINIA" AND OTHER WORKS, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF 
THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



RICHMOND, VA.: 
Everett Waddey Company, Publishers and Printers. 

1892. 



COPYRIGHT BY 

EVERETT WADDEY CO. 

I89I. 



v^'\i 



Electrotyped, Printed and Bound by 

Everett Wjddev Co., 

1112 Main Street, Bichmond, Va. 



PREFACE. 



T^HIS work ig intended not only for studious boys and girls in schools and 
academies and for young people in colleges and universities, but for gen- 
eral readers at home and for all who desire intelligently to study the history 
of the United States and to profit thereby. 

Its preparation has followed the careful reading and study of a large 
amount of historical material, printed and in manuscript, purporting to 
give United States history, or special parts thereof. This material em- 
braced the school histories of Goodrich, Scott, Stephens, Holmes, McGill, 
McCabe, Thalheimer, Quackenbos, Ridpath, Derry, Blackburn & Mc- 
Donald, Steele, Barnes & Co., Ellis, Anderson, Venable, Eggleston, Swin- 
ton, Scudder, John Pym Carter, and the ingenious " History of the United 
States in Words of One Syllable," by Mrs. Helen W. Pierson, and also the 
more elaborate works of Bancroft, Hildreth, Draper, A. H. Stephens, Alex- 
ander Johnston, Henry Adams, Edward D. Neill, Charles Deane, Thomas H. 
Benton, Jefferson Davis, Raphael Semmes, the "Household United States" 
of Edward Eggleston, the "Centennial" of C. B.Taylor, the two thoughtful 
works, entitled " The Lost Principle " and " The Republic as a Form of Gov- 
ernment," by John Scott, of Fauquier, Va. ; the compilation and sketches en- 
titled "The Genesis of the United States," by Alexander Brown ; the " Nar- 
rative and Critical History of America," by Justin Winsor ; the " Letters and 
Times of the Tylers," by Lyon G. Tyler, and many encyclopedic articles 
and other works furnishing material for American history. 

Numerous and varied as are the excellencies of these works, they all aided 
in producing a conviction that a space was left unfilled, and that another 
work was needed differing in some important respects from each and all of 
them; hence, came the preparation and offering to the public of this "Stu- 
dent's History of the United States." The elements in which it is believed 
to differ from one, or more, or all, of its predecessors in this field, may be 
briefly summed up as follows. The objects sought herein have been — 

(i) To embrace in one volume a minute and comprehensive statement 
and view of all the really important facts of our history. 

(2) To put into the text of the work whatever is important to the student 
or reader, and not to distract his attention by throwing into notes and 
appendices matter often the most interesting and impressive. 

[ 5 ] 



6 Preface. 

(3) To give full and accurate references to authorities, so as to enable the 
student to explore the sources of the evidence, and to expand his researches, 
if he be so inclined. 

(4) To trace carefully the origin and progress in the "Old World" of the 
principles, institutions, usages and errors which most deeply aiTected the 
colonists in North America. 

(5) To narrate colonial periods, not in those dry forms which ordinarily 
chronicle the coming of Spaniards, French, English, Dutch, and other 
Europeans, and which have been so heavy a tax on the patien'ce and powers 
of attention of young students, but in the forms of fresh reality, which finally 
crystallized into thirteen separate colonies, republics and sovereign States. 

(6) To give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as far 
as obtainable, on all the subjects which make up the soul and body of 
the history of the United States. Errors, omissions, and falsehoods in his- 
tory generally originate in prepossession or prejudice, rather than in igno- 
rance or want of evidence. Truth has always been a bitter and unwelcome 
medicine to people diseased with partisanship or sectionalism; but it is the 
only medicine that will cure. 

(7) To demonstrate that the civilization of the United States is based on 
the principles of democracy; not the democracy of party politics, but the 
elemental principle, existing in all ages and illumined by all experience, 
that monarchy and oligarchy are unsafe and oppressive modes of govern- 
ment ; and that, when properly controlled by morality, the people of any 
country can govern themselves by their chosen representatives. 

(8) To set forth clearly the causes which have led to the extermination 
of a large part of the Indian tribes of North America, and to indicate the 
only conditions which will preserve those remaining from a similar fate. 

(9) To discriminate definitely between the Revolution itself, which was 
effected in North America during the eighteenth century, and the events of 
the War of 1775-1783, which made the Revolution successful. 

(10) To prove, from established or universally admitted facts, that the 
doctrine of the separate sovereignty and rights of the States underlies the 
whole structure of the government of the United States, and that if this 
foundation be destroyed the structure will fall into hopeless ruin. 

(11) But to prove also that although the right of each State to secede, for 
sufficient cause, from the Union existed, yet a compact or treaty of union 
also existed, and all the States had sovereign right to judge concerning the 
sufficiency of the cause. 

(12) To recognize and give full place and power to the supernatural ele- 
ment in the history of the United States. 

Under these twelve heads will be found the elements in which this work 
differs from its predecessors in the same field. Some minor points also re- 
quire notice. 



Preface. 7 

Except in the case of the third day's battle of Gettysburg, all de- 
tailed narratives of the battles in the " War between the States " are studi- 
ously avoided. The reason for this will commend itself to any fair mind. 
The works and reports on the battles and movements of that war already 
amount to some hundreds of thousands of pages of printed matter ; and 
their conflicts of statement are hopelessly irreconcilable. Nevertheless, 
some facts are proved. The student will find in this work a record of 
every battle and every military movement of sufficient importance to aflfect 
the result. Enough is given to show that brilliant successes may do nothing 
more than prolong a war, and that the cause in which they are gained may 
be finally overthrown ; and that a series of defeats may be the agents which 
finally bring triumph to the cause of the belligerent sustaining them. Every 
war in this world has been a war of ideas, and a Divine Power has been 
"shaping their ends." 

This work has no maps nor parts of maps of any kind. It is a work on 
history and not on geography. Whenever relative localities become impor- 
tant in history it is best to describe them in words. Some general knowledge 
of geography, and of maps illustrating it, is a necessary preliminary to the 
intelligent study of any history, and especially of American history; but 
the maps ought not to be in the book of history. 

Very few pictorial illustrations will be found in this work. This has been 
a matter into which some thought and principle have entered. Our age is 
emphatically the age of object lessons and pictures. They swarm around 
us and crowd us everywhere — in works of fiction, science, philosophy, his- 
tory, geography, in magazines, periodicals, and in metropolitan and local 
newspapers; and probably no one source of influence has contributed more 
efficiently to lower the standard of thought and erudition than this. Object 
lessons are suited to children of infantile powers, and to the lower animals, 
because the ideas they convey are simple and uncombined. But lartguage 
has a higher mission. It is a Divine endowment given to man, because man 
is capable of abstract thought. He is capable of forming general ideas and 
of expressing them by a single word, which often holds in its embrace hun- 
dreds of separate elements. Language, therefore, and not "object lessons " 
and "pictorial illustrations" must be relied on as the instrument for educat- 
ing human beings when they pass out of childhood. 

Several lovers of history have aided this work by furnishing rare books 
and interesting manuscripts. To Hon. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of 
the last United States Census, special acknowledgments are due for promptly 
forwarding, for use in this work, the successive "Census Bulletins." 

With this presentation of its object and nature, this work is respectfully 
oflfered to all who desire to study or review the history of the United States, 

Braehead, 7iear Fredericksburg, !'«., 1892. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGES. 

CHAPTER I. 
Ajiekica before Colonization from Europe 11-16 

CHAPTER II. 
The Discovery of America 17-26 

CHAPTER III. 
Early Voyages and Discoveries.— How America Gained her Name ...... 27-31 

CHAPTER IV. 
Spain, Slavery and Gold 32-38 

CHAPTER V. 

English and French Voyages to America 3iM3 

CHAPTER VI. 
Old World Conditions as to Selk-Government, Religion and Slavery 44-50 

CHAPTER VII. 
Slavery, Ancient and Modern 51-59 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Colonization of Virginia 60-64 

CHAPTER IX. 
Captain John Smith 65-70 

CHAPTER X. 

The Virginia Colony Near to Death 71-78 

CHAPTER XI. 

Pocahontas and Rolfe.— Spain's Oppo.sition.— Indian M.vssacre.— The London 

Company Dissolved 79-91 

CHAPTER XII. 
Sir William Berkeley.— Charles 1 92-99 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Coming of the Puritans 100-107 

CHAPTER XIV. 

M.'UiSACHUSETl'S COLONY 108-114 

CHAPTER XV. 
Anne Hutchinson.— Roger Williams.— Quakers 115-122 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Connecticut.— Alleged Blue Laws.— New York 123-128 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Delaware.— New York.— Patroons 129-135 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
New York.— New Jersey 136-140 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Pennsylvania and her Friends 141-148 

CHAPTER XX. 
Kings and Sir Edmund Andros 149-155 

[ 8] 



Cotitents. 9 



CHAPTER XXI. 
Maryland 156-162 

CHAPTER XXII. 
The Carolinas and John Locke 163-178 

CHAPTER XXIII. . 
Georgia and General Oglethorpe 179-188 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Early Indla.n Wars 189-200 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Bigotry and Witchcraft 201-211 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The Germs of Revolution 212-219 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Nathaniel Bacon 220-233 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
New France in America 234-244 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
King William's War 245-254 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Queen Anne's War 255-264 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

George the Second's Wars 265-270 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
War of Anglo-A.merican Advance 271-279 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Washington, Braddock, Montcalm, Wolfe 280-310 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
The Causes of the War of Revolution 311-355 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Washington.— Bunker's Hill.— Canada 355-372 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
The War of Revolution Continued 373-391 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Princeton.— Bkandywine.—Germantown.— Valley Forge 392-408 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
General Burgoy'ne's Campaign 409-427 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
British Efforts at Conciliation.— A War of Maraud and Dev.vstation . . . 428-142 

CHAPTER XL. 
The War Transferred to the South 443-465 

CHAPTER XL I. 
The War in the. South ' 466-484 

CHAPTER XLII. 
The War Ended 485-502 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
The Revolution Itself 503-539 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
George Washington's Presidency ,.,,,., 510-566 



lo Contents. 

CHAPTER XLV. 
The Presidency or John Adams 567-581 

CHAPTEK XLVI. 

The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson 582-596 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

The Presidency of James Madison.— Second War with Great Britain .... 597-616 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

The War on Land 617-645 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

The Presidency of James Monroe 646-661 

CHAPTER L. 

The Presidency of John Quincy Adams 662-665 

CHAPTER LI. 

The Presidency of Andrew Jackson 666-677 

CHAPTER LII. 
The Presidency of Martin Van Buren 678-686 

CHAPTER LIIL 
The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.— Bank Ve- 
toes.— Texas 687-698 

CHAPTER LIV. 
The Presidency of James K. Polk.— War with Mexico 699-724 

CHAPTER LV. 
Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore 725-734 

CHAPTER LVI. 
The Presidency of Franklin Pierce 735-746 

CHAPTER LVII. 

The Presidency of James Buchanan 747-772 

CHAPTER LVIII. 
The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.— War 773-814 

CHAPTER LIX. 
The War, and Andrew Johnson's Presidency 815-854 

CHAPTER LX. 
The Presidency op Ulysses S. Grant 85&-871 

CHAPTER LXI. 
The Presidencies of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur •. . . 872-883 

CHAPTER LXIL 

The Presidencies of Cleveland and Harrison 884-903 

Concluding Summary 904-919 

Index 921-936 



A HISTORY 



The United States of America. 



CHAPTER I. 
America before Colonization from Europe. 

THE United States of North America embrace at this time 
forty-four states and seven territories, including Alaska and 
the District of Columbia. They cover an area of more than 
three million six hundred thousand square miles — larger than 
any single sovereignty in the world, except the empire of Russia 
and that of Great Britain. They held, on the first of June, 1890, 
a population of about sixty-three millions of souls.' They have 
more w^ealth in lands, houses, factories, ships, mines, stocks, mer- 
chandise and money than any other people. They have uni- 
versities and colleges numbering nearly four hundred, and 
academies and schools, public and private, suflicient to educate 
all the children of the land. They have a government based 
upon the principle that man, when properly controlled by 
morality and religion, is capable of governing himself. They 
have perfect freedom in religion. They have Christianity. They 
have all the elements of happiness and progress that can be 
possessed in this wozTd. 

This cannot be said of any of the nations of the Old World. 
Neither can it be truthfully said of any other people of the 
American continent. When we look at their condition, we soon 
discover the want of some element, without which they cannot 
have as full a measure of happiness, and as energetic a stimulant 
to progress, as a nation ought to have. 

This makes it very important that we should know the his- 
tory — the past life — of the people of the United States, so that 
we may see from what genesis they have come, what difficulties 

1 Compare census bulletin from United States Department of Interior, October 30, 1890. 
with Washington letter in Dispatch December 12, 1890, and statement of G. D. Tillman, M. C, 
Philadelphia, Penn., December 22, 1S90. 

[ II ] 



12 A History of the United States of America. 

they have surmounted, what obstacles to their happiness and 
progress they have swept away, what wrongs they have re- 
sisted, what rights they have asserted and maintained. To 
know all this we must inquire, ^ri'/, what was the condition of 
that part of North America now occupied by the United States 
when European settlements began? Second^ what were the 
conditions as to government, public law, usages and religion 
prevailing among the nations of the Old World and most 
strongly affecting the settlers who came to this country? 

We know that the American continent was not an unin- 
habited desert when it was discovered by Europeans. From the 
polar regions of the North to the rocky islands of Cape Horn, it 
was occupied by a population, not numerous indeed, yet varied 
and active in its modes of life. And all these people were 
human. They belonged to the great family of man, and gave 
strong evidences of a common descent. All the shades of color, 
form and habit found among them proved nothing to contradict 
the revealed truth of a primitive pair — a man and a w^oman, 
imited in marriage, and transmitting their blood and their traits 
of soul and body, original and acquired, to the millions coming 
from them.^ 

Therefore, these aborigines of America came, primarily, from 
the Old World. When and how they came are questions which 
history has not answered. Their own traditions and legends on 
the subject are vague and puerile.^ " One account brought their 
ancestors from the east, another from the west ; the majority, 
how^ever, concurred in asserting that the Indians were the abo- 
rigines, and sprang from the bowels of the earth." ^ 

There was no insurmountable physical obstacle to prevent 
their passage from the Old World to the New. A tradition yet 
existing in China says that in the year 217 B. C, a company of 
seamen, driven off" shore by heavy and persistent winds, sailed 
many weeks and came to a great continent where grew the aloe 
and other plants, strangers to them, but which we recognize as 
natives of Mexico.^ 

At Behring Strait the great continent of Asia approaches 
within sixty miles of America. This was a passage easily made 
in good weather and imder favoring conditions. 

But, in truth, neither the Atlantic nor the Pacific Ocean was 
impassable by the ships of ancient days. We read in Hebrew 
history of a land of Ophir, known even in the days of the 

1 Pritchard and Prof. Cabell. 2 Thalheimer's Eclec. U, S., 9. 

3 Blackburn & McDonald's New U. S., 2. 

< Thalheimer, 10. Times, Va., September 12, 1S90. 



America before Colonizatio7i from Etirope. 13 

patriarch Job, and where gold was so abundant that the two 
kings, Solomon, of Judah and Israel, and Hiram, of Tyre, sent 
ships with the roughly trained ship-men " who had knowledge 
of the sea," and they came to Ophir and brought thence a ti'eas- 
ure of gold amounting in value to more than eleven millions 
of dollars/ Gold, in that age, had a purchasing power prob- 
ably thirty times greater than it has now. We have no historic 
light as to any land in the Old World capable of yielding such 
a sum in gold within a reasonable time. Peru and Alexico 
might possibly have done it. Columbus believed that Hispan- 
iola was the ancient Ophir. The conjecture that Ophir was a 
region of Southern Africa is inconsistent with the scriptural 
statement that the voyage thither and back required three 
years. ^ Probably the ships of Solomon and Hiram visited both 
hemispheres in those long voyages. 

We know^, moreover, that within a century past, fifteen sailing 
vessels have been driven by storms, against the wishes of the 
navigators, across the whole expanse of the Pacific Ocean from 
Asia to America. How often such accidents may have occurred 
during the period of niore than three thousand years from the 
flood to the discovery of America, we have no means of know- 
ing. It is quite certain that a comparatively small number of 
men and women thus driven, or voluntarily coming, to this con- 
tinent in ancient times w^ould, under the ordinary laws of in- 
crease, have furnished all the population of America existing 
here at the end of the fifteenth century.'' 

Seventy-six Hebrews coming into Egypt about the year 
1700 B. C. had, in a period of two hundred and thirty years, 
increased to more than two millions of souls. 

And we know *as history that the earlier races inhabiting 
America were not savages. The crude theory that the people of 
the earth were all originally savages, and that they have devel- 
oped themselves into civilized beings by their own instincts 
and necessities, has been overthrown by experience and science. 
It was the theory of atheists and materialists in ancient times, 
and is held by few except their followers in our day.* The 
great German historian Niebuhr denies any such theory, and 
holds " that all savages are the degenerate remnants of more 
civilized races, which had been overpowered by enemies and 
driven to take refuge in the woods, there to wander, seeking a 
precarious existence till they had forgotten most of the arts of 

1 First Kings ix. 27, 28 ; Job xxii. 24. 2 Y\x&t Kings x. 22. 

^ Art. Cain: a speculation, So. Pres. Review, July, 1878, pp. 475-489. 

■• Lucretius, De Rer Natura. Dr. Edward B. Tyler's Prim. Culture. 



14 -A History of the United States of America. 

settled life and sunk into a wild state." ' In this view Arch- 
bishop Whately and the Duke of Argyll concur/ and all as- 
certained facts tend to prove its truth. 

Among these facts none are stronger than those known or in- 
ferred from the evidences as to the ancient races inhabiting 
Ainerica. Coming as they did, either of their own accord or by 
irresistible casualties, from the ancient civilized people of the 
Old World, they brought civilization with them. 

In Yucatan, within a radius of one hundred miles from the 
present town of Merida, are the ruins of more than sixty cities 
once magnificent, the grandest of which was Uxmal, which con- 
tained a lofty palace on a terrace five hundred and seventy-five 
feet long, and of which the stone remnants show high art and 
civilization.^ The Aztecs, whom Cortez, the Spanish conqueror, 
found in Mexico, and the Incas, who were overcome and almost 
annihilated by Pizarro and his successors in Peru, were populous 
nations, possessing splendid cities, great wealth, and a very high, 
though entirely unchristian, civilization. 

Cortez, writing to the Emperor Charles V., from Cholula, in 
Mexico, says : " The inhabitants are better clothed than any we 
have hitherto seen. People in easy circuinstances wear cloaks 
above their dresses. These cloaks differ from those of Africa, 
for they have pockets, though the cut, cloth and fringes are the 
same. The environs of the city are very fertile and well cul- 
tivated. Almost all the fields inay be watered, and the city is 
much more beautiful than all those in Spain, for it is well 
fortified and built on level ground. I can assure your Highness 
that, from the top of a mosque I reckoned more than four 
hundred towers, all of mosques. The number of inhabitants is so 
great that there is not an inch of ground uncultivated." * 

And the civilization of the Peruvians in South America was 
higher than that of the Aztecs. The people were milder and 
gentler in their manners, and their religion did not have the sav- 
age feature of offering human sacrifices to idols, as that of the 
Mexicans did. Yet the very gentleness of these civilized races, 
their wealth and ease and comfort, had gradually worked to 
soften and enervate them, and to unfit them to overcome the 
small bands of mounted and mail-clad Spanish warriors who 
conquered them. The inhuman and unchristian cruelties prac- 
ticed on them will forever cast a cloud over the fame of Spain. 

1 Niebuhr's Romische Gesch., Parti., p. 88. 

2 Whately's Grig, of Civil. Argyll's Prim. Man, 34-50. 

3 Narrative in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Dispatch, January 9, 1891. 
* From Prescott. A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 23. 



America before Colonizatioii from E7<rope. 15 

Prior to the savage races inhabiting North America there w^as' 
a civilized race known, in monumental history, as the " Mound 
Builders." The remains of their homes are found in Tennessee, 
Ohio, Mississippi and other parts of the West and South. They 
show distinct evidences of civilization, such as earthenware, pot- 
tery, uims, agricultural tools, knives, chisels, axes both of flint 
and copper, fortifications, wells and covered springs, \\^hich 
might avail for a besieged garrison. Some of these works are 
of great extent.' 

But in North America these civilized races faded away and 
disappeared, leaving only their few and scattered mounds and 
manufactures to speak for them. Evidently, war and the fierce 
passions which kindle war, and are kindled by war, were con- 
stantly at work. 

And so, when Europeans began to settle North America, they 
found no human inhabitants save tribes of savages. These were 
found in every part of the country, existing under various names, 
such as the Algonquins, the Iroquois or Five Nations (to whom 
the Tuscaroras afterwards joined themselves, making the Six 
Nations), the Hurons, the Lenni Lenape, or Delawares, of whom 
the Mohicans were a tribe, the Cherokees and Chickasaws, the 
Choctaws, the Yemassees, the Seminoles, the Natchez tribe, the 
Sioux, the Pawnees and others, all of whom we shall meet, from 
time to time, in the progress of this history. 

They differed in many traits from each other, and were en- 
gaged in almost constant war, tribe against tribe, and sometimes 
confederacy against confederacy. But they were all alike in 
some very important respects. They had no civilization worth 
the name. They cultivated, by the labor of their women, just so 
much open soil as would supply Indian corn and vegetables 
enough to supplement the fish, deer, bears and game-birds killed 
by the male hunters. The men despised honest labor, and con- 
sidered war and hunting as the only pursuits worthy of men. 
They had no domestic animals or fowls — no herds, flocks, milch 
cows, tamed horses or swine. 

It has been claimed by some historians that they had such vir- 
tues as hospitality and faithfulness to their promises, but these 
virtues were seldom exercised as facts. They were idle, re- 
vengeful, cruel, lying, treacherous and merciless. They de- 
lighted in torturing the weak and helpless. They were, with 
few exceptions, callous to the motives and appeals of the Chris- 
tian faith. 

1 Blackburn & McDonald, 5, 6. Prof. Steele, Barnes' Brief U. S., 9-12, 



l6 A History of the United States of Afnerica. 

There were not more than two hundred thousand of them in 
all the vast region bounded by the Atlantic, the Mississippi 
river, the Northern lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. That they 
had rights which the European settlers were bound to respect, 
cannot be denied. But, by the principles of international law 
and sound morality, they had no right to exclude agriculture 
and civilized settlement for the purpose of continuing the savage 
mode of living by hunting and war.^ If willing to adopt 
Christianity, even in her lower forms, as a civilizer, they 
would have been preserved. But, as a fact, with few excep- 
tions, they have resisted the claims of Christ and of humanity, 
and have thus, by inexorable law, brought extermination on them- 
selves. 

> Vattel's Law of Nations, ed. 1849, pp. 98-101 



CHAPTER II. 
The Discovery of America. 

IT cannot be now affirmed as history that Christopher Colum- 
bus, supposed to be a native of Genoa, in Italy, was the first 
European who discovered America. If Ophir was in Mexico or 
Peru, some knowledge of the great Western Continent was pos- 
sessed even by the sea-faring people of ancient Judea, Tyre and 
Sidon. About the year 300 B. C, Hanno, of Carthage, is said to 
have left the shores of Africa behind him, and sailed westward 
for thirty days. An undiscovered country, filled with mighty 
mountains and rivers, and peopled with a race of giants, was be- 
lieved in by some of the deep thinkers of antiquity.' 

There is a tradition that Madoc, son of Owen Guyneth, Prince 
of North Wales, quarreled with his brothers concerning the di- 
vision of their patrimony, and sailed west about the year A. D. 
1 1 70, " leaving the west of Ireland so far north that he came to a 
land unknown, where he saw many strange things." ^ And it 
has been asserted that a dialect of the Welsh language has been 
detected by skilled linguists among the Indians of North Caro- 
lina ; ^ and Robert Southey, the English poet, has wrought this 
tradition into a long poem. Yet it has in it more of poetry than 
of truth. 

But adequate historical evidence proves that Iceland, " the 
island of frost and flame," had been occupied for at least a hun- 
dred years by a hardy sea-race fi'om Norway, w^hen, in A. D. 
985, Eric the Red, an Icelandic chief, discovered Greenland, and 
planted a colony of his countrymen on its southwestern shore. 
One of Eric's comrades, driven by adverse winds, descried the 
main-land of North America stretching far away to the south- 
west. The weather-beaten settlers of Greenland opened a trade 
with the Esquimaux, who occupied the coast and islands of 
America north of Labrador. The tiade grew so prosperous that 
these Greenlanders paid a yearly tribute of two thousand six hun- 
dred pounds of v^^alrus teeth to the Pontiff' of Rome.* 

1 Blackburn & McDonald, 3. 

2Hakluyt's Vovages, edit. IGOO, III. 1. Belknap's Am. Biogr., 1. 129. 

3 Burk's Hist, of Va., III. <S4-87. 1 Thalheimer's Eelec. U. S., 10. 

2 [ 17 ] 



i8 A History of the United States of A?nerica. 

In I002 A. D., Lief, the son of Ei-ic the Red, fitted out a ship in 
Norway, manned her with a crew of thirty-five bold seamen, and, 
after visiting his father at the Greenland settlement, sailed away 
southward and westward, discovered a region which he called 
Helliiland (meaning Slateland), and which is now supposed to 
have been either Newfoundland or a part of Labrador, and ad- 
vanced farther southward until he discovered the coasts of a 
country into which entrance seemed invited by the waters of a 
wide bay.^ Here at the head of the bay his crew landed and 
built houses for shelter during the winter. But they landed in 
the autumn season, and such were the abundance and the rich- 
ness of the wild grapes that hung in clusters everywhere from 
the vines clambering among the trees of the forests, that Lief gave 
the name " Vinland the Good" to the country. It was probably 
Rhode Island, though a careful student of all the visible land and 
water marks given believes it to have been a part of Nova Scotia.^ 

And even prior to Lief, the bold Icelandic navigators had dis- 
covered and explored the coast of North America. The Norse- 
men, inhabiting the region now^ covered by Norway, Sweden, 
(including Lapland), Denmark and Iceland, with her depend- 
ency Greenland, and designated in modern times by the name of 
" Scandinavia," were a strong, earnest, courageous and free race 
of mankind. The best elements of freedom, civil and religious, 
now possessed in some parts of Europe, in England, and in the 
United States, came from them. Their minds were active and 
inquiring. During the times known as the " dark ages," when 
the literature of Southern Europe consisted of nothing higher 
than monkish legends and fabulous lives of the saints, these 
Norsemen had, in their historical sagas^ or written accounts of 
past events, a depository of truth, since collected and arranged, 
and entitled to as high credit as any of the earlier narratives of 
civilized nations.^ 

These Norsemen did not wait for ships to be furnished by their 
government. Between the years 981:5 and 1002 A. D., Bjarni Her- 
julf, in his own vessel and with his own brave crevs^, set out from 
Iceland, went first to Greenland, and thence entered the boister- 
ous seas west of that great island, and explored the coasts of New- 
foundland, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
cut, and Long Island, and probably coasted as far south as Florida.* 

1 Antiquitates Amer. A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 17, 18. 

- Prof. Gustav. Storm, Aarborger, 1887. The Nation, N. Y., January, 1891. ■ 

3 Prof. Ch. Christian Rafn's Antiquitates Amer., Copenhagen, 1837'. Humboldt's Cosmos. 
Malte Brun. Geog. 

* Codex Flatoiensis, Rafn's Antiquitates Amer. Icelandic Discoveries, Marie A. Brown, 
1888, pp. 9, 151, 153. 



The Discovery of America. 19 

After he returned to Iceland and told of his discoveries, Lief, 
the son of Eric the Red, went to him and bought his ship from 
him, and with thirty-five men set out on the voyage of 1003, which 
we have narrated first because it was follov^^ed by an actual build- 
ing of houses and wintering in America. 

Christopher Columbus is entitled to the credit of having deeply 
meditated on the question of the form of the earth, of having 
studied Plato and Aristotle, and all that was then known of the 
navigation of the seas and of the possibility of reaching land by 
sailing westward from Europe. But he is not entitled to the 
glory of being the discoverer of America in 1493, or at any other 
time. And from the false glory that has so long been ascribed to 
him, modern historical I'esearches have taken away nearly all the 
brightest beams. We are now compelled by discovered truth to 
look on him as one so influenced by inherited religious beliefs, and 
so dominated by personal ambition and avarice, that he w^as will- 
ing deliberately to claim as his own the discovery of America, 
which, he knew, had been made nearly five hundred years before 
he sailed from Palos. 

It is now known that the Norsemen had unwillingly accepted 
Christianity, in her perverted doctrines and forms, before Bjarni 
and Lief, son of Eric the Red, and a third navigator, Thorfinn 
Karlsefne, made their discoveries of the coast of North America 
and planted settlements there. These settlements had a life of at 
least three years. 

During this time some of the ruder forms of Christianity had 
been established among the settlers in " Vinland the Good." 
The Roman church had learned of this discovery and settlement, 
and had appointed a bishop for Greenland and also one for Vin- 
land. And Gudrid, the wife of Thorfinn Karlsefne, lived for three 
years in Vinland, and knew all about its discovery and settle- 
ment. She was a baptized Christian, and seems to have been a 
loving adherent of the Roman church. After her return from 
Vinland she visited Rome, and conversed with the Pontiff' John 
XVII. and the holy fathers of the church there resident. To sup- 
pose that she did not make adequate statements as to this new 
land and all she had learned of it, is preposterous. '^ 

Moreover, in 1076 A. D. lived Adam Von Bramen, who left a 
written statement as to these discoveries, published with other 
historical narratives in ie;79, in the city of Copenhagen, Den- 
mark.^ The policy of the church of Rome has ever been to pre- 

1 Historia Ecclesiastica, in Brown's Icelandic Discoveries, 69, 209. 

2 Ihld., 69, 209. 



20 yi History of the United States of America. 

serve in her archives all that could be used for the extension of 
her influence, both temporal and spiritual. 

We have definite evidence that Columbus visited Iceland in the 
early spring of 1477. He was a navigator and had no difticulty 
in finding a ship w^herein to make this voyage.^ We have facts 
enough to justify the belief that he learned of these voyages to 
Vinland. In truth, a full account of them had been condensed 
frcfm the historical sagas and committed to writing eighty years 
before his visit to Iceland.^ To examine these records was in all 
human probability the definite object of his visit to Iceland. He 
came back with knowledge of the existence of a land which had 
been reached by sailing westward from Europe. 

We have no certain information as to the time when Columbus 
returned from Iceland to his home, which was then in Portugal.^ 
But we know that it was not until after that momentous visit that 
he made his first serious application to any power for aid in ships 
and money to undertake his voyage of alleged discovery. No 
evidence has been discovered of his supposed propositions to his 
own native or adopted city of Genoa, or to Florence. His first 
application was to King John II. of Portugal, who, in his twenty- 
fifth year, ascended the throne in 148 1, and who had imbibed the 
passion for discovery of his grand-vmcle. Prince Henry, the navi- 
gator. 

But the writings of the Rabbi Benjamin ben Jonah, of Tudela, 
who had visited the Jews of the East about the close of the twelfth 
century, and the accounts of the travels of Sir John Mandeville in 
the years from 1332 to 1372, and of the Venetian Marco Polo, who 
died about the year 1417, were all known to Columbus, and had 
furnished abundant food for his longings for the jewels of Cathay, 
and the gold and silver of Cipango, by which name he always 
designated the Zipangu of Marco Polo, described by him as lying 
fifteen hundred miles from the shores of Mangi, or China, and 
now generally supposed to be the group of beautiful Pacific 
islands called Japan.* It is worthy of note that these works 
of Mandeville and Polo, though at one time thought by man}' 
to be mere tissues of fable and falsehood, have given an account 
of the regions they visited which was in substance accurate and 
true. 

But the student of history will observe that, though Columbus, 
in his applications for ships and money, gave speculative and 
partly scientific reasons for his belief that these rich regions could 

ilrving's Life of Columbus, narrative of his son, I. 59, III. 356. 
2 Icelandic Discoveries, 67-69. ^ Irving's Columbus, I. 41-48. 

■> Irving's Columbus, I. 57-61. Appendix, III. 384-399. 



The Discovery of America. 21 

be reached by a voyage westwardly from Europe, and exhibited 
a map drawn by the skillful geographer Paulo Toscanelli, of 
Florence, projected chiefly from the writings of Ptolemy and 
jMarco Polo, yet he never at that time made mention of his voyage 
to Iceland in 1477, and of w^hat he had learned there concerning 
the voyages of the Norsemen to Vinland and the coast of North 
America. He always claimed as his own the discovery of the 
New World.' 

We are thus compelled to review the past estimates of his 
character, and to ascertain whether proved facts exhibit him as a 
man too high in nature and honor to yield to the temptations to 
such concealment. 

In our own times he has been lauded as " the immortal discov- 
erer of America," and as one destined in the near future to be 
" solemnly enrolled on the glorious catalogue of the canonized 
saints." ^ But calm observers have discovered evidences of traits 
of character in Columbus not such as Holy Scripture requires in 
the saint. 

It is certain that he was " a practiced slave-dealer," and that he 
made to the sovereigns of Spain the follow^ing business sugges- 
tion : " Considering what great need we have of cattle and of 
beasts of burthen, both for food and to assist the settlers on this 
and all these islands, both for peopling the land and for culti- 
vating the soil, their Highnesses might authorize a suitable num- 
ber of caravels to come here every year to bring over the said cat- 
tle and provisions and other articles ; these cattle might be sold 
at moderate prices for account of the bearers, and the latter might 
be paid ivith slaves taken from among the Caribbees, who are a 
wild people, fit for any vs^ork, well proportioned and very intel- 
ligent, and who, when they have got rid of the evil habits to 
which they have become accustomed, will be better than any 
other kind of slaves." ^ 

And it is certain that, in Hispaniola, Columbus sought to reduce 
the natives to a condition of serfdom worse than any feudal 
slavery,* In 1494 he sent from Hispaniola to Spain five hundred 
unhappy Indians whom he had taken as captives, and he accom- 
panied the shipment with the suggestion that they should be sold 
as slaves at Seville.'' 

He was so avaricious and money-loving that his demands as to 
the country he proposed to " discover " operated strongly to dis- 

1 Prescott and Irving both so testify. 

2 J. J. Barry, Life of Columbus. Brown's Icelandic Discoveries, 5. 

3 Letter of Columbus, in Arthur Help^' Life of Columbus. Icelandic Discoveries, 4. 
*Irving's Columbus, II. 214. ^ ma., II. 40-42. 



22 A History of the United States of America. 

courage the King of Portugal from efforts to fit out the ships he 
asked for, and, with other causes, led to the discreditable attempt 
of the Portuguese authorities presently to be mentioned. 

Fernando was the son of Columbus, born in Cordova about 
1487, but not born in wedlock. His mother (Beatrice Enriquez) 
was never married to the great navigator, and her relations with 
him do not strengthen the claim of his saintship.' But Fernando 
admired his father, and has written a life of him which honestly 
discloses many of his governing traits. 

It was written years after the death of the father, and is, for 
reasons not difficult to discover, almost entirely silent as to the 
long period of fifty-six years of the life of Columbus which passed 
before his voyage from Palos. It is in Fernando's narrative that 
we first hear of the visit of Columbus to Iceland. And that same 
narrative tells us that John II. of Portugal was so discouraged by 
the cost and trouble of attempts to explore the route by the Afri- 
can coast, and by the very high honors and money rewards -which 
Columbus demanded, that he did not employ him. " Columbus, 
being a man of lofty and noble sentiments, demanded high and 
honorable titles and rewards, to the end," says Fernando, " that he 
might leave behind him a name and family w^orthy of his deeds 
and merits." '^ 

When he applied to the sovereigns of Castile and Arragon, in 
Spain, the same difficulty long delayed his negotiation. No sat- 
isfactory explanation of these high money claims of Columbus 
can be given, except his own personal cupidity and his knowledge 
of the voyages of Eric, Bjarni and Karlsefne to the coast of the 
New World which he proposed to "discover." And we know 
from authentic history that finally his exorbitant claims were 
granted. They were, in substance, that he should be admiral of 
all the seas and countries to which he went ; that he should be 
viceroy of all the continents and islands of those seas ; that he 
should have a tenth part of the profits of all merchandise, be it 
pearls, jewels, or any other things that should be found, gained, 
bought, or exported from the countries he should discover ; that 
he should be sole judge in all mercantile matters ; and that he 
should have the right, on contributing an eighth of the expense 
of all ships and traffic, to receive an eighth of all their profits.^ 

All these facts exhibit Columbus in his true character. He was 
devoutly subject to the creed and influence of the Roman church. 
But he was cautious, secretive and money-loving. He did not 

1 Irving's Columbus, III. 310. Appendix III. 

2 Fernando Columbus, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 10. Irving, I. 64. 

3 Summing up in Arthur Helps' Life of Columbus. Icelandic Discoyeries, 110 



The Discovery of America. 33 

shrink from claiming as his own a discovery made by others some 
centuries before he was born. 

But Cokunbus deserves the credit of a courage and zeal far be- 
yond the standard of his age. In the times just before he sailed 
in 1493, people generally believed that the undiscovered region 
in the Atlantic beyond the Canaries and the Azores was a dis- 
couraging waste of stormy waters, clouds and vapors, where 
gorgons, hydras, and frightful monsters would be encountered, 
and from v\^hich no navigator who entered among them could 
expect to return alive. The very maps drawn at that time re- 
peated the ancient figures of demons and terrific animals guard- 
ing the undiscovered wastes, and threatening with death all who 
approached them.^ 

Columbus did not expect to find a separate western continent, 
nor did he, to the day of his death, believe he had discovered such 
a continent. His visions were all of the East Indies, Cathay, 
Tartary and Cipango, to which Marco Polo and Mandeville had 
invited his thoughts. His repeated voyages on the high seae, 
and especially on those surrounding Iceland, had dissipated all 
fears of griffins and hydra-headed monsters. He was full of his 
plan and certain of a western land, and he needed only the means 
to carry out his voyage and to insure its results, by the protection 
of some powerful European sovereign. 

King John II. of Portugal suffered himself to be seduced into 
an enterprise of dishonesty and bad faith to Columbus, which 
speedily recoiled on the heads of the inventors. Having heard 
all his statements and received a sketch of the map copied from 
the drawing of Toscanelli, of Florence, the court of Portugal se- 
cretly equipped and sent out a ship to sail westward from the 
Cape Verde Islands. This caravel stood westward from those 
islands many days, but the weather became stormy, and the 
pilots saw nothing before them but a tumbling waste of waters. 
They lost courage and were glad to make their way back to Por- 
tugal, where they sought to cover the shame of their failure by 
ridiculing the ideas of the thoughtful and patient Genoese navi- 
gator.^ 

Columbus next applied to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. 
His devout zeal and enthusiasm moved the queen deeply from the 
beginning ; but the king was colder, and referred the matter to 
his advisers, most of whom w^ere learned inen and dignitaries of 
the church. They speedily reported that the plan was heretical, 

1 Swinton's Condensed School U. S., map, p. 23. 

2 Hist, del Almirante, cap. 8. Herrera, dccad. I., lib. I., cap. 7. Irving, I. 68. Prof. Steele, 
Barnes' U. S., 21. 



24 ^ History of the Utiited States of America. 

visionary, and physically impracticable. They thought that the 
theory that the earth was globular in form was contrary to Holy 
Scripture, which frequently spake of the four corners of the. 
earth.' They urged, also, that it was absurd to believe that there 
"were people on the other side of the earth w^alking w^ith their 
heels upward and their heads hanging downv^rard ; and that the 
torrid zone through which the navigator must pass was a region 
of fire, where the very waves boiled. They niet the theories of Co- 
lumbus by opposing to them the words of Lactantius;^ and 
they ended the argument by insisting that, even if the earth was 
round, yet if a ship sailed down the globular incline she never 
could sail back.^ Thus by unsound interpretation and false sci- 
ence the settlement of America was threatened with indefinite 
postponement. 

But the intuitions of woman triumphed when the reason, reli- 
gious doubts, and science of man all failed. Qiieen Isabella 
promised to pledge and sell her jewels, if needed, for the outfit 
and expenses of the ships of discovery. The result has been told 
in history in many glowing forms. 

Columbus sailed from Palos, in Spain, August 3d, 1493, with 
three ships — the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the JVi7za — all very 
small, and none full-decked except the first named. He tri- 
umphed over all the superstitions and mutinies of his crews. 
Signs of land began to encourage him. A staff, evidently carved 
by the hand of man, and a branch of thorn with fresh, bright 
berries floated near him. On the night of the nth of October, 
Columbus himself, from the deck of his ship, saw a light at a dis- 
tance rising and falling as if borne by some one walking ; and 
before morning the glad cry, " Land ! Land ! " was heard froin the 
look-out of the Pinta. The dawn disclosed the fair island of San 
Salvador spread out in green loveliness and tranquillity before 
their eyes. They had discovered one of the Bahama group — the 
outposts of the American continent. 

They soon found it was inhabited, but the gentle islanders 
made no sign of hostility. On the I3th day of October, 1492, 
Columbus, arrayed in a splendid robe of scarlet, ^^ath sword in 
-hand, and surrounded by the higher officers of his command, 
landed from his boats. He immediately prostrated himself on 
the beach and kissed the ground, with tears which he coul^ not 
suppress, and Avith thanksgivings which rose from the bottom of 
his heart. Then, directing the royal ensign to be unfolded, he 

1 Revelation vii. 1 ; Jeremiah ix. 25, 26 ; xxv. 23 ; xlix. 32. 

2Laetant. Div. Instit., lib. III., cap. 24. 

3 Hist, del Almirante. cap. 11. Irving, I. 88, 89. Prof. Steele, Barnes' U. S., 21, 22. 



The Discovery of America. 25 

took possession of the land in the name of the King and Queen 
of Spain. His crew, who had been plotting a few days before to 
cast him into the sea, now bowed to him as viceroy, and almost 
worshiped him as more than human.' 

Columbus believed that he had come to the Indies by a western 
route. He called the people Indians, and by this name the abo- 
rigines of America have been known ever since. He and his 
crews soon began to inquire for gold. This was their objective 
point : discovery first — gold next — the welfare of the Indians last 
of all ; in truth, an entirely remote and insignificant thought, 
hardly held before the mind's eye at all amid the intoxicating 
visions of the new discovery. 

The Indians were already beginning to know and dread them. 
They told the Spaniards, by words and signs, that gold "was to 
be found in islands and regions to the south and west. 

And so Columbus sailed on and discovered Cuba and Hayti, 
to the last named of which he gave the name Hispaniola — " the 
little Spain." Leaving on this large and fertile island four officers 
and thirty-five men to colonize and to look for gold, he sailed for 
Spain on the 14th day of January, 1493. He encountered a ter- 
rible storm, during which he sealed up in wax, secured in a water- 
proof cask, a brief account of his voyage and discovery, and threv\^ 
it overboard. But his ships survived the storm, and when his 
return w^as known the nation took holiday ; the bells were rung 
and cannon were fired. The king and queen were full of amaze- 
ment and triumph, and when Columbus gave his narrative, and 
exhibited the natives and the products of the New^ World, the 
monarchs bowed their heads in adoration and thanksgiving. 
They looked on all these fair regions as part of their royal do- 
main. 

Columbus sailed from Cadiz on his second voyage with a 
formidable fleet of seventeen vessels and fifteen hundred men. 
On reaching Hayti, he found that the natives, provoked beyond 
endurance by the insolence, licentiousness and cruelty of his 
thirty-nine Spaniards, had put some of them to death, and the 
others had perished by disease or conflicts with each other.^ 
Columbus erected a fort and tried to establish a new colony. He 
then sailed again, discovering Jamaica and the surrounding 
islands. But his sailors began to tire of a life of restraint. They 
had come, expecting to find gold mines and valleys of diamonds. 
Complaints were made to Spain, and an unfriendly emissary was 

1 Irving, I. 155, 156. Goodrich Pict. U. S., 24-25. Blackburn & McDonald's U. S., 21. 
^Ijving's Columbus, I. 326-329. 



26 A History of the United States of Ai7ierica. 

sent to investigate the management of Columbus ; but Columbus 
returned to Spain, and pleaded his own cause so well that he 
was fully restored to royal favor. 

He made his third voyage in 14^8. In this he discovered the 
coast of South America. Touching at Trinidad, he returned to 
Hispaniola. Here he applied his best powers to regulating the 
colony. And here he experienced the heart-breaking trial of his 
life. One Bovadilla came from Spain with authority to super- 
sede Columbus, and investigate his administration. The result 
is known. History shrinks from recording it, but must tell the 
troth. Columbus was sent in chains back to Spain. He refused 
to have them removed, and wore them into the presence of the 
court. He was acquitted, and the king sought to relieve his 
sense of injury by new honors, although he was not again in- 
trusted with the authority of viceroy in the New World. 

Columbus made his fourth voyage to America, and was ship- 
wrecked in June 1503 on the coast of the island of Jamaica. His 
ships, being worm-eaten and unable to keep the seas, after a long- 
continued storm, were run ashore to save them from sinking.^ 
He returned to Spain and to a series of soul-wearing disappoint- 
ments. 

He died at Valladolid on the 20th May, 1506, in his seventy- 
first year. His chains were buried with him. His remains are 
said to have been removed first to the Carthusian monastery of 
Seville, where King Ferdinand erected a monument bearing the 
gracious inscription, " To Castile and Leon, Colon gave a New 
World." It is believed that his body was afterwards removed 
to the Cathedral of Havana, in Cuba, and i-ests there still. But 
a singular historic doubt exists whether the body removed and i^e- 
interred was really his.^ The life and death and final resting- 
place of the reputed discoverer of the New World are all shrouded 
in gloom. 

1 Fern. Columbus. Hist, del Almininte, cap. 100. Irving, II. 373-375. 
sQuackcnbos' School U. S., 50. Prof. Steele, Earncs' U. S., note 24. 



CHAPTER III. 

Early Voyages and Discoveries — How America Gained 

HER Name. 

ALONG period — not less than seventy- three years — passed be- 
tween the discovery of San Salvador by Columbus and the 
first permanent settlement made by the Spaniards on the main- 
land of North America. This was on a river in Florida, by Pedro 
Melendez, and was called Saint Augustine, in honor of the day 
of his landing in 1565. This is the oldest town in the United 
States, although Santa Fe, in New Mexico, is supposed by some to 
have been settled about the same time.^ The best established 
date for the settlement of Santa Fe is 1582. A very old gate- 
way and many other venerable relics of Spanish times are viewed 
with interest by visitors to Saint Augustine. 

It was by a happy and providential disposition of causes and 
effects that Spain did not colonize North America. The condi- 
tion of Mexico, Peru and other American States, when compared 
with the North American Republic, will indicate the ever-widen- 
ing difference which would have resulted from Spanish occupa- 
tion. We must look to the facts which led to this result. 

When the discoveries of Columbus became known, all the 
maritime powers of Europe v\^ere moved, and the first and great- 
est hope of all was gold. Gold and silver had long been the es- 
tablished basis of money. Diainonds, pearls, jewels of all kinds, 
were chiefly valued because they could be readily converted, by 
sale, into gold and silver coin. Money was the universal solvent, 
as it has been ever since, and is now. 

Spain led the way in her greed for gold. The planting of 
colonies was only a means to an end, and a means entirely sec- 
ondary and subordinate. Hence, all her efforts were directed to 
obtaining and sending home gold and silver to the mother coun- 
try ; and she was, to a vast extent, successful. But her success 
resulted in her ruin. 

All the colonies planted in Hispaniola and the other West 
India islands by Columbus, his comrades and successors, were 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., note 13, p. 34. 
[ 27 ] 



sS A History of the United States of America. 

planted for the purpose of seeking and working gold and silver 
mines, and sustaining with food the workers of those mines until 
the full results of their labor could be realized. Columbus en- 
tered into this plan with as much zeal and spirit as the native 
Spaniards, from the king and queen down to soldiers, sailors, 
merchants, agriculturists and laborers. The first result of this 
gold-worship by Spain and her great adopted discoverer was that 
he lost the honor of giving his name to the Western Continent. 

Amerigo Vespucci was a native of Florence, born March 9th, 
141^1, of a noble, though not a wealthy family.^ Whatever other 
foibles he may have had, an absorbing desire for wealth does not 
seem to have been one of them. He never imitated Columbus in 
seeking the highest command in order that " he should be entitled 
to reserve for himself one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, 
silver, spices, and all other articles and merchandises, iii ivhatever 
manner found, bought, bartered or gained within his admiralty, 
the cost being first deducted." '^ 

Amerigo was a thoughtful, learned and scientific man. He was 
an accomplished navigator and explorer. He considered more the 
soil, fertility and adaptation for the colonizing of a new country, 
than the question what gold and silver mines it had, and by w^hat 
cruel means its natives could be forced to w^ork these mines for 
the joint emolument of king and admiral. 

He v^^as acquainted with Columbus and enjoyed his confidence.'^ 
He never sought nor obtained the highest command in his voy- 
ages of discovery. If his own express affirmation can be trusted, 
he discovered and visited the South American continent before 
Columbus ever saw it. In his letter to Rene, Duke of Lorraine, 
who also claimed to be King of Sicily and Jerusalem, Vespucci 
says : " We departed from the port of Cadiz, May 3oth, 1497, 
taking our course on the great Gulf of Ocean ; in which voyage 
we employed eighteen months, discovering many lands and innu- 
merable islands, chiefly inhabited, of which our ancestors make 
no mention." * 

A duplicate of this letter was sent also by Vespucci to Picre 
Soderini, afterwards Gonfalonier of Florence. He had been tutor 
both to Duke Rene and to Soderini, and it was a natural impulse 
to give to each of his loved pupils his own interesting account of 
this voyage and of the country he alluded to, which was un- 
doubtedly the continent of South America. Neither could he 

1 Irving's Columbus, III. 330. Appendix X. 

-Articles between Columbus and the Spanish sovereigns, Irving, I. 115. 
■■sLe'tcr cf Columbus to Diego, his son, Irving, Appendix III., 335. 
* Irving, III. 337. Appendix. 



Early Voyages and Discoveries. ' 29 

have had any motive for an attempt to wrest from Columbus the 
fame of discovery ; for, in his first voyage, in 1492, Columbus 
had discovered Cuba, but had not discovered that it was only an 
island ; and he believed, and Vespucci and all the attentive world 
then believed, that Cuba was the eastern part of a continent. 
Cuba was not circumnavigated until A. D. 1508, two years after 
the death of Columbus. 

But even if history should establish the contention which has 
been already made, that this alleged voyage of Vespucci in 1497 
never took place,^ yet it is certain that he accompanied the great 
Spanish navigator Alonzo de Ojeda in his voyage in 1499 to the 
coast of South America. They visited Paria, which was the part 
of the American coast seen by Columbus in 1498. They then 
sailed along and carefully surveyed several hundred miles of the 
coast, and ascertained beyond question that the land w^as terra 
firnia and .part of a great continent distinct from the continents 
of the Eastern Hemisphere. On these points, Columbus never 
ascertained the truth. 

Returning in June, 1500, Amerigo Vespucci wrote a narrative 
of the voyage and of the countries discovered, their climate, soil, 
productions, fertility, rivers and mountains, their advantages for 
colonizing, their inhabitants, and the scientific reasons for his be- 
lief that it was a new world. He afterwards wrote to Lorenzo 
de Medici other narratives of his voyages and discoveries ; and 
when these were successively published — some in Germany, some 
in Italy — they produced such an impression on the people able to 
read them, and on all who heard of their contents, that, with re- 
markable accord, the name of "America " was given to the New 
World. 

It has ever since retained it, nor is there any reason to believe 
that it will be changed. The suggestions of another origin for 
the name have no historic basis. ^ The feeling in favor of nam- 
ing the land from Columbus has been poetic and fanciful rather 
than rational. Nevertheless, his name has been perpetuated in a 
large region of South America and in the District holding the 
capital city of the North American Republic. 

But neither Columbus nor Amerigo Vespucci was the discov- 
erer, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, of the continent 
of America. While the patient Genoese was seeking to obtain 
aid from the sovereigns of Portugal and Spain, he sent his brother 
Bartholomew to lay his ideas and plans before Henry VII. of 

1 Irving, III. 338-345. 

2 By Geographical Society of Berlin, May, 1S91, in Phila. Pres., June 3d, 1891. 



30 A Histoi'y of the United States of America. 

England. Bartholomew was captured by pirates and long de- 
tained. Had he reached the English court in time, the fleet of 
discovery under Columbus might have sailed from England in- 
stead of Spain. The English people w^ei'e deeply moved by the 
news of the discovery, and their sovereign looked with favor on 
efforts to open and explore the New World. 

John Cabot was a native of Venice, and was there known as 
Giovanni Gaboto. He came to England, and was for some time 
a merchant of Bristol. In union with others, he fitted out four 
small barks, and these, with one ship furnished by the king, " com- 
posed the frail fleet that prepared to buftet the waves of the north- 
ern Atlantic." On the 5th of March, 1496, Henry granted to 
John Cabot and his sons, Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctius, a patent, 
which is "the most ancient American state paper of England." ^ 
It grants to the Cabot family power " to sail in all parts of 
east, west and north, under the royal banners and ensigns ; to dis- 
cover countries of the heathen unknown to Christians ; to set up 
the king's banners ; to occupy and possess, as his subjects, such 
places as they could subdue, giving them the rule and jurisdiction 
of the same, to be holden on condition of paying to the king, as 
often as they should arrive at Bristol (at which place only they 
were permitted to arrive), in wares and meixhandise, one-fifth 
part of all their gains, with exemption from all customs and du- 
ties on such merchandise as should be brought from their discov- 
eries." 

The reason why the " south " was omitted in the designation of 
parts " east, west and north," was that John Cabot knew so much 
of true geography as enabled him to urge that, as the meridian 
lines neared each other at the poles, the shortest track from Eng- 
land to the Indies must be by the north polar seas." ^ 

In May, 1497, John Cabot and his heroic son Sebastian sailed 
on their voyage of discovery. Visions of gold and gems on the 
soil of Cathay were floating in their brains, and they steered a 
northwest course. On the 34th of June they saw Newfound- 
land. Within a few days thereafter, steering northward, they 
made the American coast in the latitude of fifty-six degrees. The 
cliff's of Labrador were cold and forbidding. They soon resumed 
their voyage, coasting along America, probably to the latitude of 
Virginia, and possibly even to that of Florida, and returned to 
England, bringing back to King Henry three savages and two 
vs^ild turkeys. ' 

1 Hazard's State Papers, I. 9. - Professor Steele, Barnes' U. S., 25. 

3 Quackenbos, p. 52. 



Early Voyag-es and Discoveries. 31 

When he had reached the coast of Labrador, John Cabot 
thought he had come to the dominions of the " Great Cham," 
King of Tartary. Therefore, as this was " a heathen land," he 
set up the banner of England and took solemn possession in the 
name of the king.^ 

In 1498 his son, Sebastian Cabot, a native of Bristol, under a 
patent from the king, made another voyage full of dangers, pen- 
etrated as far north as sixty-seven and a half degrees on the coast 
of America, sailed thence down the coast as far as Chesapeake 
Bay, which he entered and partly explored, sailed thence south- 
wardly, certainly as far as Cape Hatteras, and probably four de- 
grees farther south, took possession of all the country in the name 
of England, and then returned to Bristol.^ 

As far, therefore, as the mere fact of discovery availed, by the 
laws of nations, to give title to North America, England had that 
title, and she claimed it. The remark of an eminent historian, 
who, after recounting the voyages of the Cabots, especially of 
Sebastian, says : " In 1497 he coasted its shores from Labrador to 
Florida ; yet the English have never set up any pretensions on 
his account," is a strange mistake, probably suggested by his great 
admiration for Columbus.^ 

The right given by discovery is, and always has been, a very im- 
perfect right, limited by the ability of the country claiming it to 
colonize and settle the country, and to maintain the settlement by 
force of arms. Spain, however, attempted to fortify her title by 
the decree of a religious power. By successive bulls the Roman 
Pontiffs Nicholas V. and Alexander VI. divided all the heathen 
world, discovered or discoverable, between Portugal and Spain. 
The bull of Alexander VI. (who was one of the Borgia family, 
and natural father, though only reputed uncle, of Ctesar and Lu- 
cretia Borgia) is dated May 4th, 1493. It gives to Ferdinand and 
Isabella, King and Qiieen of Castile and Arragon, " all islands and 
continents {^terras Jirmas) found or to be found west of a line from 
pole to pole at a himdred leagues to the west of the Azores, ex- 
cepting only what might be in possession of some other Chris- 
tian prince before the year 1493." * 

Had this arrogant grant been recognized as valid by the other 

Christian states of the earth, the future of America would have 

been dark with ignorance, oppressed by superstition and religious 

tyranny, and permanently enfeebled by the worst forms of the 

old civilization. It was not to be so. 

1 Prof. Steele, Barnes' U. S., 25. 

= Quackenbos, 52. Irving's Columbus, III. 345. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 27. B. &M., 24. 

^Irving, III. 345. Appendix X. ^Vattel's Law of Nations, 99, 100. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Spain, Slavery and Gold. 

ALTHOUGH Spain was slow in colonizing the American con- 
tinent, she was keen and eager in enterprises and expeditions 
to seek gold and silver. 

She established temporary colonies in Hispaniola, Cuba, and 
all the other islands discovered, which had gold either in the 
washings of the streams or in mines ; and with persistent and 
unchristian cruelty she compelled the natives to work the mines 
and bring out the gold. Her officers, soldiers and colonists used 
whips, chains, knives and fire-arms to compel this labor. The 
unhappy Indians found no relief except in death. They sank 
down and died in hundreds before the eyes of their oppressors.' 
One million two hundred thousand natives are said to have been 
destroyed in a few years in Hispaniola alone. ^ 

To supply their places and continue the labors of the mines 
and the needed agriculture, the Spaniards introduced^ negroes 
from Africa into the islands of the West Indies. Under what 
motives and influences they were brought in will be a subject 
for further inquiry. They soon proved themselves to be adapted 
to labor in the sun and in the hot, though often moist, climates 
of those islands. Instead of sinking down and dying under slav- 
ery as the Indians did, these negroes constantly increased, partly 
by other cargoes brought in by slave-traders from Africa, but 
chiefly by natural propagation. Work did not check this, and 
having little or no sense of humiliation, no cares for the future, 
and generally abundant supplies of food from the tamed swine, 
beef, fish, Indian corn and vegetables of those genial regions, 
they grew fast in numbers and became a permanent part of pop- 
ulations and regions in which none of them had existed prior to 
1493. ^ • _ 

Columbus actively urged on this work. He had received from 
the hospitality of the Chief Guacanagari and five tributary 
caciques a solid coronet of gold and enormous quantities of this 
precious metal.* This only increased his avarice. He con- 

1 Robertson, Irving, Las Casas, passim. 

2 David B. Scott's United States, Harper's edit., 29. s irving's Columbus, I. 221. 

[ 32 ] 



Spain^ Slavery and Gold. 33 

sidered Hispaniola as in the status of a conquered province, 
reduced the Indians to the condition of villeins, serfs and slaves, 
and exacted cruel labors from them.' And in 1494, w^hen he 
dispatched four ships back to Spain under the command of 
Antonio De Torres, he sent more than tive hundred Indian pris- 
oners, all seized without crime or provocation on their part, and 
wrote a letter advising that they should all be sold as slaves at 
Seville.^ 

Within a century after the discovery of San Salvador ("the 
Holy Saviour''), the vSpaniards had pushed their enterprises for 
obtaining gold into many parts of the American world ; and 
everywhere they were attended by the same conditions of un- 
provoked, relentless, merciless inhumanity to the native Indians 
and to all others whom they encountered and who had not 
strength enough to resist them. The period which saw Spain 
most powerful in arms, widest in influence, and richest in gold 
and silver and all other possessions which constitute wealth, was 
the period from the success of Columbus to the year 1=598 -A.. D., 
when the imbecile and fanatical Philip III. (born from the fourth 
marriage of his father, Philip II.) commenced his reign of 
twenty-three years, at the end of which he died and left Spain 
already weak and decaying. 

That highest period was covered by the closing of the reigns 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, the reign of the Emperor Charles V., 
and part of that of his son, ^Philip II. It was the period in 
which was best illustrated in all the history of the world the 
combined result of bigotry in religion, unchecked power in the 
sovereign, slaveiy in the people, cruelty and torture in the name 
of the merciful Son of God, and a love of gold and the pomp 
and power which gold can obtain, that stopped at no measures 
for the accomplishment of its purposes. 

The Roman church cannot jje held responsible for the sins of 
Spain. On the contrary, she often denounced them and forbade 
them by all her spiritual authority. And the most expensive 
and ruinous wars which Charles V. carried on wei^e either against 
the temporal power of the Roman church herself, or against 
those whom she was able to enlist as her allies.'' 

But the sovereigns of Spain and her people were alike excited 
by the discoveries of Columbus. The}^ began to prepare ships 
and send out expeditions, though seldom with any higher motive 
than gold. 

1 Art. Slavery, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 707. Irving, II. 21^,. 

- living's Life of Columbus, II. 40, 41. Chap. II. herein. 

3 Art. Spain, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 812. Robertson's Charles V. 



34 -^ History of the United States of America. 

One exception to this motive was found in the case of Ponce 
de Leon. He was a Spanish cavalier of rank and courage. Dis- 
appointed in some of his plans and growing old, he began to 
dream over a fabled " fountain of youth " of which he had heard 
as really existing on the American continent. He sailed from 
Porto Rico in 15 13, and on Easter Day, which the Spaniards 
called Pascua Florida^ " the feast of flowers," he came in sight 
of the land which he called Florida.' But he found no youth- 
restoring fountain — only warlike Indians, who fought him and 
his crew with persistence. In a few years afterwards he re- 
newed his attempt, and in battle with the natives he received 
a mortal wound. He was carried back to Cuba, where he 
died.^' 

Vasco Nunez de Balboa was a descendant from a noble, 
though impoverished, Spanish family, but had become an insol- 
vent outlaw in Hispaniola, who, to escape his creditors and the 
law, concealed himself in a cask, which he caused to be put 
aboard a vessel bound for the coast of Darien. When at sea he 
knocked out the head of the cask and appeared before the cap- 
tain and crew.^ He was a bold and powerful man, and they 
readily received him as a comrade. 

The vessel was wrecked on the coast of Darien. Balboa and 
most of the crew escaped. He put himself at their head, and 
soon gained commanding influence over the Indians, v\^ho sup- 
plied his wants and brought hiip gold. They told him of a 
great ocean on the other side of the isthmus. He followed their 
guidance, and, coming to a lofty mountain ridge, he saw, for the 
first time, the vast ocean of the West, since known as the 
Pacific. He and his followers were thrilled with joy and admi- 
ration. This was in September, 11^13. 

Hastening down to the beach, he drew his sword, and holding 
in his left hand the flag of his country and in his right the bran- 
dished sword, and wading up to his knees in the svu'f, he sol- 
emnly claimed all this great ocean, with its islands and all conti- 
nents adjoining it, in the name of his master, the King of Spain, 
and swore to defend them.* History presents no better com- 
mentary than this on the imperfect and limited nature of all 
rights founded on mere discovery. Here was an outlaw^, ostra- 
cized by Spain, discovering, by a series of casualties, the vast Pa- 
cific Ocean, and yet seriously claiming that, by virtue of his dis- 

1 Venable's United States, 11. Peter Martyr, cap. 10. Bancroft, I. 32, 33. 
* Tlialheitner's Kclec. U. S. 27. 

3 Goodrich's Cliild's Pict. \1. s!, 30, 31. Irving's Comp. of Columbus, III. 115, IIG. 

4 Note in Thalhelmer's Eclectic U. S., 23. Irving's Columbus, III. 169-177. 



Spain, Slavery and Gold. 35 

covery, more than half the world belonged to Spain ! Discovery 
vests no right unless seasonably followed by permanent coloniza- 
tion and possession. Balboa was executed by decapitation in 
1^17, at Ada of Darien, under the cruel and jealous rule of the 
Spaniard Pedrarias.' 

In 15 17 Cordova discovered Mexico, and explored the northern 
coast of Yucatan. 

In 15 19 Hernando Cortez, a Spanish soldier of high birth and 
undaunted courage, united with a deliberate tenacity of purpose 
which knew no relenting and hesitated at no deed of blood and 
cruelty, undertook the conquest of the kingdom of Mexico, over 
which Montezuma then reigned. Cortez had only six hundred 
soldiers, cavalry and infantry. But the Spanish soldiers were 
then, man for man, the most formidable in the world. In three 
campaigns of three successive years the work was done. A 
dynasty of centuries was dethroned. A teeming population was 
subjugated. Mexico, with her wealth in gold and silver and 
mountains and rich lands, was a province of Spain. 

In is;39, Pizarro and Almagro, with forces equally small com- 
parativelv, overthrew the empire of the Incas, and added Peru 
and its dependencies to the dominion of Spain. We look now 
with wonder on these successes, in which a few hundred armed 
men, aided by courage, cruelty and fraud without bounds, sub- 
dued great kingdoms containing inillions of people. But in their 
fall they turned Spain into her downward road. 

From Mexico Spanish explorers passed into the region north 
of her on the Pacific, to which the name of California was given, 
probably from a fabled Amazon queen of that name, who was in- 
troduced as a character in an old romance of the times of the Cru- 
saders, which had survived to the days of Columbus and Cortez, 
and which they both delighted to read." In 1543 the Spanish 
navigator Cabrillo sailed up this coast as high as to latitude 44°, 
and in 1582 the town of Santa Fe was established, under Espejo, 
in New Mexico. 

In August, 15 19, Fernando Magellan, a native of Portugal, but 
in the employ of Spain, sailed from Seville on the first voyage of 
circumnavigation of the world. In October, 1=520, he passed 
through the straits, since known by his name, between South 
America and the island of Terra del Fuego, and came out into 
the great ocean which, by reason of its tranquillity, he called the 
Pacific. He lost his life in an encounter with the Philippine 

1 Oviedo Hist. Ind , II., cap. 9, MS. Irving's Comp. of Columbus, III. 245. 
*Swinton's Condensed U. S., p. 13. 



36 • A ///story of tJie United States of Ameriea. 

islanders in April, 1521. One of his ships reached Spain in Sep- 
tember, 1533. 

Narvaez, a Spanish officer of high rank, believed that Florida 
was the richest of countries, and in 1^38 sailed on an expedition 
for its conquest. He was disastrously defeated by the Indians, 
and perished with all his followers except four, who, wandering 
in the woods and across the continent, reached, in six years, the 
Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast. ^ 

But the most interesting of all these expeditions was that of 
Ferdinand De Soto. He was born of noble family in Estrema- 
dura, in 1496. He was distinguished in scholarship and athletic 
sports. In 1538, he explored the coasts of Yucatan and Guate- 
mala for seven hundred miles, believing he could find a navigable 
strait from ocean to ocean. He went with Fizarro to Peru, and 
was prominent in the conquest. Returning with an immense 
fortune, he was favorably received by Charles V., who, at his re- 
quest, granted him permission to conquer and occupy Florida, 
which De Soto believed to be a land of boundless riches. 

He fitted out, at his own expense, a fleet of nine vessels, and 
sailed by way of Havana in 11^39. Besides his six hundred fol- 
lowers, he had three hundred horses and a very great stock of 
hogs, with a number of blood-hounds, which were to be used in 
hunting down fugitives and Indians. 

On the 30th of May, 1=539, ^^^ expedition, in jubilant spirits, 
landed at Tampa Bay. Thence, for more than three years, he 
marched through the region now covered by the States of Florida, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, fighting Indians, 
cmielly treating those who submitted, contending with forests, 
swamps and rivers, often beset by fevers and agues, constantly 
seeking for gold and as constantly finding it not. The dim vis- 
ions raised by native narratives and falsehoods faded from his 
eyes, leaving only disappointment and gloom. 

In 1 54 1 he reached the huge Mississippi river near the present 
site of Memphis, and wondered at its turbid and rushing torrent. 
This event w^as memorable in history, and has been preserved for 
the eye in a fine painting w^hich adorns the rotunda of the Capi- 
tol of the United States. He crossed the river, still in pursuit of 
the golden phantom. He wandered with his diminished band in 
the region now known as Arkansas. Traditions of gold mines 
in the White River valley, once worked by Spaniards, yet linger 
in that region.^ 

1 Berry's United States, 20. 

2 Letter in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Dispatch, Lichraond, Va., July 5tli, 1889. 



Spain, Slavery and Gold. 37 

Worn out with disappointment, exposure and disease, De Soto 
returned with his followers to the banks of the Mississippi near 
the site of the present town of Natchez. His band was no longer 
strong, either in numbers or equipment, and when he attempted 
to impose upon the Indians the idea that the whites were of Divine 
origin, the natives were as ready for war as for peace. Their chief 
answered to De Soto : " You say you are the children of the Sun. 
Dry up this river, and I will believe you."* 

In May, 1542, Ferdinand De Soto died. To prevent the final 
fading of the attempted illusion among the Indians, his body was 
wrapped in his mantle, and while the priests chanted in low tones 
a requiem, it was sunk beneath the waters of the mighty river he 
had discovered. After manv dangers, a small number of his fol- 
lowers descended the Mississippi in boats hurriedly prepared, and 
about half the original number finally reached the Mexican 
coast, still alive, indeed, but broken in health and spirits, with- 
out gold and without the dreams of wealth which had brought 
them to Tampa Bav.'^ 

A settlement of Huguenots from France was attempted in 
1562, under the jDatronage of Admiral Coligny. With difficulty 
he obtained permission to found in America a refuge for French 
Protestants. John Ribault commanded the immigrants. A part 
of them settled first at Port Royal harbor (now in South Caro- 
lina), and in honor of King Charles IX. of France they gave the 
name of Carolina to their fort. Thus it was Carolus of France, 
and not Carolus of England, whose name has been perpetuated 
in these American States.^ This intended colony, after much 
suffering from hunger and disease, returned to France. 

But another part, under Laudonniere, had settled on the St. 
John's river, in Florida. Here they encountered a fate which 
history records against Spain. 

Philip II., a monarch whose reign includes all that is odious 
in the Inquisition — the burning of Protestants in his own coun- 
try, and the butchery of Protestants, year after year, in the Neth- 
erlands — hearing of the settlement of the harmless little band on 
the St. John's, took measures to destroy them. He commissioned 
Pedro Melendez for the work, and could not have selected a more 
suitable instrument. 

Melendez, after founding St. Augustine in 1565, as we have 
seen, prepared to attack the Huguenots. Ribault, then command- 
ing them, expected his attack from the sea, and prepared accord- 

I Quackenbos' U. S., 57, 58. - Ibid., 59. 

sDerry's U. S., 21. Anderson's Gram. School U. S., 13. 



38 A History of the United States of Aitzerica. 

ingly. But Melendez advanced by land with a force too strong' 
to be resisted. After some fighting, the Frenchmen surrendered 
on the faith of an express promise that their lives should be 
spared. But the false and remorseless Spanish leader caused 
them all to be hanged, and on the trees on which they were exe- 
cuted he placed an inscription : " I do this, not as unto French- 
men, but as unto Lutherans and heretics." 

When this atrocious outrage became known in France it excited 
horror and indignation. The abject king (Charles IX.) took no 
steps to avenge it ; but it w^as not to rest unavenged. 

In 1568 Dominic de Gourgues, a French ofiicer of the province 
of Gascony, attacked the Spaniards in Florida, and at the head 
of his victorious troops recaptui"ed Fort Carolina, and captured 
two other forts with their surviving garrisons. He hung up all 
the Spaniards on trees until they were dead, and over their dead 
bodies he caused inscriptions to be nailed, to this eftect : '' I do 
this, not as unto Spaniards, but as unto traitors, robbers, and mur- 
derers." ' 

And this was only the beginning, the foretaste, of the retribu- 
tion which Spain was bringing on herself. In the two centuries 
from the birth of Columbus to a point only fourteen years beyond 
the death of Philip III., Spain w^as the most powerful and v^ealthy 
of all the sovereignties of Europe. No successful attempt has 
ever been made to estimate the amount or value of the gold and 
silver she drew from America. It is all gone from her — used for 
her destruction by her own monarchs and people. Spain is now 
the poorest and least respected of all modern European king- 
doms. And of all the vast dominions and empires once claimed 
and ruled over by her on the American continent, not one square 
mile remains. 

1 Perry's Ignited States, 22. Quackenbos, 59. De Bry in Bancroft, I. 71. Biddle MS. as tc 
De Gourgues' family. 



CHAPTER V. 
English and French Voyages to America. 

NO permanent colony had yet been established in North 
America. Discovery precedes settlement. We must now 
review the voyages and discoveries of other nations besides the 
Spaniards. 

We have noted the voyages of the Cabots from England. Kings 
Henry VII. and Henry VIII. did nothing more to encourage ex- 
peditions to the New World. They evidently expected little 
from such attempts, and were too much occupied at home to give 
much attention to so distant a field. A feeble and unsuccessful 
effort was made under Henry VIII. in 1=^2^. 

But in the reign of Qiieen Elizabeth, the English people 
began to look across the Atlantic. Her reign commenced in 
1558, and ended with her death in 1603. Maritime enterprises 
became frequent and enthusiastic, though they w^ere generally 
under the lead of bold seamen, who fitted out their own ships and 
asked very little from the sovereign. 

Sir Francis Drake was one of the most adventurous of these 
navigators. In 1572, when tv\^enty-seven years old, he crossed 
the Isthmus of Panama, and, climbing a tree, viewed the great 
Pacific Ocean. Then and there he resolved " to sail an English 
ship in those seas " ; and five years later he sailed from England 
with five ships and two hundred men. He passed through the 
Straits of Magellan in his own ship, the Golden Hind^ and 
sailed up the western coast of the American continent, capturing 
off the coast of Peru the Spanish treasure galleon for the current 
year, with an amount of gold and silver ingots worth millions of 
dollars. He went as fr.r north as what is now Oregon, wintered 
near San Francisco, and explored the country, which he called 
" New Albion." Thence he launched out into the broad Pacific, 
and in two years and ten months from the time of his departure 
entered again the harbor of Plymouth, in England, with his im- 
mense treasure, thus completing the second voyage around the 
world.^ 

1 Thalheimcr's Eclec. U. S., 35, 40, 41. Green's Hist, of the Eng. People, Amer. edit., 1876, p. 417. 

[ 39 ] 



40 A History of the United States of America. 

Martin Frobisher cherished for fifteen years the idea of the 
"northwest" passage to the Indies. The Earl of Warwick 
helped him to fit out two small barks, and in the summer of 1=576 
he sailed from the Thames. He reached the coast of Labrador, 
and, on entering an inlet froin Hudson's Strait, thought he had 
Asia on his right. He soon found out his error. Yet the next 
year he came again with several vessels, and returned to England 
with loads of glittering, but valueless, dirt and stones. But such 
were his courage and skill that the queen, in 1=578, equipped him 
with fifteen ships, and many sons of well-known families went 
out with him. They nearly perished among the frozen snows 
and icebergs of the North American seas. The cold was so in- 
tense that the crews mutinied, and all w^ere glad to return with- 
out either glory or gold. But Frobisher was afterwards knighted 
for heroism in helping to defeat the Spanish Armada.^ 

In 1585, the English navigator John Davis discovered and 
entered the strait which bears his name. The next year he pen- 
etrated the polar regions as far north as latitude 73°. 

In June, 1578, Qiieen Elizabeth granted to Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert, a kinsman of Walter Raleigh a liberal patent for discovery 
and settlement in America." 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was not a seaman by profession, yet he 
sailed in 1583 and took possession of Newfoundland in the name 
of his royal mistress. Returning, a violent storm separated his 
vessels. He was in the Squirrel., and the Hind was near her. 
He was seen reading on his deck, and the last words heard from 
him were : " We are as near heaven by sea as by land." His 
vessel went down in the storm. ^ 

Not discouraged, Elizabeth granted, March 3^th, 1584, to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, maternal half-brother of Gilbert, a patent, broader 
even than her previous grant, for discovery, settlement and gov- 
ernment in America. Sir Walter, though he had interesting and 
perilous adventures in Guiana, never visited North America in 
person. He sent " Sir Richard Grenville the valiant, Mr. Wil- 
liam Sanderson, a great friend to all such noble and worthy ac- 
tions, and divers other gentlemen and merchants," in two barks, 
well equipped, commanded by Captains Philip Amidas and 
Arthur Barlow. 

They left England April 29th, 1584, and sailed by way of the 
Canaries and West Indies, being yet afraid of the shorter pas- 

1 Prof. G. F. Holmes' U. S., 28. 

2 We adopt the coramou form of Raleigh's name, because the name appears in slz different 
forms in the original draft for the patent of the queen. (Brown's Genesis of the U. S., 1. 14.) 

3 Hakluyt, III. 154. 



I 



English and French Voyages to America. 41 

sage. T^ily 13th they drew near to the shores of North Carolina, 
and were greeted by a delicious fragrance from the vines and 
flowers of the land. They landed on Wococon Island, near Ocra- 
coke Inlet. They were amazed at the abundance of grapes hang- 
ing on the trees, or washed in pi'ofusion along the islands. They 
were hospitably received by the Chief Granganameo and his wife, 
on Roanoke Island. Taking with them two natives, Manteo and 
Wanchese, who volunteered to go back with them, they returned 
to England, arriving in September. 

Qiieen Elizabeth was so delighted with their account of the 
charms of this land that she gladly adopted the suggestion of 
Raleigh and called it ''Virginia," in honor of its virgin attrac- 
tions and of her own unmarried state. This name was at first 
applied to all the region claimed by England in North America. 

But the first efforts at colonizing were abortive. In 1585 Sir 
Richard Grenville returned to America, and in July left one 
hundred and eight colonists on Roanoke Island, among whom 
was Thomas Heriot, a man of science, whom Raleigh had per- 
suaded to come. But the settlers were soon on bad terms with 
the natives, and began to sufler with hunger and exposure. Sir 
Francis Drake, cruising in the West Indies in search of Spanish 
treasure ships, touched at Roanoke Island, and at their earnest 
prayer carried the colonists back to England. 

In 1=587 Raleigh made another eftort. One hundred and fifteen 
settlers, under Governor John White, were left on the island of 
Roanoke, provided with all needed supplies. Here, on the 18th 
of August, Eleanor, daughter of the governor, and wife of Ana- 
nias Dare, gave birth to the first child of English birth born in 
the New World, on whom was besto^ved the sweet name of ^"ir- 
ginia.^ 

Sad was the fate of this colony. Afany things being needed 
from the mother land. Governor White yielded to his people's 
entreaties and sailed for England August 27th. Nearly three 
yeai's passed before he returned. On the 15th of August, 1^90, he 
passed within the dangerous headlands of Hatteras, and sought 
the colonists. He never found them, nor have they ever been 
found, though Raleigh sent afterwards five messengers to seek 
them. Want, exposure and savage hostility had destroyed them. 

Bartholomew Gosnold revived the almost dead spirit of English 
colonization. In 1603 he sailed by the shortest route Avestward 
from England, and on the 17th of May discovered Cape Cod, and 
coasted along the shores of what was afterwards New England, 

1 Smitn's Gen. Hist. Va., I. 102. 



42 A History of the United States oj" America. 

landed on an island, whose fruits and luxuriant vines led him to 
bestow on it the name of "Martha's Vineyard," glanced at all the 
beauty and wealth of the main-land, and returned to England 
about the close of July. ^ 

In 1593, Captain George Weymouth made a voyage to the 
American seas to discover a northwest passage to the Pacific, but 
without success. In May, 1603, he sailed again to America, re- 
turning in September. In March, 1605, he sailed again, visiting 
the coasts of what is now New England, returning in July of the 
same year. This was his last voyage.'^ 

The opening years of the seventeenth century had been reached, 
and no permanent settlement by English colonists had been made 
in the New World. Meanwhile, other nations had not been 
idle. 

Fishing smacks from France went to the banks of Newfound- 
land as early as 1503. 

In 1506, Denys, a French navigator, explored the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence and the adjoining coast, and made a chart representing 
them. 

In 1524, Verrazani, an Italian in the service of Francis I., King 
of France, reached the American continent in the latitude of Wil- 
mington, North Carolina. He then coasted northward as far as 
Nova Scotia. He called the country " New France," and laid 
the foundation for coming wars. 

In 1534, Jacques Cartier explored the gulf and river of St. 
Lawrence. He claimed the country for France. In 1535 he 
sailed up the St. Lawrence to where Montreal now stands. He 
gave it tlie name "Royal ISIountain." In 1541, Cartier, with a 
band of French colonists, made a third voyage to the St. Law- 
rence. The Indians tried to deter him from further progress by 
dressing some of their band up as devils ; but Cartier was not to 
be stopped by devils, true or false. He was attracted by the lofty 
plateau of rock called Stadacona, and built a fort near the pres- 
ent site of Qiiebec. But the colonists became dissatisfied, and re- 
turned to France in the spring of 1542.^ 

De la Roque, Lord of Roberval, was made viceroy of this 
region, and visited it in 1542. In 1549 he made another voyage 
thither, but his ship never returned.* 

In 1562, Admiral Coligny, as we have seen, sent a colony of 
French Protestants to South Carolina and Florida. We have 

1 Purchas' Pilgrims, IV. 1646. Belknap's Amer. Bio?., II. 211, 214. 
- Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, Pref., iv.; II. 1049. 
3 Swlnton's U. S., 1.^-15. Horare E. Srndder's U. S., 29. 
1 David B. Scott's U.S., 20. Eggleston's Household U. S.; 116. 



I 



English and French Voyages to America. 43 

noted their fate, and the just revenge it drew down on the heads 
of the Spaniards. 

In 159S, the Marquis De la Roche sent forty convicts to the 
sandy isle of Sable, near Nova Scotia. In a few years this ill- 
omened colony died out. 

In 1603, De Monts, an influential Huguenot courtier, obtained 
from the French King, Henry IV., a grant of land between the 
40th and 46th parallels of north latitude, which would have ex- 
tended from the neighborhood of what is now Philadelphia to 
Cape Breton. He called this region Acadia, but that name was 
soon limited to what is now New Brunswick, Cape Breton and 
the adjacent islands. 

Accompanied by the celebrated French navigator and explorer, 
Samuel De Champlain, De IMonts, in 1604, came out with two 
ships, built a fort at the mouth of the St. Croix river, and made 
a settlement finally at Port Royal in September, 1605. This was 
the first permanent French settlement in America.^ It was two 
years older than Jamestow^n. 

In 1608, Champlain established a trading post on the St. Law- 
rence, which he named Quebec, from which the city of that name 
sprang. The name is of Indian origin, and means " the nar- 
rows." In 1609 he discovered the beautiful lake which bears his 
name. But he became involved in quarrels and bloody strife 
with the Iroquois, or Five Nations, which they never forgot, and 
afterwards visited formidably on the French." 

Thus we reach the point of time at which permanent colonies — 
afterwards to be developed into the United States of America — 
were about to be established in the New^ World. The long delay 
was not without a Divine direction and control. 

ID. B. Scott's U.S., 21. 

2 Prof. Steele, Barnes' United States, 33. Art. Champlain, Amer. Encyclop. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Old World Conditions as to Self-Government, Religion 

AND .Slavery. 

THAT we may have an intelligent insight into the conditions 
in the Old World vs^hich most deeply affected the subsequent 
fortunes of the colonies planted in North America, we need only 
view these conditions under three heads. Other important cur- 
rents of force doubtless existed, such as the view taken by Euro- 
peans of the rights in the New World acquired by discovery. To 
this we have already alluded, and we will have occasion to pre- 
sent other conditions coming from the old civilization and 
strongly influencing the colonists, and yet not falling directly 
under any of the three heads now to be stated. But it will be 
found that these three germ-beds of influence were those which 
most radically affected the colonies for weal or for woe. We 
must seek, therefore, to obtain a clear view of them as they existed 
in the Old World when the colonization of North America began. 

The three heads of inquiry are as follows : 

I. The self-government of man. 

3. The religious knowledge and rights of man. 

3. Human slavery. 

Under the first head it may be safely declared that, when Co- 
lumbus discovered the islands of America, monarch}- was the form 
of government so nearly universal in the Old World that the 
common people had abandoned all hope of self-government. As 
to Asia and Africa, monarchy existed in its most absolute and 
oppressive forms. In Europe, the cantons of Switzerland con- 
stituted the only republic of sufiicient importance to be recognized 
as such, for San Marino was a republic only because of her weak- 
ness. The Swiss had gained the liberties of a confederated re- 
public more by reason of their mountainous and easily-defended 
country than by any strong attachment of individuals to the idea 
of self-government. The people were lovers of home with a pas- 
sionate and deathless love. They loved the very forests and 
snows of their Alps and the frigid depths of their valleys. Con- 
sequently, when they threw off the royal or ducal yokes of Ger- 

[ 44 ] 



Old World Condiiiojis as to Self- Govern7i2ent. 45 

many, France and Austria, they were able, by union and heroic 
fighting, to maintain their independence and republican forms. 
And yet when the Swiss soldiers left their own land and became 
the paid body-guards of kings, it has often been remarked that 
no soldiers ever fought to defend inonarchies and monarchs as 
they did/ And during the progress of the Reformation in 
Europe, religious differences rent the Swiss cantons asunder. 
Thus Switzerland had done little for the self-governinent of the 
human race when American colonization began. 

Monarchy is the form of the Divine government, but it is not 
suited to human government if the design of government be the 
welfare and happiness of the people. God, in his infinite wisdom 
and mercy, had warned the Hebrev^^ nation against adopting a 
monarchy as their chosen form of government, and had told them, 
by his prophet, of the woes a king would bring upon them.^ 
These prophecies were fulfilled in the subsequent experience of 
the people of Judah and Israel, and have been, in both spii'it and 
substance, realized by all nations that have submitted themselves 
to the government of a king. 

If a list of all the kings that have ever reigned on earth were 
prepared, it could be shown by faithful history that not one in a 
hundred had really sought to promote the prosperity and happi- 
ness of his subjects when his own selfish indulgences came in 
question. And of all these kings, those who have been specially 
designated by the title " Great" have been most eminent in cruelty, 
lust and gigantic selfishness. 

When America was discovered, Russia in Europe was hardly 
known as anything more than a horde of barbarians, reigned over, 
though not governed, bv an Asiatic despot. Turkey was a Mo- 
hammedan sultanship. Germany was a collection of small and 
ill-governed monarchies, over wdiom the emperor barely main- 
tained the semblance of a connecting power. France was a mon- 
archy, but with many dukedoms so pow^erful that the dukes were 
sovereigns. Italy was not a kingdom, but a land broken up into 
many petty kingdoms, among whom the Pontiff' of Rome was a 
temporal sovereign claiming earthly equality with the proudest 
states of Europe, and claiming over all earthly sovereigns a 
spiritual power infallible and irresistible. Spain had become 
united, and was the leading monarchy of Europe. England was 
a monarchy, in which Alagua Charta had, indeed, been granted, 
containing many of the most precious principles of self-govern- 
ment by man ; and the House of Commons was yearly gaining 
1 Art. Switzerland, New Amer. Eucyclop., XV. 247. - 1 Samuel viii. 4-22. 



46 A History of the United States of America. 

more and more power. But under Henry VII., Henry VIII. and 
Elizabeth, the royal claim of prerogative had never been higher ; 
and James I., who succeeded Elizabeth in 1603, was a thorough 
believer in " the divine right of kings," and would not tolerate 
any claim of the commons w^hich looked to a limitation of his 
kingly power. Such were the views of the prevalent powers on 
the subject of the " self-government of man " at the time when 
colonization began in North America. 

The second head of inquiry is still more important : What 
opinions and conduct were prevalent at that time concerning the 
" religious rights and knowledge of man " ? History answers this 
question with seriousness and without satisfaction. She admits 
and establishes the Divine character of Christianity, by proving 
the miraculous facts on which the Christian faith is founded ; but 
she is compelled to admit that human ambition, depravity and 
ignorance had made sad perversions and innovations before 
America was disoovered and colonized. Yet these corruptions, 
deplorable as they were, had not destroyed the church in any of 
her visible forms. The spirit and body still existed, and needed 
only reformation as to what was evil and illegitimate. 

Before Columbus sailed, the visible church had already under- 
gone a wide separation, and existed in two great organisms, 
known then and ever since as the Greek and the Roman churches. 
Of these the Greek or Oriental church is the older, having existed 
in the original seats of Christianity in Asia Minor and having 
adhered to the language in which the New Testament was writ- 
ten.^ But many thoughtful Christians have believed and claimed 
that, prior to the forms of these two venerable organisms, history 
has demonstrated the existence of a primitive form for the Chris- 
tian church, sanctioned by inspiration and the usage of the apos- 
tles.^ No definite form is essential to the existence of a church as 
part of the visible body of Christ. 

The Greek church discards the monarchic form and adopts an 
ecclesiastical aristocracy, holding to the spiritual equality of the 
patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. 
The Roman church, ever since the bishops of Rome began to 
claim for themselves the special honor of being called "pappoi" 
[fathers) — a name universally appropriated and applied in the 
Greek church to all priests — has been a monarchy.* The name 
" pope " was first applied to the Bishop of Rome by the deacon 

1 Schaff-Herzog Encyclop., art. Greek Church, II. 900. 

2 Dean Stanley's Sermon, 1879. Art. Pope, in his Christian Instit. Bishop of Durham's 
Ch. Ministry and Essay on Philippians. Dr Edwin Hatch's Works, passim. 
s.Art. Pope, Schaff-Herzog Encyc, III. 1869. Dean Stanley's Ch. Instit., 194. 



I 



I 



Old World Conditions as to Religion. 47 

Severus in his letter to Marcellinus about the beginning of the 
third century, and was first formally claimed by Siricius, Bishop 
of Rome, about a hundred years thereafter. Since the middle of 
the fifth century, it has been officially used by the Roman pontifls 
as theii* proper designation. 

The imperial power of which Rome was the centre, the giant 
sway exercised by her over the nations of the earth, and the com- 
pleteness of organization in all the departments of her govern- 
ment, contributed to the extension of the Roman church, both in 
her territory and her authority. From the time when the first 
Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, baptized the Emperor Constantine, 
and certainly from the time when that emperor adopted Chris- 
tianity and made it the religion of the state, Rome was the re- 
cognized centre of Western church authority. Yet her claims 
were resisted by the Greek church and the secular kings until the 
famous decree of Valentinian III., in 44c; A. D., recognized the 
Bisliop of Rome as the primate of the Christian church, not only 
in judicial, but also in legislative elements, and gave authority not 
only to his decisions in appeals, but also to the decrees and orders 
which issued from him.' 

In the eleventh century, Hildebrand was elevated to the papal 
throne, under the title of Gregory VII. Before the close of his 
pontificate, his intellectual force, skill and diplomacy had so suc- 
cessfully seconded his ambition that the svt^ay of the Roman church 
throughout all Western lands called Christian became complete. 
He declared that, as pontiff', he was subject to no judge on earth, 
that he had the right to depose the emperor, that he had the right 
to wear the imperial insignia, and that he alone could convene a 
general council for settlement of religious questions." 

From this time down through all subsequent ages, the Roman 
church has claimed the " i?nperium in iniperio " — sovereignty in 
sovereignty — the right to govern all who submit to her jurisdic- 
tion, and to govern them in conscience, in word, and in deed, 
even in opposition to the laws and institutions of the country in 
which they live, and to which they owe obedience, either by na- 
tivity or. by naturalization as citizens, or by residence and protec- 
tion.^ This claim is the logical and inevitable outcome of the 
claim of the supreme pontiff' to infallibility in matters of faith 
and morals, and to be the vicar and vicegerent of God on earth. 

This was the j^osition of the Roman church at the time when 

1 Compare Gibbon, Dec. and Fall, II. 271. Schaflf-Herzog, III. 2275. Hinschius, art. Papacy. 

2 Schafl'-IIerzog Kel. Encyc, III. 1737. 

sSyllabus Errornra. Pio"Nono, Dec. 8th, 1864. Vatican Decree, July ISth, 1870, 111.15,18; 
V. 23, 24, 27, 29, 32, 37; VI. 42, 47, 53, 55 ; VII. 62, 63. Blackstone's Com , IV. r.7. 



48 A History of the United States of America. 

Columbus discovered San Salvador, and is more definitely her 
position now than at that time. The Greek church did not per- 
ceptibly influence the character or fortunes of the American 
people. 

Before colonization began, a memorable uprising of the human 
soul against spiritual tyranny had taken place. This was the 
Reformation of the sixteenth century. To tell of all its important 
changes would require many volumes, and is not needful for the 
purposes of this work. But it is very needful to show how much 
it had accomplished, and what it had failed to accomplish, in rela- 
tion to " the religious rights and knowledge of man." 

Its first and most potent eflect had been to break the yoke of 
spiritual tyranny, and to relieve millions of minds in Germany, 
Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Eng- 
land, Scotland and Ireland from submission to the Roman church. 
The infallibility of the inspired Scriptures — the Word of God — 
w^hen properlv interpreted according to the analogy of faith, was 
substituted for the infallibility of man or of any assemblage of men. 

But in other respects, the Reformation had failed to do what 
was of prime importance. 

Pirst. It had failed to overturn the principle of church estab- 
lishment. This failure resulted from imperfect appreciation of the 
teaching, both of Holy Scripture and of developed reason, that re- 
ligion is spiritual and affects the conscience, and must be left free 
from the control of human government. To permit any earthly 
government to set up a religion and to require people to conform 
to it, and to support it by their labor and property, is to put that 
earthly government in the position claimed and long held by the 
Roman church. 

Second. It had failed to confirm the principle, so clearly laid 
down in Holy Scripture, that the divine and omniscient Founder 
of Christianity intended that his church on earth should be es- 
tablished and kept in progress by the voluntary submission of 
souls, consciences, bodies and property to his invisible govern- 
ment, of which the central and all-moving powder is love. 

Third. It had failed to eliminate from the souls of mankind 
certain beliefs supposed to have been derived from the teachings 
of Holy Scripture, but really founded on false interpretations 
thereof. These beliefs were the result of ages of ignorance, and 
could be effectually overthrown only by the discoveries and in- 
ductions of sound science. Several of these beliefs will come 
into our field of vision in the further progress of this work. At 
present, only one needs special comment. 



Old World Conditions as to Religion. 49 

The belief in -u'/Zr/zcro/*/, so long and disastrously held in Chris- 
tian countries, came from a false interpretation of such passages 
of Scripture as Exodus xxii. 18 : "Thou shalt not suiter a witch 
to live," and of several other passages in which witchcraft, sor- 
cery and dealing with familiar spirits are spoken oi} With the 
feeble scientific light of the ages preceding the seventeenth cen- 
tury, it was not easy to obtain the key to the real meaning of 
these passages. Yet the one from the New Testament ought to 
have suggested the truth, for it referred so plainly to the sin of 
deception and fraud, and sometimes fatal poisoning, practiced by 
the venijicas and pretended sorceresses of past ages, that all the 
Old Testament passages ought to have received like interpreta- 
tion. 

But, unhappily, the key, not being patiently sought, was not 
found. Yet it is a comforting truth that persecutions for alleged 
witchcraft were hardly known in Europe prior to the close of the 
fifteenth century. Just about eight years before Columbus sailed 
from Palos, Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull denouncing death 
without mercy against all who should be convicted of witchcraft 
or of dealings with Satan ; and a form of process for trial was 
laid down by a fanatic -persecutor named Sprenger, who was 
nominated by the pope as head of the commission. Alexander 
VI. and even Leo X. lent their aid by successive bulls." 

The result was horrible. About the year 151=;, in three months, 
in Geneva, five hundred persons were executed for the alleged 
crime of witchcraft. In the diocese of Como, a thousand were 
put to death in one year. For some years thereafter, not less 
than one hundred were burned for witchcraft every year. Re- 
migius boasts of having burned nine hundred in five years. In 
France, in 1520, one historian narrates that "an almost infinite 
number of sorcerers " were put to death. 

Germany was a fruitful soil for such works. From the publi- 
cation of the bull of Innocent to the time of stoppage of perse- 
cution for witchcraft, the number of victims has been estimated 
at one hundred thousand ! In Wurtzburg alone, in two years, 
one hundred and fifty-seven persons were burned, including not 
only old women, but children of nine years.^ Instead of turning 
with horror from these scenes, the people learned to revel in 
them. They sang popular songs about them, and represented 
them in hideous engravings with devils dragging away " their 

1 Deuteronomy xviii. 10; First Samuel xv. 23; Second Kings ix. 22; Second Chronicles 
xxxiii. 6 ; Micah v. 12 ; Nahum iii. 4 ; Galatians v. 20. 

-' Published bulls of the Pontitfs. Combe on the Constitution of Man, p. 310. 
s Combe, 310. 



5© A History of the United States of Amei'ica. 

0"wn " ; and the clergy preached solemn discourses, called "witch 
sermons," on these occasions.' 

The Reformation did nothing to mitigate these horrors. It 
seemed rather to increase them. In Protestant England, and 
during the Long Parliament, three thousand human victims were 
executed for the supposed crime of witchcraft. Sir Matthew 
Hale, though a Christian judge, carried on the frightful work. 
It continued until Chief-Justice Holt, with his strong common 
sense, made a firm charge to a jury, and they brovight in a verdict 
of " not guilty." Then the tide began to turn, and in ten other 
trials before him, from 1694 to 1701, a similar verdict was ren- 
dered. Barrington estimates the number of persons put to death 
in England on the charge of witchcraft at thirty thousand.^ 

At last, in 1736, science and common sense triumphed over 
false theology. ' The penal statutes against witchcraft were re- 
pealed, though the real crime of pretending to exercise it was still 
to be punished. 

Scotland must rest under her full share of this shame. After 
the Reformation had done much of its good work there, the evil 
work of persecuting olleged witches and sorcerers began, and for 
ninety-nine years it did not cease. Burning was the usual mode 
of inflicting death ; and to obtain confessions, torture by thumb- 
screws and iron boots and pricking with sharp instruments was 
frequently practiced. More than sixty trials are of record in the 
reign of James VI., in which the charge was witchcraft, and the 
result was death to the accused. 

It is a painful fact that the clergy were the people who in these 
cases displayed the most intemperate and cruel zeal.^ In all 
Christian ages, clergymen, unless thoroughly permeated by the 
spirit of Christ, have been the class most given to the practice of 
religious persecution, and least disposed to permit the discoveries 
of science and the intuitive dictates of common sense to correct 
false dogmas held by them upon unsound interpretations of Holy 
Scripture taught in human creeds and traditions. And yet Chris- 
tianity has been so potent as to subdue these dangerous tenden- 
cies of her own accredited ministers. 

Such were some of the ideas as to religion and religious know- 
ledge prevalent when the colonization of North America began. 
We shall note their eflect. 

1 Combe on the Constitution of Man, p. 310. - Ibid., p. 312. " Ibid., p. 312. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Slavery, Ancient and Modern. 

WE have purposely reserved for a distinct chapter in this work 
a presentation of the facts relating to human slavery as they 
were known in history and experience at the time of the coloni- 
zation of North America. This subject has had an influence 
grave and fearful enough to justify a calm effort to elucidate it. 

We are called tirst to define slavery — to form a clear concept 
of its meaning. 

The attempt has often been made to explain slavery as simply 
the right of a master to the time and services of a servant for life, 
in consideration of the obligation of the master to maintain him, 
feed him, clothe him, shelter him, instruct him in religion and 
duty, and provide humanely for him in infancy, infirmity, sick- 
ness and old age.' But this is not the relation of owner and slave 
as the world has known it. 

Slaverv is the relation in which one man otvns another man as 
his chattel — his property. It arises in the same way as other 
property — by buying and selling or by gift. And consequently, 
a man intending to purchase may claim the right to examine the 
slave as he would a horse — to examine his mouth, his teeth, his 
head, his limbs, his hands, his feet, his body, and to inquire as to 
his habits and tendencies, and to estiniate his money value accord- 
ingly. This right has been conceded and exercised in every slave- 
market in the world, and in all times, ancient and modern. 

The conditions resulting from this relation have been that the 
slave has no rights as against his owner. Even if injury, premed- 
itated or unlawful, to his life and limbs be forbidden, it is not 
because he has any rights, but because such crimes would hurt 
society. The owner may whip, beat and scourge the slave will- 
fully, maliciously, violently, immoderately, excessively, unmerci- 
fully and cruelly, and yet not be held liable, either criminally or 
civilly, unless death speedily ensues." This was a comparatively 

'Dr. J. H. Thornwell's Col. Writings, IV., pp. 414, 420. Blackstone's Com.. Amer. ediiion, 
I. 333, 334, witli notes. George Fitzhugh's " Sociology for tlie South " and " Cannibals All." 
Dr. Ro. L. Dabney's article, "The Latest Infl^lelitv," JPres Quarterly, Jan'y, 1890, pp. 5, 6. 

2 Turner's Case, 5 Randolph, C7S. Souther's Case, 7 Grattan, 673. Article Slavery, Amer. 
Encyclop., XIV. 713. Exodus xxi. 20, 21. 

[ 51 ] 



C2 A History of the United States of America. 

modern decision by a Virginia court of sixteen judges, of whom 
only one, William Brockenbrough, dissented. 

The slave can make no valid contract, cannot marry, cannot 
have legitimate ofi^spring, and may be separated from v\^ife and 
children by an act of sale. He is so completely a chattel that he 
cannot even exercise the privilege of conditional mental election 
by which he may be emancipated.' In fact, the condition of the 
slave is accurately defined in those statutes which declare that 
" slaves are chattels personal in the hands of their owners and 
possessors, to all intents, constructions and purposes whatsoever.^ 

Such being slavery, all attempts to vindicate and uphold it as 
approved of God have been failures. The fixed and irrevocable 
truth concerning God and man taught by inspiration is, that God 
created man, male and female — one man and one woman — and 
united them as husband and wife, and blessed them, and said unto 
them : " Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and 
subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over 
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon 
the earth.'" 

Therefore, all mankind stand on the same platform as to ordi- 
nary generation. All come from the same Adam. All are 
brothers. All inherit the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness." All may be saved by the Second Adam if they 
will trust to him. The difterences in skin, color, conformation 
of head, brain, limbs or body apparent among men are the result 
of congenital differentiations which evade discovery, or of condi- 
tions of climate, exposure and long-continued mode of life. All 
such attempts as those made by false science to prove a multitude 
of original ancestors for the varied races of mankind have been 
in opposition to truth, revealed and scientific. 

Nevertheless, slavery, in its most distinct and abject form, has 
existed in this world from a time beyond the utmost reach of his- 
tory. How it originated cannot, therefore, be historically ascer- 
tained. But of this we may be certain, that, like polygamy, divorce, 
the law of retaliation, and other evils so widely spread as to be 
called institutions of civilized society, slavery did not originate 
in the command of God. It was an evil originating in the de- 
praved and selfish tendencies of man;* and though long tole- 
rated and directed by the wisdom and good providence of God, 
it was an evil which the principles taught in his Word ever 
tended to remove. 

1 Bailey vs. Poindexter, 14 Grattan, 132. Williamson vs. Coalter, Ibid., 394. 

2 Article Slavery, Araer. Eacyclop., XIV. 711. sQenesis i. 27, 28. 
^Thornwell's Col. Writings, IV. 419, 420. 



Slavery, Ancient and Modern. 53 

It is most probable that slavery originated from war. War is, 
in itself, one of the most cruel and repulsive evils to which the 
native depravity of man has given birth. War is opposed to the 
essential nature of God, which is love. And yet war is a condi- 
tion of mankind running back to unknown ages. It is, even when 
offensive, sometimes just ; and when defensive, often the highest 
virtue in a people, and approved by God. And therefore the 
Holy Scriptures give principles to regulate war, and a large 
part of international law is taken up in expounding these prin- 
ciples. Yet war is forbidden by the law of wisdom and love ; 
and the time will come when " men shall learn war no more." ^ 

In war battles occur; and in battle each of the opposing 
hosts seeks to kill those fighting against them. The right and 
duty to kill is recognized, even commanded. Therefore, it was 
not unreasonable to hold that when prisoners were taken, if their 
lives were spared, their rights and liberties were absolutely for- 
feited, and they became slaves, the property of their captors, and 
might be treated, bought and sold like other property taken in 
war or otherwise acquired. This view of the origin of slavery is 
confirmed by all known history. 

It is not at all probable that slavery originated as a punishment 
for crime. It took rise in prehistoric ages — probably before the 
Noachic deluge — and as man had become so depraved and crimi- 
nal in thought, word and deed that the destruction of all the hu- 
man race (except eight persons)' was the chosen remedy for the 
salvation of the race in coming generations, it is highly improba- 
ble that any formal judicial sentences for crime had reduced crim- 
inals to slavery before the deluge. The world would have been 
full of slaves. 

But after war had given rise to slavery, we have no difficulty 
in conceiving how the evil and selfish propensities of men multi- 
plied slaves by the various methods through which the institu- 
tion has been continued through more than three thousand 3ears 
of history — that is, by kidnaping, by piracy, by warlike raids 
for the very purpose of obtaining slaves, by buying and selling, 
and by holding as slaves the children and lineal descendants of a 
female slave.* 

Evidently, when the boy Joseph was drawn up from the pit 
and sold as a slave by his cruel brothers to Midianites, who were 
" merchantmen," nearly eighteen hundred years before the birth 

1 Numbers xxxii. 6 ; Deuteronomy xxiv. 5 ; First Chronicles v. 22; Psalm xlvi. 9 ; IsaiaU 
li. 4 ; Micah iv. 3. 
" Genesis vi. 5-13 ; First Peter iii. 19, 20; Second Peter li. 5, 
3 Art. Slavery, Schaff-Herzog Encyclop. 



^4 A Histoi-y of tlic United States of America. 

of Christ, such traffic was common ; and slaves were considered 
as merchantable chattels and commodities.' The transaction was 
cool and deliberate. The sum paid \vas eleven dollars and 
twenty-eight cents." Slavery had been so long established that 
prices were low. 

Egypt had slaves in abundance, acquired in all possible ways. 
The Phoenicians were especially active in this trade, as appears 
by the poems of Homer. Slaves formed much the larger part of 
the population of Tyre and Sidon, on the western shores of Pal- 
estine ; and slaves were numerous in Carthage and in all of North- 
ern Africa. But they were almost universally white slaves. Black 
slaves were then and for manv vears afterwards looked upon as 
luxuries and curiosities.* 

The Hebrews in Egypt were not slaves. They were in cruel 
bondage, it is true ; but their bondage was political, and did not 
amount to slavery.* They were compelled to work and to work 
sei'vilely ; but they were not held as chattels. They were per- 
sons, and could contract, buy, sell, engage in business, and make 
legal marriages and have legitimate children. They were, there- 
fore, not slaves. Yet they knew what slavery was, and probably 
acquired by purchase or otherwise many slaves before their exodus 
from Egypt. 

It is certain that in their forty years of wandering before they 
reached Canaan, and afterwards in their established residence in 
that land, thev had many slaves. But we do not find anywhere 
in the Word of God any authority from him to convert a man 
into a slave, except for crime by him committed. 

Abraham, the " father of the faithful," owned slaves — some 
"bought with his money," some "born in the house."" He 
adopted ways and usages long established. But Abraham also 
told a disgraceful falsehood to the " princes of Pharaoh " and to 
Abimelech, King of Gerar ; and Abraham practiced polygamy 
in a form most adapted to oppress one of the wives and her child.'' 
What he did was not always right in the sight of God. 

Under the Mosaic institutions, no Hebrew could be a slave. 
He might be a bond-servant, bound to render service generally 
up to the next year of Jubilee, or six years from the commence- 
ment of his servitude, and sometimes, by his own consent and 
act, up to the end of his life ; ' but he was never a chattel. He 
w^as always a person with the rights of a person. 

1 Genesis xxxvii. 25-36. - Table with Oxford Bible, p. 72. 

a Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 696, 697. ^ Life in the Exode, Dr. A. D. Pollock, 64. 

5 Cxenesis xii. 16 ; xvii. 12-27. Bancroft's U S., 1. 159. 

6 Genesis xii. 11-20 ; xvi., xx., xxi. ' Schafif-Herzog, III. 2193. 



Slavery^ Auciciit and Modern. 55 

It was not so as to aliens and foreigners. They were slaves 
by war and conquest, or by purchase from foreign slave-traders. 
For his own wise and benevolent reasons, God permitted them 
to be held in slavery ; but he required them to be admitted to 
all religious privileges, to circumcision, to the hearing of the law, 
to participation in the paschal sacrifice, and all other sacred fes- 
tivals, to the rest of the Sabbath, and the hopes of the everlasting 
rest ; and in case the owner had no male issue, he could make a 
slave his son-in-law. And the Mosaic code greatly ameliorated 
the conditions of slavery in other respects. It protected the slave 
in life and limb, and if the owner hurt him seriously by chastise- 
ment, he was required to give him his freedom.^ 

The treatment of slaves among the Hebrews was gentle, some- 
times even too mild, as may be inferred from the Proverbs of Sol- 
omon.'^ And when the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon 
they had only seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven 
slaves — about one to six of the free population.'^ We have reason 
to believe that all these slaves were white, and we know that 
two hundred of them were accomplished in vocal music. 

The Greeks ov^^ned slaves in great numbers. In Athens and 
throughout Attica their treatment was mild and genial — the 
mildest ever practiced. But in Sparta the slaves were called 
Helots, and their treatment was the type of all that is calamitous 
in the lot of mankind. They were not slaves of individuals, but 
of the state, and assigned to masters who could neither emanci- 
pate them nor remove them from their land of bondage. As they 
increased rapidly in numbers, efforts w^ere specially made to 
weaken their power, and statements have come down in history 
that the Spartan youth annually engaged in a "chase of Helots," 
hunting them down and massacring them by night and by day. 
Thucydides tells us of a mysterious disappearance of two thou- 
sand Helots after they had been selected to be made free and put 
in the Spartan armies.* The horrible suggestions of his brief 
narrative need no comment. 

But of all the powers of the world, the Roman, as kingdom, 
republic and empire, was the greatest slave-holder. Her slaves 
were generally the result of war, and as her chief business was 
war, slaves multiplied accordingly. These slaves were, with few 
exceptions, white, and embraced the most refined, accomplished 
and cultivated men, women and children of the nations she sub- 
jugated. 

1 Exodus xxi. 26, 27. = Proverbs xxix. 19-21. 3 Ezra ii. 65. Schaff-Herzog, III. 2193 

•1 Thucydides' Hist. Art. Slavery, Amer. Encyclop.,'XIV. 697. 



56 A History of the United States of America, 

When Regulus invaded the Carthaginian territory, 256 B. C, 
he passed, with his armies, through a region which, for richness 
and culture and the refinement of its inhabitants, has been cor- 
rectly described as resembling the approach to Genoa, ^ or the 
neighborhood of Geneva, or even the most ornamental parts of 
the valley of the Thames above London. This delightful region 
was desolated by war, and twenty thousand of its people, many 
of them, beyond doubt, of the highest condition, and bred up in 
all the enjoyments of domestic peace and affluence, were carried 
away as slaves. 

After the second Punic war, the conquests of Rome went on 
with great rapidity. The number of the slaves increased imtil 
the cultivation of the soil, formerly considered the most honor- 
able of labor and fit only for Roman citizens, was done by slaves. 
When Carthage was captured, nearly all of her people were made 
slaves. The rich and luxurious Greek city of Corinth was cap- 
tured by the Romans nearly at the same time, and her people met 
the same fate. Indeed, but for the influence of Polybius and 
Scipio Africanus the younger, all the inhabitants of the Pelopon- 
nesus would have been converted into slaves.^ 

The number of slaves grew to be so great that it was not un- 
common for a wealthy Roman to own twenty thousand of them. 
They were employed not only in agriculture and the more labor- 
ious occupations of life, and in domestic duties, but as librarians, 
readers, writers, reciters, story-tellers, journal keepers, amanuen- 
ses, physicians, surgeons, architects, divines, grammarians, musi- 
cians, singers, play actors, builders, engravers, antiquaries, illumi- 
nators, painters, silversmiths, gladiators and charioteers. The 
money value of a slave was determined not merely by his ability 
and accomplishments, but by the inexorable laws of supply and 
demand.^ 

The conquests of Sylla, Lucullus and Pompey, in the east, so 
flooded the slave-markets that in the military camp in Pontus 
men sold at the low price of sixty-two cents each ! * Generally 
after a victory or a conquest the enslaved people were sold at 
auction. Slave-traders were very numerous and amassed immense 
wealth. We have no difficulty in understanding this when we 
remember that these traders bought in the camps at sixty-two 
cents and then sold in Rome at prices seldom less than one hun- 
dred dollars for a slave.^ 

1 Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 697-700. '- Article Slavery, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 699, 

3 Article Slavery, Amer. Encvclop., XIV. 700. 

* Plutarch, in Lucull., 580. Gibbon, Dec. and Fall, I. 47, note. 

s Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 699-703. 



Slavery, Ancient and Modern. 5y 

The great slave-markets of the world were Antioch, Ephesus, 
Alexandria and the island of Deles. Thither came the slave- 
traders in crowds. And they dealt in human beings as mere 
merchandise. The only use of the word " slave " in the accepted 
English version of the Holy Scriptures is in the description of 
the great merchandise mart of Babylon, ending a wide enume- 
ration thus : "and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and 
slaves and souls of men." 

But notwithstanding his wealth, the slave-trader was regarded 
in Rome, as he has been regarded in all nations and in all ages, 
with contempt and loathing. The Romans considered the busi- 
ness of a dealer in slaves as so utterly unworthy of a merchant 
that, while they regarded a merchant as entitled to the highest 
social position, they turned their back on the slave-trader, and 
gave him habitually a name which indicated thorough distrust 
and abomination. 

Slavery was certainly among the most potent causes of the 
decline and fall of the Roman empire. Gibbon estimates the 
number of slaves in the reign of the Emperor Claudius at sixty 
millions, and this is probably not far from the truth. ^ Such 
a mass, heaping up luxury and self-indulgence, was hastening 
"• the beginning of the end." 

During the dark and the middle ages, slavery continued chiefly 
by the conflicts of Christianity with Mohammedanism, and the 
piratical efforts of the Barbary powers in the North of Africa. 
Yet the slaves made were very seldom negroes. They were 
white people, and often of cultivation and refinement. The wars 
between the Germans and Slavi furnished so many of the latter 
race for the slave-market that the w^ord " slave " is supposed to 
have been thus derived." 

But Christianitv, though her light was then obscured by igno- 
rance and superstition, began to cast that light over the nations of 
Europe, and its effects were always adverse to slavery. Paul, the 
apostle, had indeed induced a fugitive slave to return to a kind 
Christian owner, but he had also, by inspiration, announced a 
principle which proved that Christianity was against slavery. It 
was in these words : "Art thou called being a servant? i^dovXoz — 
a slave) care not for it ; but if thou mayest be made free, use 
it rather."'' 

The Greek and Roman churches were both opposed to slavery. 
They denied the right to convert Christians into slaves, but v\'ere 

1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, I. 52, 53. 2 Article Slavery, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 705. 

3 First Corinthians vii. 21. 



58 A History of the United States oj" America. 

not so definite as to the heathen. Thirty-seven church coun- 
cils passed acts favorable to slaves and tending to their freedom.^ 
The right of asylum in churches v^^as offered to fugitive slaves ; 
large sums were spent for their ransom ; manumissions were fre- 
quent, and were encouraged by the church as acts " inspired by 
the love of God." In the sixth century the Roman Pontiff Greg- 
ory the Great declared that " slaves should be freed, because Christ 
became man in order to redeem us." In the twelfth century, Al- 
exander III. had declared in published writing, that " nature hav- 
ing made no slaves, all men have an equal right to liberty." ' 

The effect of this opposition of organized Christianity to 
slavery was manifest. By the middle of the fifteenth century, no 
whites in Europe continued to be slaves. Serfdom was, indeed, 
continued, and often in oppressive forms ; but serfdom never con- 
verted the man into a chattel. It was the result of the feudal 
system, which prevailed ^all over Europe, and it was rapidly 
extinguished as that system decayed. 

But, unhappily for the world, a strange revival of slavery oc- 
curred in times nearly coeval with the rediscovery of America in 
the close of the fifteenth century, and the maritime enterprises and 
colonization consequent therefrom. These events gave rise to Afri- 
can or negro slavery and its large development in the New World. 

Portugal led the way in this sinister work. In 1441, two sea- 
captains in the employ of Prince Henry the Navigator seized cer- 
tain Moors in the North of Africa and carried them to Portugal. 
The next year these Moors were permitted to ransom themselves, 
and among the merchandise given for them were ten black slaves, 
whose apjDearance in Portugal excited much interest and led the 
van of the African slave-trade.^ 

In Africa slavery had long existed, nourished by the wars, kid- 
napings and raids carried on by the native kings and tribes. 
The trade in Portugal was soon regular, and a Portuguese slave- 
factory was established in one of the islands of Arguin about the 
middle of the fifteenth century. Seven or eight hundi'ed black 
slaves were sent to Portugal from this factory every year. 

And when the Spaniards began to colonize the West Indies 
for the purpose of seeking gold, this trade received a powerful 
impetus. We have seen that the native Indians withered away 
and perished under the forced labors of the mines. The Spanish 
priest Las Casas pitied them and did all he could to save them. 
Among his plans for their relief was the sending of negro slaves 

1 Gesta Christo. Brace, in Schaff-Herzog. III. 2196. 

2 Letter of Alexander to Lupus, King of Valencia. Bancroft's U. S., 1. 163. 

3 Art. Slavery, New Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 707. 



Slavery, Ancient and Modern. 59 

from Africa to work in the mines. He was a good man ; yet 
we wonder at the form of his philanthropy/ 

But its immediate result was so far favorable that other nations 
speedily embarked in the African slave-trade. One negro was 
found to be equal to four Indians in the amount and value of his 
work. England began to bring black slaves from Africa to her 
own soil in I5x3- I^^ 1562 English ships carried on the trade 
with vigor and worldly success. Sir John Hawkins fraudulently 
transferred a large cargo of Africans to Hispaniola, and got such 
rich returns in sugar, ginger and pearls that Qiieen Elizabeth's 
avarice was excited. She not only protected his next voyage, but 
shared in its profits.^ 

In one of these voyages, Hawkins himself relates that he at- 
tacked a town in Africa, set fire to the huts, which were thatched 
with dry palm leaves and burned furiously, and that out of eight 
thousand inhabitants he succeeded in seizing two hundred and 
fifty, whom he carried oft' as slaves ; yet Sir John Hawkins 
stands high in English naval history as a brave and good man. 

The Spanish laws made this negro trade by the English be- 
tween Africa and Hispaniola unlawful ; yet Queen Elizabeth 
shared its hazards, its crimes and its profits, and thus became a 
smuggler, a kidnaper, and a trader in slaves.^ 

Such was the effect on public and private morals and senti- 
ment of the long continuance of an institution whose genesis was 
necessarily in human crime, and not with Divine approbation. 

In 1520, De Ayllon, a Spaniard of Hispaniola, made a system- 
atic kidnaping expedition with several vessels to the coast of 
what is now South Carolina. His design was to obtain native 
Indians and force them to w^ork as slaves in the mines of Hayti. 
He enticed a considerable number aboard his ships ; then sud- 
denly closed the hatches and set sail. But his inhuman fraud 
was unprofitable, and finally recoiled upon him. One of his ves- 
sels sunk with all on board, and many of the captives died during 
the passage to Hayti. In 1=^25, De Ayllon went back to the same 
coast with a number of Spaniards, intending to colonize. Re- 
membering his fraud, the savages lured his men into the country 
and, falling on them at night, slew the greater part of them. De 
Ayllon, with the few survivors, was glad to escape.* 

Thus we can estimate to some extent the views as to human 
slavery held by the Old World when American colonization be- 
gan. But no vision of man was then able to look to the end. 

1 Irving's Columbus, Append. III. 419. 

2 Hakluvt, II. 351, 352 ; III. 594. Keith's Hist, of Va., 31. 

3 Bancroft's U. S., 1. 173. ■'Barnes' U. S., 27, note. Swinton's Cond. U. S., 10. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Colonization of Virginia. 

WITHIN a few years past it has been made clear in history 
that Spain would gladly have prevented any English colo- 
nies in America, and that she resorted to secret methods and 
diplomacy to thwart such movements. 

James I., King of England, sent the Duke of Buckingham to 
Spain to effect, if possible, a contract of marriage between Prince 
Charles, who was afterwards king, and the Spanish Infanta. Had 
this marriage been consummated, Spain would have had a control- 
ling influence in the policy of England, and the fate of North 
America would have been very different from what it has been. 
But the feelings of the English people were strongly against 
this marriage, and, happily, it failed of accomplishment. King 
James, while in Scotland, had written a work to prove that the 
Pope of Rome was Antichrist. Nevertheless, his foreign policy 
was basely subservient to the powers who upheld the Roman 
church.^ 

It was under the influence of Spain that Sir Walter Raleigh, 
the great promoter of English colonization in America, was per- 
secuted by King James, and finally put to death. The original 
charge was treason in consjDiring to place Lady Arabella Stuart 
on the throne. The evidence was so slight and inconclusive that 
it required special prejudice, excited by the Attorney-General, 
Lord Coke, to procure a conviction. He vituperated Raleigh in 
a rancorous speech, in the course of which he denounced him as 
a " damnable atheist," a " spider of hell," and a " viperous traitor." 

But even after conviction he was reprieved, because it was 
known that the conviction was unjust. He was deprived of his 
estates, and confined in the Tower. He was permitted to have 
his wife to live with him. And here in imprisonment he wrote 
his great " History of the World," which was so superior to any 
work of the kind produced before him that all scholars acknow- 
ledged its merit. ^ 

In March, 1615, he was liberated, but not pardoned. He had 

discovered the " large, rich and beautiful empire of Guiana " in 

1 Art. James VI. (Scotland), Amer. Encyclop., IX. 708. "- New Amer. Encyclop., IX. 751. 

[ 60 ] 



Colonization of \irgi)iia. 6i 

1:^9:^, and had written an account of it so full of genial romance 
that King James was willing to appoint him admiral for a new 
expedition to this fairy land. Raleigh expended all the remnant 
of his own property and that of his wife in fitting out a fleet of 
fourteen ships, with which he sailed, reaching Guiana November 
1 3th, 1617. Part of his force was sent up the Orinoco, and, in 
disobedience of his commands, attacked the Spanish settlement of 
St. Thomas, killed the governor, and set fire to the town. In 
this action Raleigh's eldest son was killed. The whole expedi- 
tion was a failure ; the sailors mutinied ; the ships scattered, and 
the unfortunate Raleigh landed at Plymouth, England, in Jul} , 
1618, completely broken in fortune and reputation. 

His failure to achieve success was magnified into a crime. He 
was arrested. The Spanish embassador demanded his death. 
The old conviction in 1603 was brought up, and sentence of death 
was pronounced. His firmness returned, and on the scaffold he 
felt the edge of the ax, and said, with a smile, " This is a sharp 
medicine ; but it is a cure for all diseases." ' Thus, a martyr to 
the cause of English colonization. Sir Walter Raleigh died. 

But eleven years before he died his spirit gained the victory for 
which he had sought. Those who had imbibed that spirit sought 
a patent froin King James and obtained it. On the loth of April, 
1606, the king granted a broad patent to two companies, known as 
the London Company and the Plymouth Company. The first con- 
sisted of Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt 
and others. To them was granted exclusive right to all the ter- 
ritory lying between the 34th and 3Sth parallels of north latitude, 
and running to an indefinite extent westward, even to the Pacific 
Ocean." To the Plymouth Company, consisting of knights, gen- 
tlemen, merchants and others in and about the town of Plymouth, 
was made a similar grant of the territory between the 41st and 
4£;th parallels. To each company were granted all the islands, 
fisheries and other marine treasures within one hundred miles 
directly eastward from their shores and within fifty miles from 
their most northern and southern settlements. The region be- 
tween 38° and 41° was left open to both companies ; but to ren- 
der any collision impossible, each could claim exclusive right for 
fifty miles north or south of its extreme settlements, and thus 
neither could approach w'ithin one hundred miles of the other.' 

Each colony was to be governed by a council of thirteen mem- 
bers given under " such laws, ordinances and instt"uctions" as 

1 New Amer. Encyclop., IX. 751. 

2 Dr. Robertson's America, I. 402. Martineau's Soc'y in Amer., I. 47. 

3 Hazard's State Papers, 50-58. Stith's Va., Append., 1-8. 



62 A History of the United States of America. 

should be given by the king himself, under his sign manual and 
the privy seal of the realm of England ; and the members of the 
councils were to be "ordained, made and removed from time to 
time," as the same instructions should direct. 

The preamble of the charter declared that one leading object of 
the enterprise was the propagation of Christianity among " such 
people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true 
knowledge and worship of God, and might in time be brought to 
human civility, and to a settled and quiet government." ^ 

The adventurers of the London Company eagerly prepared for 
their proposed scheme of colonization. Their means at first were 
limited, and only three ships were owned, the largest of which 
was of not more than one hundred tons burden. Christopher 
Newport was selected for the command. He had gained some 
renown in a voyage against the Spaniards in 1592, but he was 
vain and affected, and little fitted for manly action. Besides the 
crews, one hundred and five persons embarked to form the settle- 
ment. They gave type to all the subsequent career of Virginia. 

We find among them fifty cavaliers, who are reckoned on the 
shipping list as " gentlemen." Disappointed in hope and re- 
duced in fortune, they were seeking the New World with rest- 
less desire for exciting adventure and speedy v^^ealth. Among 
them was George Percv, a member of a noble family and brother 
to the Earl of Northumberland. They had also Rev. Robert Hunt, 
a minister of the gospel, and six gentlemen intended for the 
council. In the whole band we note only eleven professed labor- 
ers, four carpenters, one blacksmith, one bricklayer, and one 
mason ; but we find a barber and a tailor, who would certainly 
be needed by so many gentlemen.^ 

During these preparations, Spain, by keen-eyed agents in Lon- 
don, was watching this plan for English colonization and seeking 
to defeat it. In a letter dated December 34, 1606, but probably 
not dispatched until January 24, 1607, Don Pedro de Zuiiiga, of 
the Spanish embassy in London, wi'ote to the King of vSpain, giv- 
ing him an account of the movements for sending out colonies to 
North America under patents of the English king. This letter 
betrays some mistakes of the writer — especially in supposing that 
the grant to the Plymouth Company went as high as to latitude 
55° north. Yet the letter shows substantial knowledge of what 
was going on, and especially of the character of King James, and 
his unmanly and unfavorable treatment of the appeal made by 
Sir Noel de Caron, the embassador of Holland, in behalf of the 

I Grahame's Colon. Hist., I. 32. 2 List in Smith's Va., I. 153. Burk's Va., I. 95 and note. 



Colonization of ^^irginia. 63 

brave people of that land, then grievously oppressed and perse- 
cuted as " rebels " by Spain.' 

Plad these machinations of Spain been successful, the United 
States of America -would either never have existed, or would have 
been projections into the New. World of the cruelty, ignorance, 
superstition and feebleness of the mother whence they came. 

But a better Providence was governing the aflairs of this 
world. On the 19th of December, 1606, Newport with his 
small fleet sailed from Blackwell. Instead of following Gosnold's 
direct course across the Atlantic, they sailed by the Canaries and 
West Indies. On the route dissensions among the great men 
raged so furiously that Captain John Smith was seized and 
committed to close confinement on the false cliarge that he in- 
tended to murder the council and make himself king of Virginia. 

Arriving near the coast of America, their false reckoning kept 
them in doubt, and RatcHffe, captain of one of the ships, pro- 
posed that they should return. But a furious storm drove them 
all night under bare poles, and on the 36th April, i6oy, they saw 
before them the broad inlet to Chesapeake Bay. They gave to 
the south cape the name of Henry and to the north cape that of 
Charles, from the two oldest sons of the king. 

A sealed box on board was now opened, and it was found that 
Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Maria Wingfield, 
Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George 
Kendall were members of the first Provincial Council. 

Sailing leisurely up the bay, the voyagers were charmed with 
the prospect. The season was mild, and nature had put on the 
emerald robes of spring. One of them thus writes : " We landed 
and discovered a little way, but we could find nothing worth the 
speaking of but fair meadows and goodly tall trees, with such 
fresh water rimning thi-ough the woods as I was almost ravished 
at the first sight thereof." ^ 

At length they reached the mouth of a magnificent river — the 
"Powhatan" of the Indians, the "James" of subsequent times. 
They ascended it for about forty miles, and, after seventeen days 
spent in searching for a suitable spot for a settlement, they se- 
lected a peninsula, and on the 13th of May commenced the city 
of Jamestown. 

At first a commendable industry seems to have prevailed. The 
council planned a fort ; the settlers felled the trees, pitched their 

1 Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, I. 45, 46, 80, 00. This elaborate work 
\vas published in ISoO. 

2 Purchas' Pilgrims, IV. 1686. The narrative is George Percy's. Brown's Genesis, I. 152- 
168. 



64 A History of the United States of America. 

tents, prepared enclosures for gardens, made nets for the fish 
which abounded in the river, and began to prepare clap-boards 
to freight the ships on their return to England. 

But soon these fair promises of good were betrayed. Discord 
prevailed in their councils, and by a flagrant act of injustice John 
Smith, the leading spirit among them, was excluded from the 
council, and " an oration was made " to attempt to show cause 
for this.' 

Although questions have been raised in modern times as to the 
historic truth of some incidents in his life, narrated by himself, 
there can be no doubt that John Smith is the hero of the early 
history of Virginia, and, therefore, of the early colonization of 
the United States. He was born in Willoughby, Lincolnshire, 
England, in 1579, and lived to 163 1. His life thus covered a 
period of adventure and excitement. He traveled extensively in 
France and in Scotland, and learned the stern duties of the 
soldier by practice in the Netherlands. Sailing between Mar- 
seilles and Italy, a fierce storm arose, and the superstitious seamen 
flung the heretic Briton into the sea. His strength and skill at 
swimming saved him. He landed — was carried by a vessel to 
Egypt ; sailed in the Levant, fought a rich Venetian ship, which 
he captured, and was put ashore at Antibes with a treasure of a 
thousand sequins. He entered the army of Austria and fought 
against the Turks. In Transylvania the Turkish bashaw chal- 
lenged any Christian of the rank of commander to single combat. 
Smith was chosen by lot, and prepared for the lists. He slew 
three Turks in succession, and laid their heads at the feet of 
Count Moyses of Transylvania. The highest' honors were heaped 
on him. But in the fatal battle of Rotenton, the Turks were 
victorious, and Smith was wounded and made prisoner. He was 
long in slavery among the Tartars. Escaping by a series of won- 
derful adventures, he traveled through Germany, France and 
Spain, and arrived in England with a thousand ducats in his 
purse and a spirit eager for further adventures. Here Gosnold 
met him, and urged him to embark in the scheme for colonizing 
Virginia. He entered upon it with courage and enthusiasm. 
He became the power that sustained the spirit of the colony, and 
without whom it would have failed.^ 

■> Dr. Wm. Simons, In Smith's Va., I. 151. 

- The modern attempts to discredit Smith's relations a:id history began with Dr. Charles 
Deane, of Massachusetts, in 1860, and have been continued by others (including the Virginian 
Alexander Brown), but without success. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Captain John Smith. 

WHEN the council for Virginia was organi/.ed in Jamestown, 
Edward Maria Wingfield was elected president. This man 
always showed himself to be the inveterate enemy of John Smith, 
and speedily drew on himself the hatred even of his accomplices, 
by his rapacity, cowardice and selfish extravagance. Smith de- 
manded a trial, but the council feared to trust their charge to 
a jury, and kept him under suspension. But his courage and 
talents soon made his services indispensable. 

He accompanied Captain Newport up the river to the royal 
seat of King Powhatan, a few miles below the falls, and not far 
from the present site of Richmond. Here were twelve small 
houses, pleasantly placed on the north bank immediately in front 
of three green islets. Powhatan received them with hospitality, 
though with secret distrust and a deep purpose of enmity. He 
had long ruled over the most savage tribes in Virginia, and he 
looked on the strangers as enemies to his power.' 

When they returned to Jamestown, they found that the Indians 
had already made an attack on the settlement, had slain one boy 
and wounded seventeen men. Wingfield's cowardice had caused 
this disaster. Fearful of mutiny, he had refused to permit the 
fort to be palisaded or guns to be inounted within. The attack 
of the savages might have been more fatal, but happily a gun 
from one of the ships carried a crossbar-shot among the boughs 
of a tree, and, shaking them down upon their heads, caused such 
consternation that they fled.'' The fears of Wingfield were over- 
ruled. The fort was defended with palisades and armed with 
cannon, the men were exercised, and every precaution taken 
against a renewed attack. 

Smith had indignantly rejected an insidious offer of pardon by 
the council. This would have been a confession of guilt. He 
again demanded a trial, and it could no longer be refused. He 
was fully acquitted, and so evident was the injustice of Wingfield 
that he was adjudged to pay to the accused two hundred pounds, 
which sum the generous Smith immediately devoted to the good of 

iStith's Va., 46. «Dr. Simons, in Smith's Va., I. 151, 152. 

5 [ 65 ] 



(id A History of the United States of America. 

the colony.' Thus restored to his place in the council, he devised 
and entered upon active schemes for the welfare of the settlers. 

On the i^th of June, 1607, Newport set forth on his voyage of 
return to England, leaving, however, a pinnace and large open 
boat for the use of the colonists. 

Left to their own resources, they soon became depressed, and 
began to look on their prospects with gloomy apprehension. 
While the ships remained they enjoyed many sea-stores, but now 
they had little to eat except a mixture of worm-eaten wheat and 
barley boiled in water. Crabs and oysters were obtained from 
the river with small labor, but the season rendered them un- 
wholesome. The rank vegetation around Jamestown bred fevers 
and agues. To such maladies, all of Tidewater Virginia has 
been subject in the sickly seasons. The colonists had been reck- 
less and imprudent in their habits. The Peruvian or Jesuits'' 
bark, obtained from the cinchona tree of South America, had, 
indeed, been introduced into Spain, and had proved itself a won- 
derful safeguard and remedy in such diseases ; but the English 
colonists seem to have known nothing of it. 

Within ten days, hardly ten settlers were able to stand on their 
feet. Before the middle of September fifty were buried — among 
them the hardy navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. But during all 
these scenes of appalling mortality. President Wingfield lived in 
sumptuous indifference, feasting on the best provisions the colony 
could afford : " oatmeal, sacke, oyle, aqua vitas, beefe, egges or 
whatnot."'' Seeing the forlorn condition of the settlement, he 
attempted to seize the pinnace, and make his escape to England. 
These outrages so moved the council that they instantly deposed 
Wingfield, expelled his accomplice, Kendall, and elected Ratcliffe 
to the presidency. Thus the number, originally seven, was reduced 
to three. Newport had sailed, Gosnold was dead, Wingfield and 
Kendall were in disgraced retirement. Ratcliffe was nominally 
the head, but Smith was the governing genius.' 

Ample historical authority assures us that at this dark crisis, 
v/hen, without some change for the better, the colony would have 
become extinct, the savages around them voluntarily brought 
thein such quantities of venison, corn and wholesome fruits, that 
health and cheerfulness were soon restored. '' 

Ratcliffe and Martin were incompetent, and John Smith was 
almost forced to assume the leadership. Their provisions being 
again nearly exhausted, he went with a party down the river to 

1 Stith's Va., 47. Simons, In Smith's Va., 1. 152. 

^Smith's Va., I. 154. Belknap's Amer. Biog., II. 228. sBurk's Va., I. 103. 

* Smith's Va., 1. 155. Stith, 48. Keith, 60. Bancroft's U. S., 1. 144. 



Captain yolin Smith. 67 

Kecoughtan to seek supplies from the natives. 'J'licy were at 
first eontemptuous, oflerinijj a handful of coin and a piece of bread 
in exchange for swords and muskets. They then became hostile, 
coming against the colonists in numbers, frightfully dressed, and 
bearing their monstrous idol, Okec, stuffed with moss and hung 
with chains and c()pi)er. They were received with a volley of 
pistol-shot. The Okcc fell to the ground, and with him several 
of his worshipers. The rest fled to the woods, and, ilnding re- 
sistance vain, they brought in quantities of corn, \cnison, tur- 
keys and wild fowl, and received in exchange beads, copper, 
hatchets, and their Okcc. 

During this expedition, Wingfleld and Kendall made another 
attempt to carry oil" the l)ark to l^^ngland. .Smith returned just in 
time to arrest this ellort, and in the skirmish Kendall lost his lite. 
Another effort to desert the settlement was made by Capt. Gal)riel 
Archer and the worthless President Ratcliffe, but Smith arrested 
them and forced them to their duty. 

Winter now came on, and with it came immense numbers of 
swans, geese and ducks, which covered the rivers and furnished 
delightful food. The settlers feasted daily on them, and enjoyed 
in abundance the peas, pumpkins, persimmons, and other vegeta- 
ble treasures which the season afforded. Captain Smith thus de- 
scribes the "persimmon," a well-known Virginia fruit: " I'he 
other, which they call patchamins., grow as high as a pal met a ; 
the fruit is like a medlar ; it is first green, then yellow^, and red 
when it is ripe ; if it be not ripe, it will draw a man's mouth 
awry with much torment ; but when ripe, it is as delicious as 
an apricot." ' With this change of season and nourishing food 
health and good spirits came back to the colonists. 

But John Smith could not be inactive. lie prepared his boat 
for a voyage, and in a season of uncommon rigor he set out on 
an expedition to explore the Chickahominy river, which was, 
afterwards to be so famous in American history. The council 
had ungratefully charged him with negligence in not seeking the 
head of this river, and he determined to go up it as far as possible 

The Chickahominy falls into the James not many miles above 
Jamestown. It flows through a fertile region, and on its banks 
were many well-supplied Indian settlements. King Powhatan 
then reigned over about thirty tribes, from the bay to the falls of 
each river as far north as the Potomac. 

But the space between the falls and the inountains was occu- 
pied by two Indian confederacies — the Monacans near the head 
iSmith'sVa., I. 122. 



6S 



A History of the United States of America. 



of James and York rivers, and the Alannahoacs on the upper part 
of the Rappahannock and the Potomac. These were in amity 
with each other, but waged incessant war upon the Powhatans ; 
and all the prowess of the great king could not reduce them to 
subjection. At the head of the bay lived the Susquehannocs, who 
were represented as men of gigantic stature, yet perfect symme- 
try, clad in skins of bears or wolve?, with the grinning heads 
still attached, and hanging down on the breast or shoulders of 
the wearer. Their voices were said to be deep and solemn, like 
the hollow tones from a vault. ^ Beyond the mountains lived the 
Massawomecs, whom the eastern Indians represented as numer- 
ous and powerful, living upon a great salt water, inveterate in 
their enmities and terrible in war.^ They were probably a branch 
of the celebrated Five Nations, so well known afterwards in the 
history of New York.^ 

Up the Chickahominy Captain Smith urged his boat, frequently 
cutting away trunks of trees or matted undergrowth which op- 
posed his progress. Finding the passage up more and more difli- 
cult, he left the boat in a broad bay, where Indian arrows could 
not reach her ; and, strictly forbidding the crew to leave her, he 
pressed on in a canoe with two Englishmen and two Indians. 
Hardly was he gone when the disobedient crew left the boat and 
sought amusement on shore. Opecancanough, an Indian chief of 
great subtlety and courage, was near with a lurking band of sav- 
ages. He made prisoner George Cassen, one of the party who 
had landed, and obtained from him full information as to Smith's 
movements. Cassen's cowardice did not save him. The savages 
put him to death by tortures, and then pursued their more dreaded 
foe. 

Smith had penetrated twenty miles into the marshes. He left 
the two Englishmen in the canoe, and went forward with one 
Indian as guide. The pursuing savages found the two men fast 
asleep near the canoe, and shot them to death with arrows. They 
then hastened after Smith. But in him they foun^ a superior 
being. Binding the Indian guide firmly to his arm, he used him 
as a shield, and with his musket he brought down two of the 
pursuers. They fell back appalled. He would, perhaps, have 
reached the canoe and escaped ; but, while in retreat, he sank to 
the middle in a half-frozen swamp. Finding himself deprived of 
strength, he made signals of submission. The savages drew him 
out, and, chafing his benumbed body, restored him to strength. 

1 Purchas' Pilgrims. IV. 1693. Smith, I. 119. Stith, 67, 68. ^Smith's Va., 1. 120-135. 

3 Jefferson's Notes, 99. 



Captain yohn Smith. 69 

He then addressed the chief, and showed him and his band a 
small magnetic dial. They observed the play of the needle be- 
neath the glass plate with simple wonder ; and ^vhen the savages 
bound him to a tree, and prepared to pierce him through with 
arrows, Opecancanough held up the dial, and every arm fell. 

They now conducted him in triumph to Orapaques, a favorite 
Indian hunting town, north of the Chickahominy marshes. Here 
the whole band performed a dance around the captive, yelling 
and shrieking like demons, and decorated with all manner of 
hideous ornaments. They no^w conceived that in the absence of 
the " great captain" they might successfully attack Jamestown. 
They offered Sinith as many Indian beauties as he might select as 
wives, and as much land as he would have as dower, if he would 
aid in their schemes. 

He dissuaded them from the attack, giving them a strong state- 
ment of the power of the colonists, and especially of their can- 
non and gunpowder. Some being still incredulous, he offered to 
prove his veracity if they would receive from him a scrap of pa- 
per and send it by their own messengers to the town. He wrote 
his directions ; the Indian messengers carried them to Jamestown. 
There they soon witnessed a display of cannon-fire and rockets 
w^hich almost deprived them of their senses. Afterwards, going 
to the spot designated, they found precisely the articles which 
their captive had stated he would obtain. Returning with a re- 
port of these wonders, the savages no longer doubted that Smith 
had supernatural power, and their awe grew greater from day 
to day. 

They then conducted him to native settlements on the Pa- 
munkey, the Mattaponi, the Piankatank, the Rappahannock, and 
the Potomac. Everywhere he was gazed at as more than man. 
In the words of one of the historians of this march, " they enter- 
tained him with most strange and fearfull conjurations, 

" As if near led to hell, 
Amongst the devils to dwell." ' 

But nothing disturbed his courage and self-possession. 

Finally, the captive was conducted to Werowocomoco, the im- 
perial seat of Powhatan, in the county known as Gloucester, and 
not far from Yorktovv^n, where the last scene of the war of revo- 
lution was enacted. 

Here he appeared before Powhatan, who received him with a 
display of all the savage splendor that his coin't could furnish. 

1 Smith's Va., 1. 160. 



yo A History of the United States of America. 

Two hundred grim attendants surrounded him, and behind theni' 
were the numerous ladies of the court, decked with the -white 
down of birds, and with chains of glittering beads. The Queen 
of Appomattox brought, him w^ater to -wash his hands, and another 
damsel offered him a bunch of feathers to dry them. 

But among all who gazed on him, none regarded him with 
more interest, dawning into affection, than Pocahontas, or Matoaka, 
the yoinig daughter of the king. She was then in early woman- 
hood. She entreated her stern father to spare the noble captive's 
life. : 

But the king and his counselors decided that a life so impor- 
tant to the colonists could not be spared. Sentence of death w^as 
pronounced. Two large stones were brought and laid near the 
feet of the king, and the captive was seized and forced down with 
his head upon them. The clubs of several strong savages were 
upraised. Another moment would have ended the life most 
important to Virginia. But in that moment, Pocahontas, with a 
cry which thrilled every heart, threw herself upon the prostrate 
captive and clasped his neck with her arms. Her own head 
shielded his from the threatened blow, and raising her eyes to her 
father's face, she silently pleaded for mercy. The king relented. 
John Smith was spared. In two days, after a captivity of seven 
weeks, he returned in safety to Jamestown. 

The historic truth oi" this incident, the most romantic of a 
romantic life, has been denied.' But its authenticity has been 
vindicated upon grounds so solid, and by reasoning so logical, 
that it must retain its place in any sound history of the early 
colonization of America.^ 

iBy Thomas Fuller, in hie " Worthies." Swinton, Cond. U. S., note, p. 32. Anderson's 
Gram. School U. S., note, p. 19. Palfrey. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., note, 47. Charles 
Deane, 1S60. Alexander Brown, Genesis, I. 170. 

2 Prof. G. F. Holmes' U. S., 33, note. A. H. Stephens' U. S. (School), 21. W. W. Henry, 
address before Va. Hist. Society, 1882. Bancroft, I. 1-17. Eggleston, Quackenbos, Ellis, Good- 
rich, Barnes, D. B. Scott, Derry, Blackburn & McDonald. Henry Stephens and Prof. 
Edward Arber, in the Athenaeum. Ch. Observer, Louisville, Sept. 25th, 1889. 



CHAPTER X. 
The Virginia Colony Near to Death. 

AS usual, on his return Smith found disorder and insubordi- 
nation running riot among the colonists. The pinnace had 
again been seized, and he was obliged to direct the guns of the 
fort against the mutineers and compel submission. 

Early in the winter, Newport arrived again with two ships 
from England. He projected a trading scheme up the York river, 
in which Smith accompanied him. Powhatan was too keen for 
Newport, and so managed the trade with him that the English 
received only four bushels of corn for what they had expected 
to bring them twenty hogsheads.' But Smith's adroitness and 
skill more than restored the balance. He passed before the eyes 
of the king and his people beads of the deepest blue color, which 
he assured them were only worn by the mightiest kings in the 
" far country." Thus for a few pounds of blue beads he obtained 
several hundred bushels of corn. Yet, they parted in perfect 
amity. But such transactions cannot be vindicated ; and their 
repetition through all the early colonial times tended strongly 
to alienate and embitter the Indians. 

In December a fire, kindled by accident, destroyed many houses 
and much clothing and provision in Jamestown. 

But early in i6oS, a bright phantom rose for a time to deceive 
them. In the neck of land in the rear of Jamestown, a stream of 
water swept out shining dust from a sand bank. Believing that 
this was gold, Newport's ship was loaded with it ; and when the 
Phcnix^ under Captain Nelson, arrived from the West Indies, 
Martin was madly intent on loading her also with this glittering 
sand. But the remonstrances of Smith prevailed, and she took 
in a cargo of cedar wood. These ships carried back Wingfield 
and Archer, and thus relieved the colony of two pests. We need 
hardly say that the sand, on arrival, was found worthless. 

John Smith made a number of minor trips and two full voy- 
ages of exploration in Virginia. In an open boat of three tons 
burden, with a crew of thirteen, and carrying with him Walter 
Russel, a physician of high character and courage, who has left 

1 Smith's Va., I. 167. Stith, 38. 
[ 71 ] 



72 A History of the United States of America. 

accounts of these voyages, Smith penetrated each of the larger 
rivers of Virginia to the falls, encountered the natives every- 
where, fought the brave Rappahannocs near the site of Freder- 
icksburg, awed the more warlike Indians by his courage, concil- 
iated the peaceful, discovered the exhaustless resources of the 
country, and made surveys, from which he afterwards prepared a 
map of astonishing accuracy and extent.^ 

In one part of the Potomac they found the fish so abundant 
that they were packed together with their mouths above water ; 
and having no nets the voyagers captured some with ^frying- 
pan. Near the mouth of the Rappahannock, Smith plunged the 
point of his sword into a singular fish, " like a thornback," with 
a long tail and from it a poisoned sting. In taking it off it drove 
the sting into his wrist, producing torturing pain, and in a few 
hours the whole hand, arm and shoulder had swollen so fearfully 
that death seemed inevitable. He pointed out a place for his 
grave, and his men, v^'ith heavy hearts, prepared it. But Dr. 
Russel applied the probe and used an oil with such success that 
Smith was soon well, and ate part of the same fish for his supper.^ 
This locality has borne the name of Stingray Point ever since. 

Returning from the first voyage the 2istof July, they found 
sickness, want, depression and turmoil. Martin had sailed in the 
Phenix. Ratclifte was president ; and while all around him 
were suffering and want, he v\^as causing an elegant mansion to 
be erected in the woods for his own special comfort. The popu- 
lar discontent might have had fatal results but for Smith's arrival. 
Ratcliffe was deposed, and, at last, the only man fit for the office 
was made president ; but, as he was about to set out on another 
voyage, he left Matthew Scrivener as his deputy, and sailed with 
twelve men on the 24th of July. This voyage was the most ad- 
venturous and varied that he had made. In the neighborhood of 
what is now Norfolk he encountered the Chesapeakes and Nanse- 
monds, three hundred in number, and boldly meeting their inces- 
sant flights of arrows, replied with volleys of musket-balls, w^hich 
so subdued the natives that they sued for peace, and bought it 
with their chief's bow and arrows, a chain of pearl, and four hun- 
dred baskets of corn.^ 

Returning in triumph, he reached Jamestown September 7th, 
1608, after an absence of nearly two months. 

Scrivener had governed well. Ratcliffe was a prisoner for 
mutiny. The first harvest of corn had been gathered in, though 

1 It Is in Purchas, IV. 1691, and Smith's Va., I. 149. 2 Dr. Russel, in Smith, I. 179. 

smilard's Smith, II. 277. 



The Virginia Colony Near to Death. 73 

somewhat injured by rain. Smith could no longer decline the 
presidency, and was formally elected on the loth of September. 

His administration was vigorous and wise. The church was 
rebuilt, the storehouse repaired, a new building erected for sup- 
plies, the fort put in order, and a regular watch established. The 
men were drilled every Saturday. Habits of industry were re- 
quired. 

Capt. Newport arrived with a ship from England containing 
another supply of settlers and provisions. We find in the ship- 
ping list the usual superabundance of indolent gentlemen and 
dissipated cavaliers, with few laborers and fewer mechanics. 
But in this ship came eight Poles and Germans skilled in making 
tar, pitch, glass, mills and soap-ashes ; also Mrs. Forrest and her 
maid, Anne Burras, the first European women who had come to 
Jamestown. The London Council enjoined on Newport three 
objects, viz., a lump of gold, a discovery of the South Sea, or one 
of the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh.^ 

But the great ceremony first to be performed was the corona- 
tion of King Powhatan by authority of King James. Smith ac- 
companied Newport to Werowocomoco for the purpose. Poca- 
hontas had aided in getting up a masquerade for the special 
entertainment of the English, in which Indian maidens very 
nearly nude were the performers. The narrator of this scene 
could not have thought very highly of these damsels, as he calls 
them " fiends," speaks of their " hellish shouts and cries," and 
bitterly complains of their tormenting him by " crowding, press- 
ing and hanging about him, most tediously crying, ' Love you not 
me ? Love you not me ? ' " - 

But old Powhatan bore himself like a king. He was willing 
to wear the scarlet cloak and other royal apparel offered, but ab- 
solutely refused to kneel when the crown was placed on his 
head. Several attendants pressed on his shoulders, and while 
thus bent by force, three others placed the crown on his brow. 
Immediately a pistol-shot was fired, followed by a volley from 
the boat. Powhatan sprang up and seized his arms. But find- 
ing this was part of the ceremony, he grew calm, and presented 
to Captain Newport his worn mantle and his old shoes ! ^ 

After taking part in this high pageant, Newport set forth with 
one hundred and twenty chosen men to explore the country above 
the falls and discover the South Sea. They accomplished nothing 
except to exhaust their own strength, provoke the natives, and 

1 Smith, 1. 192. Bancroft, I. 150. - Smith's Va., I. 194, 195. Hillard, II. 285. 

3 Stith, 78, 79. Smith, I. 196. 



'jA A History of the United States of America. 

delude themselves with the phantom of a silver mine. They 
then returned to Jamestown " disappointed, half sick, and all 
complaining, being sadly harassed with toil, famine and discon- 
tent." 

Smith had foretold these results. He thought it now time to 
exercise his authority as president, and direct their labor to more 
profitable ends. 

He set the cavaliers and gentlemen to work in the forest with 
axes, to fell the trees and prepare boards for building. They soon 
began to relish their work, and took delight in hearing the 
thunder of the fulling trees. But their hands were tender, and 
often tremendous oaths fell from their lips. Smith corrected this 
evil habit by having the oaths counted, and for each one, at the 
close of the day, a can of cold water was poured down the sleeve 
of the oftender.^ 

His firm and wise administration for more than a year produced 
manifest improvement. The colonists became secure in their 
persons and property ; the arts were encouraged ; glass, tar and 
soap-ashes were tried ; a well of excellent water was opened ; 
twenty houses were built ; nets and weirs were prepared for fish- 
ing ; fowls were domesticated, and increased with great rapidity ; 
Hog Island abounded in swine. 

He was equally successful with the natives, who all regarded 
him with respect and awe. He had several personal encounters, 
one with Opecancanough, whom he seized by the scalping lock, 
and, turning a pistol against his breast, subdued him and his fol- 
lowers. Pocahontas continued to regard him with afiection. 

On one dark and stormy night a plot was arranged by the 
Indians to destroy him. Pocahontas hastened through the dark- 
ness and the wintry rain to the cottage where the president was 
reposing and revealed the plot, which was met and defeated by 
his prompt and vigorous precautions. 

In the autumn of 1609 Smith met with a serious accident. On 
his return from the seat of Powhatan, on James river, while 
asleep in his boat, his powder-bag took fire, and the explosion 
tore the flesh from his body and inflicted a terrible wound. Un- 
able to procure the needed surgical aid in the colony, he sailed 
for England. He never returned to Jamestown, though he made 
a successful voyage to the region which was afterwards New 
England. He died in London in 1631, at the age of fifty-two. 

Meanwhile the adventurers in the London Company had been 
deeply disappointed at the meagre results in money and gold 

1 Smith, I. 197. Stith, 80. 



The Virg^inia Colony Near to Death. 75 

comings from the colony. They applied to King James for a new 
chartei", and on the 23d of IMay, 1609, he granted them a patent, 
from which they promised themselves success. 

He erected a gigantic corporation, under the style of the Treas- 
urer and Company for Virginia. It consisted of more than 
twenty peers of the realm, nearly one hundred knights, and a great 
crowd of mercers, drapers, fishmongers, grocers, goldsmiths, skin- 
ners, salters, ironmongers, wax-chandlers, butchers, saddlers, and 
barber-chirurgeons. 

Sir Thomas Smith was appointed treasurer. He had amassed 
a large fortune as a merchant in London. The company organ- 
ized under its charter, and elected Thomas West — Lord Dela- 
ware — governor and captain-general of the colony. He was a 
man noble in birth, generous in disposition, of commanding 
talents, and of peculiar fitness for nursing and encouraging an 
infant settlement.' 

Emigrants now oflered themselves from every quarter and of 
every class. Nine vessels were equipped — the Sea Adventure^ 
the Diaf/iofid, the Falcon^ the BIcss{ng\ the Unity, the S-vallou\ 
the Lion — with a ketch and a pinnace. Nearly five hundred 
settlers were aboard, besides their crews, and the auspices seemed 
so flattering that this was styled the Virginia voyage." 

Lord Delaware was to follow in a few months. Sir George 
Somers was admiral. Sir Thomas Gates lieutenant-general, and 
Christopher Newport commander. But the question of priority 
not being determined among them, they all embarked on the 
same vessel — the ^"('(T Adventure. 

Thev set sail from Plvmouth the z<\ of June, 1609, and, not- 
withstanding their express orders to proceed directly westward, 
thev went as far south as the 26th degree of latitude, and soon had 
disease and death among their crews. On the 24th July a feartul 
tropical storm came on them, with lightning, thunder and wind, 
which threatened their destruction. The ships were all separated. 
The ketch, imable to endure the tempest, foundered, and all her 
crew were lost. 

Seven vessels rode out the storm, and in a shattered condition 
arrived in \'irginia in the month of August. So large a fleet ex- 
cited alarm. Believing them to be Spaniards, John Smith, who 
was vet in \'irginia and president, prepared to give them a rude 
welcome ; but when the mistake was discovered they were gladly 
received. 

1 New Life of Va. Force's Hist. Tracts, Vol. I. Belknap's Am. Biog., II. 115. 

2 New Life of Va., 9, 10. 



76 A History of the United States of America. 

' It was soon found that they added little to the real strength of 
the colony. The provisions they brought, with those on hand, 
were not sufficient. Had the ne^v colonists been men of perse- 
verance and industry, they would soon have drawn enough from 
land and water to feed them ; but they were the worst material 
that had yet come. Gentlemen reduced to poverty by gaming 
and extravagance, too pi"oud to beg, too lazy to dig ; broken 
tradesmen tainted with fraud ; footmen with all honest reputa- 
tion expended ; rakes consumed by disease and impurity ; liber- 
tines whose race of sin was yet to run, and " unruly sparks 
packed off by their friends to escape worse destinies at home " — 
of such were these last colonists ; and, for climax of evil, the 
three men, Ratcliffe, Archer and Martin, who had been sent 
away Avith the hope that they were gone forever, now returned 
to plague Virginia by their insubordinate folly.^ 

During the fev\^ weeks he remained. Smith strove with courage 
and decision to arrest the evils of such an influx. But after his 
wound compelled his withdrawal, the disorder, idleness and vices 
of the colonists speedily brought on results -which were appalling. 

He left in Virginia at least four hundred and ninety persons 
(of whom one hundred Avere well-trained soldiers), tw^enty-four 
pieces of ordnance, a large quantity of muskets, fire-locks, shot, 
powder, pikes, and swords ; nets for fishing, tools for labor, 
clothes enough for all wants ; horses, sw^ine, poultry, sheep, and 
goats in abundance ; a harvest newly gathered ; three ships, 
seven boats — in short, all that was needed for prosperity if it 
had been properlv used.^ In a few months this profusion was 
squandered, those resources were turned to the worst purposes, 
and those fair numbers wei'e brought down low bv idleness and 
vice. 

George Percy, the nominal president, was sick and feeble. 
Riot and sedition everywhere prevailed. Emboldened by their 
discords, the Indians assailed them on every side, drove in the fee- 
ble settlements at Nansemond and Powhatan planted by West 
and Martin, and threatened Jamestown with destruction. King 
Powhatan threw oft' his apathy, and actively plotted against the 
wretched colonists. He tempted Ratcliffe and about forty men 
within his reach for the alleged purpose of trade, and then, with 
his warriors, suddenly fell on them ; and none escaped except one 
boy, whom the ever-generous Pocahontas rescued from the hands 
of the murderers.* 

1 New Life of Va., 10. Stith, 103. Keith, 116, 117. Bancroft, I. 154. Beverley, 21, 22. 

2 Smith, I. 210, 241. Marshall. Grahame's Colon. Hist., I. 44. 

3 Stith, 116. Burk, I. 157. 



Tlie Virginia Colony Near to DeatJi. h*i 

To these horrors was soon added the greater horror of famine. 
For centuries afterwards this f;ital season was spoken of as " the 
starving time." As regular food disappeared they resorted to 
the most revolting means of sustenance. The bodies and skins 
of horses were cooked. It is said that the body of an Indian who 
had been slain was disinterred and eagerly devoured. Some his- 
torians relate that one miserable wretch slew his wife from hatred, 
and fed upon her body several days before the deed was discov- 
ered.' 

Of all that Smith left in Virginia, only sixty persons now sur- 
vived. These maintained a feeble life upon roots, herbs, berries, 
and a few fish from the river. Ten days more would probably 
have closed the scene, when an arrival took place which rekin- 
dled, for a brief time, their expiring hopes. 

In the storm already mentioned, the Sea Adventure, on which 
were the three high officers, Somers, Gates and Newport, was 
wrecked, and cast ashore on one of the small group of islands, 
now known as the Bermudas, lying in the Atlantic five hundred 
and eighty miles eastwardly from the coast of North Carolina. 
They are supposed to have been discovered by Juan Bermudez, a 
Spanish navigator, in 1523. Lying near the angle where the 
trade-winds meet, they are subject to terrible storms and hurri- 
canes.^ 

The Spaniards believed them to be haunted by ghosts and de- 
mons ; but when the wrecked colonists of the Sea Adventure 
landed, they found no hostile spirits. The air v^^as pure, the hea- 
vens were serene, the waters abounded with excellent fish, the 
beach was covered with turtle, birds enlivened the forests, and 
the whole island swarmed with hogs, wdiich were easily captured. 

Amid this profusion they remained nine months ; but Somers 
longed to carry out his colonizing scheme. Two vessels were 
constructed from the cedar of the island and the remains of the 
Sea Adventure. They had some provisions saved from their ves- 
sel, and a large store of pork from the wild hogs of the island, 
cured with salt obtained by crystallizing the sea-water on the 
rocks ai'ound them. 

Their vessels were named the Patience and the Deliverance. On 
the loth of May, 1610, they set sail and steered for Virginia. 
They reached Jamestown on the 24th, and met a group of 
v^-retched beings, weak, pallid, emaciated, starving. Deep gloom 
filled all their souls. 

1 Smith, II. 2. Stith, 11c. Keith, 121. Burk, I. 157. 

2 Art. Bermudas, New Amer. Encyclop., III. 17a. 



^8 A History of the United States of America. 

There was no reaction. Sir George Somers did, indeed, seek to 
inspire them with hope ; and, to procure a supply of hogs, re- 
turned to the Bermudas, where he died/ 

Capt. Samuel Argall commanded one of the two pinnaces, but 
was driven oft' from Bermuda towards Sagadahoc and Cape Cod 
by a violent tempest, in which his fine seamanship saved his ves- 
sel. He returned to the waters of Virginia.^ 

With difficulty the new-comers gathered from the feeble and 
almost imbecile survivors in Jamestown some idea of their suf- 
ferings and condition. It was determined that the colony should 
be abandoned. Some even proposed to burn all their buildings 
and sweep avs^ay every vestige of the attempted settlement ; but 
Sir Thomas Gates steadily resisted this barbarous design. 

On the yth of June, 1610, the drum beat a melancholy measure, 
and the colonists embarked on four pinnaces, and turned their 
backs on the deserted settlement. 

On the morning of the 8th they had been -wafted by the ebb 
tide to Mulberry Island Point. While waiting the turn of the 
tide they saw a boat approaching. In one hour they learned that 
Lord Delaware had arrived from England with three ships and 
an ample supply of provisions. Hearing at Point Comfort of 
the proposed abandonment, he had sent the boat before him to 
encourage them and prevent their departure. 

Instantly the cloud of gloom rolled away. Hope returned. 
Spreading their sails to a fair easterly wind, the whole fleet sailed 
up the river, and on Sunday, the loth day of June, 16 10, came to 
anchor at the very spot which three days before they had left with 
stern resolve never to return.^ 

1 Bermudas, Amer. Encyclop., III. 175. 

- Argall's Voyage, Brown's Genesis, I. 428-439. 

3 Simmons' Narrative, in Smitti, II. 3. Stith, 117. Marshall, 4G. Burk, 1. 160, IGl. 



CHAPTER XL 

Pocahontas and Rolfe. — Spain's Opposition. — Indian Mas- 
sacre. — The London Company Dissolved. 

THUS was the Virginia colony saved when it seemed to be 
lost. It has been necessary to dwell at some length on its 
origin and early life, because it was the first settlement of the 
Anglo-Saxon race in North America, and because its elements 
were in many respects peculiar, and in several unpromising ; and 
yet they contained a germ of perseverance^ which was to be the 
type of the highest New World civilization. 

Henceforth, in this work, a narrative more condensed and less 
minute and expanded will best subserve our purposes, except in 
those events of history which specially demand elaborate presen- 
tation. 

Lord Delaware proved himself a wise and faithful governor, 
and by his devout and earnest example did much to correct the 
worst errors of the colonists. The Indians ceased to molest ; 
disorder was firmly checked ; industry was encouraged ; pros- 
perity began to appear. 

But in a short time Lord Delaware's own health failed, and he 
was compelled to return to England. Sir Thomas Dale suc- 
ceeded him as president and high marshal of Virginia. In 1611, 
Dale was succeeded by Sir Thomas Gates, who came over with 
six ships, three hundred emigrants, and large stores of provisions 
and domestic animals. The population had increased to seven 
hundred, and settlements were successfully renewed at Henrico 
and Nansemond, and made in other places along the rivers. 

A historian states that the cows, goats and swine brought over 
by Gates were the first introduced into the New World.^ But 
this is a mistake. Hogs in considerable numbers were in Vir- 
ginia during Smith's administration. They swarmed in the Ber- 
muda Islands ; and it is quite certain that horses, cows and goats 
had been brought over by the Spaniards. 

While high marshal. Sir Thomas Dale had found the colonists 
so disorderly and insubordinate that he had put into active move- 
ment the code of " martial law," which Sir Thomas Smith, the 
1 A. H. Stephens' Comp. Hist, of U. S., p. 34. 
[ 79 ] 



8o A History of the United States of America. 

treasurer of the council, had sent over. It was very summary 
and severe, and yet needful under existing circumstances. Dale 
has been harshly criticised in history concerning it, but unjustly.' 
"He used it with care and discrimination. Industry revived, tu- 
mults ceased, and plenty began again to appear. Gradually 
" martial law " became obsolete ; and when an attempt was after- 
wards made to revive it, the colonists complained, and secured 
from the council in England its final repeal. 

Sir Thomas Dale is entitled to the credit of having changed 
the damaging rule of community in lands to the salutary and 
stimulating principle of allotting three acres as the private prop- 
erty of each man. The quantity was afterwards increased to 
fifty acres. This change soon began to yield the happiest results. 
The amendment has been attributed to Gates, but Dale was its 
real author. He was a soldier, and stern in the requirement of 
good behavior, but just, wnse and successful in building up the 
colony. Gates ruled only one year. Dale was the ruler, in sub- 
stance, for nearly five years. 

In the year 1609, Captain Samuel Argall, a kinsman of Sir 
Thomas Smith, had come to Virginia with a single ship, drawn 
by the desire of the London Company to find a shorter route, 
and by the hope of gain from the fishery of sturgeon and traffic 
with the colony. He sailed from Portsmouth May 5th, 1609.^ 
He was bold and enterprising, but unscrupulous, tyrannical and 
cruel. 

He soon gave evidences of his character. Early in 16 13, two 
ships arrived from England, bringing more men, but a scanty 
store of food. King Powhatan had discouraged his people from 
helping the colonists with corn or other provisions. Wishing to 
obtain a valuable hostage and thus secure the king's favor, Argall 
resorted to a bold, but shameful measure. 

Since .Smith's departure the princess Pocahontas had withdrawn 
from Werowocomoco, and was living in retirement among her 
friends on the Potomac. Argall, learning of this from Japazaws, 
the king of this region, gained him over to his purposes and sailed 
up the river in one of his barks. A copper kettle was the price 
paid by the English for the perfidy of the Indians. By false 
pretences, Pocahontas was enticed into the gun-room of Argall's 
ship ; then, immediately weighing anchor, he carried the innocent 
and helpless girl a prisoner to Jamestown.'' Yet, a Scottish his- 
torian, in his history of America, makes no allusion to this perfidy, 

1 Eggleston's Household U. S., 29. = Alexander Brown's Genesis, I. 307. 

3 David B. Scott, School Hist. U. S., p. 38. Brown's Genesis, II. 640-644. 



Pocahontas and Rolfe. 8i 

and intimates that the conduct of the English towards her was 
unexceptionable ! ^ 

Fortunately, Divine alchemy can bring gold out of dross — good 
out of evil. Pocahontas was treated by Governor Dale with all 
the respect and tendeVness she deserved. She became deeply 
impressed by the refining influences of Christian civilization. 
At Bermuda Hundreds, the governor's seat, on the James, in what 
is now Chesterfield county, she spent part of her time, and was 
instructed in religion by Rev. Alexander Whitaker, a minister of 
the Anglican church, who had shown much zeal for the welfare 
of the Indians. She accepted Christ and was baptized.^ 

Among the settlers now in Jainestow^n was John Rolfe, a 
young English gentleman of good abilities and a spotless char- 
acter. He fell in love with the young Indian princess, and his 
feelings were reciprocated. He proposed marriage, and when 
his ofter was made known to King Powhatan, his majesty gave 
a gracious answer, and sent his brother Opachisco and two of 
his sons to attend the nuptials. 

Early in April, 1613, this union was solemnized by Rev. Mr. 
Whitaker in the small church of the colony. The Indian princess 
became the wife of an English gentleman. The happiest results 
followed. Powhatan no longer treated the colonists as enemies. 
During the rest of his life he and his people maintained with 
them the most amicable relations.^ 

In 16 16, Dale sailed for England, carrying with him John Rolfe 
and his young wife Pocahontas. Capt. John Smith v^^as in 
London. He wrote to the queen and enlisted her sympathies for 
his preserver. Pocahontas was visited by courtiers and nobles. 
Lady Delaware presented her at court. Her genuine modesty, 
good sense and dignity iinpressed all who met her. Masks, balls 
and theatrical exibitions were daily presented for her amusement. 
But the noise and smoke of the city were so offensive that she 
soon retired to the pleasant village of Brentford. Here she met 
John Smith She had been told that he was dead, and now when 
she met him, conflicting emotions so overcame her that she turned 
from him and covered her face with her hands. But there is no 
sufficient basis for the idea that she had loved him with a deeper 
love than friendship. She soon recovered her composure, and 
asked the privilege of calling hiin her father.* 

1 Dr. Robertson's America, I. 410. 

= Bishop Wm. Meade's Old Families and Churches of Va., 76-78. Rev. Dr. \V. H. Foote's 
Sketches, 25-27. 

3Stith, 130, 131. Smith, II. 16. 

< Smith's Narrative, II. 32, 33. Stith, 143. 

6 



82 A Histoi'y of the United States of America. 

Early in 1617, John Rolfe and Pocahontas, with their infant 
son, Thomas Rolfe, arrived at Gravesend, intending to embark 
for Virginia. Here she was stricken by a dangerous inalady, 
and in a few days died, in the twenty-third year of her age. 
Her son, after spending his childhood and youth in England, 
came to Virginia, and by his fortune and talents exercised a happy 
influence upon her destinies. He died, leaving an only daughter, 
who intermarried with Col. Robert Boiling and had a son, John 
Boiling, who was the father of John Boiling and of five daugh- 
ters, who were severally married to Richard Randolph, John 
Flemming, Dr. William Gay, Thomas Eldridge and James Mur- 
ray. From these, many descendants yet live in the United States.' 

Returning now to Governor Dale and Captain Argall, we find 
them engaged in an expedition very little above piracy. As 
early as 160^ the French had settled Acadia (now Nova Scotia), 
and planted a colony at Port Royal. King James' first patent 
expressly excluded any land then actually possessed by a Chris- 
tian prince or people. But Dale, moved by military instincts, 
conceived that as the French settlements were between 34*^ and 
41^° north latitude, they were part of the territory of Virginia. 
He sent Argall to attack them. 

Early in 16 14 this bold and imscrupulous leader sailed north, 
attacked Port Royal, shot many of the garrison, and killed a gal- 
lant Jesuit, Gilbert Du Thet, who resisted him, drove the settlers 
into the woods, seized all the provisions, furniture and clothing 
he could find, and then turned his bow to the southward, carry- 
ing with him the Jesuit Biard and other prisoners. But, by way 
of completing the work of reform, after his second hostile expe- 
dition to Port Royal, he entered the sound at the mouth of the 
Hudson river, and summoned the Dutch settlements on Manhat- 
tan Island to surrender, on the absurd pretence that Capt. Hen- 
drik Hudson, who, in the service of the Dutch, had discovered 
this country in 1609, was an Englishman, and could not deprive 
his native land of the benefit of his discovery. Unable to resist, 
the fort surrendered ; but soon afterwards, a reinforcement having 
arrived, the phlegmatic Dutchmen rehoisted their colors, and all 
things "were as before Argall's raid.^ By Sir Thomas Dale's or- 
ders, Argall returned to Acadia, and destroyed the French forti- 
fications at Mount Desert, St. Croix and Port Royal, arriving 
again at Jamestown about December ist, 1614. 

iBurk's Va., 1.190. 

^Stith, 132. Grahame's Colon. Hist., I. G5. Bancroft and Belknap say in 1613, but are 
wrong. Father Biard's Narrative, Brown's Genesis, II. 709-718. 



opposition of Spain. 83 

We have no reason to believe that the English government ap- 
proved these proceedings of Dale and Argall ; but they curi- 
ously illustrate the crude views then held as to rights derived 
from discovery. 

In 1615, tobacco became a staple product of Virginia, profitable 
to her agriculturists, though very injurious to her lands and of 
doubtful benefit to the world. It is thought to have been found 
first on the small island of Tobago, and to have hence obtained 
its name. Walter Raleigh first made it fashionable in England, 
and smoked so vigorously on one occasion that his servant, fear- 
ing he was on fire, poured a tankard of ale over his head.' 

Revolting to an uninitiated taste, abhorred by the brute creation, 
fatal even to the insects which men profess most to dislike, this 
weed has yet gained its way to the pouch of the beggar and the 
household stores of the monarch on his throne. ' It is estimated 
now to be smoked, chewed, snuflfed or dipped by about eight 
hundred millions of people — more than half the whole popula- 
tion of the earth. So long as this condition exists, the weed will 
continue to be planted and raised. 

Finding that tobacco paid them better than the search for gold 
and silver, the sawing of plank, the raising of silk-worms, or the 
manufacture of tar, pitch, turpentine, pot and pearl ashes, the 
Virginia people began to appropriate to it her rich and sunny 
soils. So violent was the tobacco mania that Dale restrained it 
by law, and yet, two years afterw^ards, when Argall came from 
England as governor to Virginia, he found the church in decay, 
and the chuixh-yard, the market square and some of the streets 
of Jamestown full of growing tobacco plants.'^ 

The period of colonization between 1605 and 1616, to the 
end of which we have now brought the Virginia colony, was 
marked by opposition from Spain, the history of which has been 
fully disclosed only within a few years past.^ Fortunately, it was 
never made formidable or effectual by actual naval or military 
movements from Spain. 

She had reached the climax of her power and influence, and 
had also commenced her period of decadence and ruin under 
Philip II. He was succeeded in 1598 by the son of his fourth 
marriage, Philip III., who was nearly imbecile, and was wanting 
in the capacity for business, which had made his father respectable, 
notwithstanding his bigotry and cruelty. Philip III. reigned till 
163 1. Spain continued to decay in power under him. 

iQldys' Raleigh, 32. Stith, 21. Burk's Va., I. 61. 

2 Holmes' Annals, I. 153. Grahame's Colon. Hist., I. 67. 

3 la Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, 1890. 



84 A Tl'isfory of the United States of America. 

The Spanish embassadors to England, Don Pedro de Zuniga 
and Don Alonzo de Velasco, wrote to Philip III. not less than 
forty-three letters, from 1606 to 16 13, giving him information — 
sometimes vague, sometimes minute and accurate^-concerning 
the English movements to colonize Virginia, and urging him to 
send an armed force and annihilate the infant settlement.^ 

But Philip's answers prove that he knew very little about Vir- 
ginia. He wrote of her three times as an " island." And the 
memory of the destruction of the " grand armada " in 15S8 by 
British ships and cannon, seconded by storms and tempests from 
heaven, had wrought a permanent terror in the souls of Spain 
and her rulers. No armed attack on the Virginia colony was at- 
tempted. 

One English ship, T'he Richard of Plymouth (Captain Henry 
Challons), of about fifty-five tons burden, was captured by a Span- 
ish naval force in the West India waters in November, 1606.^ 
But the capture was never recognized as made by authority of 
the Spanish government, and the captain and crew, after being 
carried to Spain, were in due time released. 

The only attempt actually made by Philip III. against the Vir- 
ginia colony w^as in the summer of 161 1, when a Spanish caravel, 
sailing from a port of Portugal and " fitted with a shallop neces- 
sarie and propper to discover freshetts. Rivers and Creekes," 
came into Chesapeake Bay to the neighborhood of Point Com- 
fort.^ She had aboard of her two Spaniards, Molina and Perez, 
and an Englishman, Lymbry, who had entered the service of 
Spain. They wei'e all spies specially employed by Philip III. to 
report the condition of \^irginia and her colony. The three 
came ashore, and, having excited suspicion, were detained by the 
Virginia authorities. But, by a curious cotttretemps, a pilot. 
Captain Clark, was sent aboard the caravel from the shore, and, 
taking the alarm, the vessel sailed to Spain, carrying off the pilot 
and leaving the three spies. 

This subject was made the occasion of several letters between 
the two governments. The diplomatic controversy ran through 
five years. The result was that Captain Clark died in Spain. 
Perez died in Virginia. Sir Thomas Dale caused Lymbry to be 
brought to trial. He was convicted and executed.* Only Molina 
survived. He was of good birth and pretensions. Dale carried 

1 They are all given in the '• Genesis," copied from the Simancas archives. 

- Narrative of John Stoneman, pilot, Purchas' Pilgrims, IV. lS32-'37, and Brown's Genesis, 
I. 127-139. 

3 Sir Thomas Dale's Report, August 17, IGll. Brown's Genesis of the United States, I. 
507, 508. 

•• Brown's Genesis, II. 782. 



opposition of Spain. 85 

him with him to England in May, 1616. He was permitted to 
return to Spain. 

Don Diego vSarmicnto de Acuna, better known as the celebrated 
Count de Gondomar, became the embassador of Spain to England 
in August, 1613. He was too sagacious and able ever to advise 
an armed attack on the English colonies in North America. In 
truth, he had formed the opinion, from the continuous disasters 
which'came so near to a final catastrophe in 1610, that the colony of 
Virginia would be virtually abandoned or would be transferred to 
the more promising field of Bermuda. A rumor of preparations 
for a Spanish armed fleet to invade Virginia gradually faded away.* 

When Dale left Virginia in 1616, he placed the reins of govern- 
ment in the hands of George Yeardley, whose name will always 
be connected with the origin of constitutional freedom in the 
United States. But he was mild and amiable in character, and 
governed with a weak hand, very different from that of Dale. 
By the influence of Lord Rich and Sir Thomas Smith in the Lon- 
don Council, Capt. Samuel Argall was appointed deputy governor. 

He arrived in May, 1617, and immediately entered upon a 
course of high-handed power. He revived the martial code and 
breathed new force into its worst elements, which Dale had kept 
in abeyance. He bound private commerce in chains, forbade 
hunting under penalty of slavery^ and prohibited the use of fire- 
arms except by his special license. Any person neglecting to go 
to church on Sundays and holidays was to " lye neck and heels that 
night," and be a slave for a week ; for the second offence he was 
to be outlawed for a month, and for the third, for a year and a 
day.^ It was Argall, not Dale, who made the martial code so 
odious that the people never rested until it was abolished. 

Lord Delaware was preparing to resume in person his duties 
as governor. In 161 8 he sailed with a large ship and two hun- 
dred settlers. But adverse winds and storms delayed his progress. 
His delicate health could not bear up under this pressure. He 
died at sea, having reached a point not far from the inouth of 
the bay now bearing his name. 

In the same year two other great men, closely connected with 
the fortunes of Virginia, descended to the grave. They were 
Sir Walter Raleigh and King Powhatan. 

Argall kept on his rapacious course, and Lady Delaware her- 
self has left on record complaints of her losses by this reckless 
peculator.^ 

1 Brown's Genesis. Digby's Dispatches, II. 606, 607, 656, 658. 
2 Marshall's Amcr. Colon., 5H. Stith, 147, 148. 
sstith, 149. 151. Belknap, II. 156, 157. 



S6 A History of the United States of America. 

The clamor against him soon became so loud that even Sir 
Thomas Smith could no longer countenance him. The company 
in London appointed Sir George Yeardley to supersede him. Then 
the Earl of Warwick, formerly Lord Rich, who was like him in 
character and shared his dishonest profits, sent a small vessel to 
Virginia, which arrived just in time to bear away Argall and his 
ill-gotten treasures before the arrival of his successor.^ 

The arrival of Sir George Yeardley in the spring of 1619 was 
the opening of a new era in the life of North America. The 
London Company has been much traduced and censured ; but it 
is certain that among its members were many souls who knew 
what self-government meant for m.an, and longed for its coming. 
Yeardley brought with him several charters and plenary powers, 
and under them he was authorized to call together the first 
" General Assembly" that ever sat upon the soil of the New 
World. 

The change made in the working of the London Company in 
1613 had been all in favor of freedom, though the king did not 
contemplate it. The council in London no longer had supreme 
power. A vote was given to each stockholder, and at the quarter- 
yearly meetings of the representatives thus chosen free counsels 
and free policy prevailed. Thus was brought about the grand 
movement under which Sir George Yeardley acted in 16 19. 

"Little did King James and his obsequious servants imagine 
that he had imparted being to a parent who was now to give 
birth to a child destined by his ov\^n innate vigor to shake the do- 
minion of Britain to its centre, and finally to change the aspect 
of the most powerful nations of earth ! " 

About the close of June, 1619, the first "General Asseinbly " 
met at Jamestown. Counties were yet unknown, but each bor- 
ough or township sent a representative, and from this the legisla- 
tors acquired the naine of " Burgesses," which they long retained. 

The representatives sat and voted in the same room with the 
council, and the governor retained a negative upon all laws or 
other action. Not one of the acts of this first assembly has 
been preserved. Neither have we the original charter granted 
by the London Company ; but we may presume that it did not 
differ materially from the constitution afterwards established un- 
der Sir Francis Wyatt.^ 

Virginia now entered on a period of prosperity and progress. 
The people devoted themselves to agriculture and the needed 

1 Stith, 154-157. Belknap, II. 158. Beverley and Keith are unreliable about Argall. 

2 Hening'8 Stat., I, 76, note. 



Importation of Slaves to the Colony. 87 

manufactures. New settlers came, and of a far better character 
than those of the early colonial years. During the year 1620, 
twelve hundred emigrants came to Virginia, and her population 
at its close numbered thirty-five hundred.' 

Happy in the highest sense would it have been for Virginia 
and North America if she could have escaped the form of impor- 
tation of human beings that came in this same year. The raising 
of corn, tobacco, cotton, rice and sugar-cane might not have been 
pushed forward with as much energy as the money-loving in- 
stincts of the planters and their families demanded ; but a slower 
development of these productions would have been attended by 
contentment and industry, without the presence of an institution 
which originated in crime, shocked the moral sense of advanced 
civilization, and finally brought on a war of bitterness and extent 
seldom known in the world. Yet this importation was made so 
quietly, and was so entirely accordant with the state of thought 
then prevalent in Europe, that it caused no tremor in the hands 
that first recorded it. 

In August, 1620, a Dutch ship of war sailed up the James, 
landed twenty negroes lately taken from the African coast, and 
quickly obtained a sale for them from the planters, who wanted 
them to work their fields for corn and tobacco, and who bought 
them with as little doubt or compunction as they would have felt 
in buying as many horses or mules if brought and offered for sale. 
The contemporary record is : "A Dutch man of warre that sold us 
twenty negarsT' Man cannot see the future. 

Another importation of a radically different kind was made 
this same year. Matrimonial unions had not been numerous. 
Many entire families had come out, it is true ; but so many single 
men had also come that they composed the larger element in 
society. There were no young unmarried women. The maid 
Anne Burras, who came over in 1608, did not wait long for a hus- 
band. She was united to John Laydon, one of the first settlers, 
and their marriage was the first ever solemnized between Euro- 
peans on the soil of Virginia. 

To provide suitable wives for the many single colonists, the 
London Company sent out on two occasions ship-loads of mar- 
riageable young women to the colony. Great care was taken to 
exclude all as to whose reputation for chastity any serious doubt 
was raised ; and by order of the council, two women were sent 
back to England who were shown to be unworthy in this respect, 

1 Swin ton's Cond. School Hist. U. S., p. 33. ..a, 

2 Smith, II. 39. Beverley, 35. Stith, 182. Grahame, I. 71. 



88 A History of the United States of America. 

As the company incurred some expense in seeking and sending 
the young female colonists, on arrival they were offered for sale 
under proper restrictions. The price required at first was one 
hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, but it was afterwards 
advanced to one hundred and fifty. At three shillings per pound, 
this would be about eighty dollars, but allowing for the then 
greater value of money, each of these young women bi-ought 
about one hundred and fifty dollars. They were sold in brief 
time, and duly united in wedlock to their respective purchasers.' 

Family ties were formed ; mutual content prevailed ; life be- 
gan to grow^ brighter ; cares lost their depressing power. These 
women made good wives. No unfortunate result has ever been 
recorded as to this experiment. 

And yet another importation occurred during this year, w^hich, 
imlike the one just mentioned, was disgraceful to King James and 
his government. In 1619 he expressly commanded the London 
Company to transport to the colony one hundred convicts, guilty 
of every species of felony, or else adjudged to be too bad to re- 
main in England. The company objected, entreated, remon- 
strated, appealed, in vain. After some delay, they brought them 
over. One historian of the colonial times denounced this act of 
the king, which " hath laid one of the finest countries in British 
America under the imjust scandal of being a mere hell upon 
earth." ''■ Strange, indeed, that another, of even higher faine, 
should have approved and defended it.^ 

Amid all these events Virginia continued to prosper. But a 
dark cloud was hanging over her, caused by savage malice and 
treachery. 

After the death of the Emperor Powhatan, the able and wily 
chief Opecancanough succeeded him. He is spoken of as a bro- 
ther of Powhatan, but it is doubtful whether he was related to 
him at all. The Indians and many whites believed he came from 
a tribe far in the southwest — perhaps from the interior of Mex- 
ico.* 

Secretly, and with consummate fraud and skill, this chief 
brought nearly all the savages of Tidewater Virginia to unite in 
a plot for the extermination of the whites. He availed himself 
of every pretext that would help his purpose, and especially of 
the death of a noted young Indian warrior named "Jack of the 
Feather," who, after having murdered, by treachery, a colonist 
named Morgan and rifled his body, was himself shot down by 

1 Purchas' Pilgrims, IV, 1783. Grahame, I. 72. = Stith, 167, 168, 

3 Marshall's Amer. Colon., 56. * Keith's Va,, 144, 145. 



Indian Massacre. 89 

two sti"ong young men who attempted to arrest him and whom 
he resisted.^ But the great means of organizing the plot was 
Opecancanough's own conviction, shared by the savages, that 
they were destined to certain destruction unless they either ex- 
terminated the whites or adopted the habits of civilized life. 

On Friday, the 33d of March, 1633, the tragedy began. So 
perfect was the confidence of the settlei^s that they lent the sav- 
ages their boats, and many came in to take the morning meal 
with the whites, and brought deer, turkeys, fish and fruits, v^^hich 
they offered for sale as usual. But at mid-day the scene of blood 
was opened. Neither age nor sex was spared. In less than four 
hours, three hundred and forty-nine settlers w^ere slain. Among 
them were George Thorpe, who had been the special benefactor 
of the Indians, and six members of the council. In many cases, 
after killing their victims, the savages mutilated the dead bodies 
with frightful barbarity." 

Very few whites ^vould have escaped but for an incident show- 
ing the power of Christianity. A young Indian convert nained 
Chanco lived with Richard -Pace. His savage brother urged him 
to murder his master, telling him he intended that fate for his 
own ; but the young Christian recoiled with horror from the 
deed, and informed Mr. Pace of the plot. An express was in- 
stantly dispatched to Jamestown. Thus the chief settlement was 
alarmed ; guns and swords were made ready, and the natives did 
not venture an attack. 

It is remarkable that wherever resistance was bravely made it 
was successful. An old soldier, trained under Smith, although 
surrounded by Indians, and severely w^ounded, clove the skull of 
an assailant with an ax, and the rest instantly fled. A Mr. Bald- 
w^in, whose wife v^^as lying before his eyes bleeding from many 
wounds, fired one well-directed load of bullets and drove a crowd 
of savages from his house. Some small parties of settlers ob- 
tained a few muskets from a ship lying in the stream near their 
plantations, and with these completely routed the Indians and dis- 
persed them in great alarm. ^ Murderers are generally cowards. 

The immediate effects of the massacre were disastrous. Hor- 
ror and consternation prevailed for a time. The settlers v^^ere 
drawn in around Jamestown. Distant plantations were aban- 
doned, and eighty settlements were reduced to six. 

But soon a terrible reaction came on. They had trusted the 
Indians and had been betrayed ; had given them arms to be 

1 Burk, I. 237. Keith, 137. 'Stith, 211. Belknap, II. 181. 

3 Purchas' Pilgrims, IV. 1788-'9. 



go A History of the United States of America. 

turned on themselves ; had hibored for their good, only to see 
their wives and children butchered before their eyes. Their pur- 
pose now was not revenge, but extermination. They hunted the 
savages like wild beasts, and shot them down wherever they 
could find them. They resorted to stratagems, and slew without 
mercy all thus brought within their reach. The Indians from 
this time rapidly declined in numbers — some killed, some dying 
with disease and exposure, some flying to distant tribes.^ 

The London Company manifested deep sympathy for the colo- 
nists, and a determined purpose to uphold aiid strengthen them. 
But the time was now near at hand when this company was to 
fall and perish under the hostility of King James. 

Sir George Yeardley was mild and sensitive in spirit, and was 
so deeply wounded by the ungenerous attacks made on him by 
the court party in the company, led by Warwick and Argall, 
that he fell into a decline. Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed to 
succeed him. Early in August, 1621, he set out for the colony, 
bringing with him the written constitution, which confirmed the 
privileges granted inider Yeardley. 

This constitution bears date July 24th, 1621.^ It erects two 
councils — one to consist of the governor and his advisers, to be 
known as the Council of State ; the other to consist of the first 
body, together with two burgesses from each town, hundred or 
plantation, to be freely elected by the people and called together 
by the governor once a year, and oftener for special reason. This 
united body, forming one " General Assembly," had power to 
make laws, subject, however, to an absolute negative in the gov- 
ernor, and to the approval of the council. But with admirable 
equity it was further provided that no action of the company 
should bind the colonists unless ratified by the General Assembly. 

King James hated the semblance of liberty which already ap- 
peared in the \lebates of the London Company at its quarterly 
meetings. Already the English people were awaking to a sense 
of their own freedom. So openly were the principles of liberty 
and self-government declared in the counsels of the company that 
the Spanish embassador Gondomar warned the king against their 
influence, and declared that " the Virginia courts are but a semi- 
nary to a seditious Parliament."^ 

The king took the alarm, and on the Sth of October, 1622, sent 
them an order of his privy council, coolly informing them that he 
intended to take the government of the colony into his own 

» Grahame, I. 79. Marshall, 60. 2 Hazard's State Papers, I. 131-133. Heniug, I. 110-llS, 

s Mass. Hist. Collec, IX. 113. Baucroffs U. S., I. 200. 



TJic London Company Dissolved, gi 

hands, and that the company might choose whether they would 
surrender their charter or be dissolved by government proceed- 
ings. 

They declined to surrender. The king appointed commission- 
ers to visit Virginia and get up evidence against the company. 
The result was not long in doubt. An unfavorable report was 
obtained. A writ of quo xvarrajito was issued against the com- 
pany, and the king, on the 15th of July, 1634, issued a proclama- 
tion suppressing the quarterly sessions. At the next term of 
the court of King's Bench the quo -jjarranto came on for trial, 
and a judgment of dissolution was pronounced against the Lon- 
don Company. 

King James suffered the colonial government to remain undis- 
turbed, but employed his leisure hours in preparing a new code 
of laws for the people of Virginia. Happily for the New World, 
his labors were ended by death on the 37th of March, 1635. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Sir William Berkeley. — Charles I. 



KING CHARLES I., who succeeded his father James, did not 
immediately interfere with the liberties of the colonists. It 
is true he issued several proclamations, declaring that he had 
adopted the views of his father about them, and that they were 
to be governed by a council consisting of men appointed by and 
responsible to His Majesty alone. And though he confirmed the 
monopoly of tobacco granted under the advice of Parliament to 
the Virginia and Somers Island companies, yet he sought to draw 
large revenues from the weed by assuming that he was substi- 
tuted to the rights of the dissolved London Company, and de- 
manding that every pound of tobacco imported should be deliv- 
ered to his agents, who gave a certain price to the owners and 
secured a heavy profit to the Crown. ^ 

The Virginia " General Assembly " continued to exist, though 
we have no authentic record of its proceedings from 1624 to 
1639. It had planted its roots deeply in the hearts of the people, 
and would not have been yielded without a struggle. 

In 1625 another conflict with the savages came on. Sir Francis 
Wyatt, the governor, led the whites in person. A battle took 
place on the Pamunkey with nearly a thousand bowmen of seve- 
ral tribes. The Indians were defeated with heavy loss, and the 
colonists were only prevented from marching on the Mattaponi 
by want of ammunition.^ No permanent peace followed, but the 
natives grew weaker and weaker year after year. 

In 1626 Wyatt was called to Ireland by the death of his father. 
Sir George Yeardley again became governor, and, after a wise 
and faithful administration of little more than a year, died in No- 
vember, 1637. The people of the colony sent an eulogy upon 
his virtues to the privy council in England. 

Francis West succeeded him for a short time. John Potts be- 
came governor early in 1638, but his duties were brief. He was, 
while in private life in 1630, prosecuted upon a charge of stealing 
cattle and convicted, and he was only saved from ignominious 
punishment by a reprieve.^ 

1 Hazard's State Papers, I. 203-205. Bancroft, I. 210. 
• 2 Campbell's Va., 08. Burk, IL 12, 13. sHening, I. 145, 146. 

[ 92 ] 



Kins' Charles I. 



93 



Early in 1639 came Sir Jolm Hervey from England as Governor 
of Virginia, bringing a broad commission and ample po^vers from 
the king. Concerning his character and conduct, disputes have 
arisen which have not been decided. He was natui^ally not popu- 
lar in the colony, as he had been one of the commission sent by 
King James to devise a report for the ruin of the London Com- 
pany. He was fond of money, and full of bigotry in religion. 
Nevertheless, he exhibited qualities which made him useful and 
respectable in his station. He carefully supervised the military 
plans of the colony ; caused a fort to be erected at Point Com- 
fort ; encouraged the manufacture of saltpetre and potash ; re- 
vived the salt-works at Accomack, and established semi-monthly 
courts at Jamesto\vn. He fostered maritime enterprises ; sent out 
an expedition to trade between the 34th and ■\^^\\ degrees of lati- 
tude ; and very cordially invited the people who had settled in 
New England to leave their cold and barren soil and take refusfe 
in the more genial climes of Virginia and Delaware.' 

The most serious causes of the odium into which Hervey 
finally fell were his culpable coalition with the king and his 
sharing the profits resulting from the immense encroachments on 
the domain of Virginia under her original charter, made by suc- 
cessive grants from King Charles — one in 1630 to Sir Robert 
Heath, beginning at the 36th parallel and running so far south 
as to embrace a large part of the present Southern States ; the 
other to the Calvert family, covering the magnificent country on 
both sides of Chesapeake Bay and running up to the 40th paral- 
lel of latitude. Much of this territory was clearly within the 
limits of Virginia. 

All these causes led to dissatisfaction so great that in 163c; Sir 
John Hervey was " thrust out of his government, and Captain 
John West was to act as governor till the king's pleasure be 
known." ^ 

King Charles was already entering upon his dismal and fatal 
struggle with the spirit of freedom in the English Parliament 
and people. He gave no favor to the charges against Hervey. 
and refused to admit to his presence the commissioners sent by 
the colony to urge their complaints. He. reinstated his favorite in 
office and sent him back to Virginia. But Hervey seems to have 
learned ^visdom by experience, and no further complaints were 
made. In 1639116 ^vas quietly superseded by Sir Francis Wyatt, 
who had previously been governor, and whose administration for 

1 Burk, II. 32. Bancroft, I. 213. 

2 Hening's Stat, at Large, 1. 223. 



94 ^ History of the United States of America. 

little more than a year was so tranquil that several chroniclers 
omit it entirely/ 

In August, 1 64 1, Charles appointed to the governorship of 
Virginia Sir William Berkeley. His name and deeds fill a large 
space in the colonial history of the New^ World. " His loyalty 
was excessive. He loved the monarchical constitution of England 
with simple fervor ; he venerated her customs, her church, her 
bishops, her liturgy — everything peculiar to her as a kingdom ; 
and, believing them to be worthy of all acceptation, he enforced 
conformity with uncompromising sternness." In the first part of 
his official career " he was valued by his friends for his warm af- 
fections, and respected by his foes for his upright demeanor." 
But he lived long enough to prove that loyalty, when misguided, 
will make a tyrant ; that religious zeal, when devoted to an es- 
tablished church, will beget the most revolting bigotiy ; and that 
a warm disposition, when seeking revenge, will give birth to the 
worst forms of cruelty and malice. 

He entered upon his duties in February, 1642, and with excep- 
tion of the time of his retirement during the ascendency of the 
commonwealth in England, he continued in office until April, 
1677 — ^ period of thirty-five years. 

During his administration the people of the colony grew rap- 
idly in numbers and prosperity. He was popular, and the people 
were contented, even with his bigoted and monarchical views, so 
long as they were permitted to make their own laws and raise 
their own tobacco. The struggle going on between the king and 
the Parliament in England tended rather to promote the peace 
and welfare of the colony than to involve her in distress. 

Notw- ithstanding their respect for the governor, the laws enacted 
by the General Assembly at that time show a watchful care for 
freedom. At the session of 1642— '43, we find a statute enacted for- 
bidding the governor and council to lay any taxes or imposts upon 
either persons or property, except by authority of the assembly.^ 

But in one department the laws of this period were black with 
the worst hues of the connection betvs^een church and state com- 
ing from the Old World. Strict conformity to the Church of 
England was required.; tithes were inexorably imposed ; minis- 
ters' persons were invested with a sanctity savoring powerfully 
of superstition ; popish recusants were forbidden to hold office ; 
their priests were banished from the country; the oath of supre- 

iThey are Keith, Burk, Chalmers, Beverley, Robertson and Marshall. But see Hening, 
I. 225 ; Bancroft, I. 218 ; Campbell, 61 ; Grahame, I. 95. 
- Act III., Laws 1642-'43. Hening s Stat., I. 244. 



Sir William Berkeley. 91^ 

macy to the king as head of the church was in all cases to be 
tendered ; dissenting preachers were strictly forbidden to exercise 
their office ; and the governor and council were empowered to com- 
pel "non-conformists to depart the colony with all convenience."^ 

But it must be borne in mind that such laws were the fault of 
the age rather than expressions of popular feeling. Toleration 
was an unknown virtue. Men had not learned that the human 
conscience is a thing too sacred to be touched by human laws. It 
is consoling to reflect that when, eighteen years after this period, 
four Quakers (three men and one woman) were executed in Bos- 
ton under similar or worse laws, the elder colony was unstained 
by blood shed under enactments so unholy and vindictive.^ 

The Indians continued in a state of inveterate enmity to the 
whites. Peace was never thought of. Successive enactments of 
the assembly made it a solemn duty to attack the natives at 
stated seasons of the year, and heavy penalties were visited on 
all who traded with them, or in any mode provided them with 
arms and ammunition. The whites were steadily increasing, both 
in numbers and in moral and material strength. The Indians 
were as steadily diminishing ; but they were yet strong enough 
to give trouble. The illegal grants favored by Hervey had pro- 
voked them to renewed hostility, as they saw their hunting- 
grounds swept from their control.^ 

Sir William Berkeley did what he could to mitigate these 
causes of provocation, but in vain. Opecancanough still lived, 
though now beyond the one hundredth year of his age. He was 
gaunt and feeble in body ; his eyes had lost their fire ; his eyelids 
drooped from weakness, so that often he needed an attendant to 
lift them up that he might see. But in this wasted body burned 
a soul of unquenchable energy. He roused the savages to another 
effort at general massacre. 

This fatal irruption was made at the close of the year 1643. 
Five hundred whites sank beneath the assault of the Indians, 
which was most violent, on the upper waters of the Pamunkey 
and York, where the settlers were few and imperfectly armed ; 
but wherever resistance was possible the savages were routed 
with heavy loss. 

Berkeley placed himself at the head of a chosen body, consist- 
ing of every twentieth man able to bear arms, and marched to the 
seat of war. Finding the savages dispersed, he followed them 

1 Laws in Hening, I. 240-277. Burk, II. 66, 67. Bancroft, I. 222, 223. 

2 Grahame, I, 309. Bancroft, I. 48S-i'j6. 

8 Beverley, 49. Burk, II. 51. Keith, 144. 



96 A History of the United States of Anierica. 

Avith a troop of cavalry. Many Indians were slain. Opecanca- 
nough was overtaken, captured, and carried, in triumph, back to 
Jamestown. 

The governor had determined to send him to England as a 
royal captive, to be detained in honorable custody until his death. 
The venerable chieftain lost not his dignity and self-possession 
for a moment, and looked around him with contempt and indiffer- 
ence. A brutal white crept behind him and shot him in the back. 
The wound was fatal, yet his courage did not give way. A 
crowd collected around him to sate their unfeeling curiosity. The 
eyelids of the dying Indian were lifted up, and a flash of just in- 
dignation revived his strength. He sent for the governor, and 
addressed him thus : "Had I taken Sir William Berkeley prisoner, 
I would not have exposed him as a show^ to my people."^ Soon 
afterwards he expired. His words Avere dignified and pathetic ; 
but it is very probable that if he had taken the governor prisoner 
he Avould have tortured and burned him at the stake. His death 
caused the renowned confederacy of Powhatan to fall to pieces. 
The Indians grew weaker and weaker. We shall meet them 
again. But their fate in the Virginia colony was sealed. 

Berkeley paid a brief visit to England, leaving Richard Kemp 
to perform his duties until his return in November, 1645.' 

The colony grew more and more prosperous. Their commerce 
was not yet injuriously restricted, and the monopoly they enjoyed 
for tobacco in the English market gave them lucrative advantages. 
About the close of the year 164S, we find a notice that ten ships 
traded to them regularly from London ; two from Bristol ; twelve 
from Holland, and seven from New England.^ The population 
had reached twenty thousand. Gradual climatization had made 
the air friendly. 

General content prevailed. The increasing troubles in England 
did not reach them. Attached to a religion of forms and despis- 
ing Puritanism, they had no desire to identify themselves with a 
rebellion conducted almost exclusively by men who were dissen- 
ters from the church establishment of the mother country. 

But a grave eiTor is encouraged by those chroniclers who re- 
present religion as the chief cause of the attachment of the Vir- 
ginia colonists to the interests of King Charles and his govern- 
ment.* A majority of the people cared very little for religion in 
any form, provided their civil rights, their right of self-govern- 

1 Beverley, 51. Burk, II. 59. Grahame's Colon. Hist., I. 96. 

2 Bancroft, I. 224. Heninsr, I., in loco. 

3 Mass. Hist. CoUec, IX. 118. 

*Such as Burk, II. 75. Quackenbos' U. S., 101. 



Sir William Berkeley. M 

ment, and their private inclinations were not disturbed. These 
they clung to and enjoyed with signal tenacity. 

It is certain that Virginia remained true to Charles I. and the 
monarchy during the civil war which resulted in their overthrow 
and in the capital execution of the king on the 30th of January, 
1649. 

She remained also true to Charles II. while he was an outlaw 
and fugitive flying from his enemies of the English Parliament 
and commonwealth. He had too few real friends to forget al that 
time Sir William Berkeley and the faithful colony. From his 
slender court at Breda, in the Netherlands, he sent to Berkeley a 
new commission confirming the powers granted by his father, and 
expressing a sense of his gratitude for the loyalty shown by Vir- 
ginia. It has even been intimated that the queen mother — Hen- 
rietta Maria — had formed a project to transport, with the aid of 
France, a large body of her retainers to Virginia, and to continue 
in the New World the monarchy so fatally arrested in England.^ 

It was at this time (and not after his restoration, when he gave 
few favorable thoughts to Virginia) that Charles devised the ad- 
dition, '■'■En dat 'Virginia giiintam,'''' to the motto of the English 
coat of arms. The five elements of his monarchy alluded to were 
England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Virginia.'^ 

A large number of loyal families left England during the civil 
war and the commonwealth, and came to Virginia. vSir William 
Berkeley's house was always open to such, and the hospitable 
owners of lands on the rivers gladly furnished them homes. All 
these causes contributed to give to this colony the title of " The 
Old Dominion." The origin generally assigned for this title in- 
volves a grave historical erroi', as we shall see. 

Meanwhile a commonwealth had been established in England, 
and Oliver Cromv^^ell was at its head as protector. He made his 
country formidable to her enemies and respectable to all the world. 
He had no policy of harshness or revenge towards the Virginia 
colony ; yet he could not be expected to connive at her position. 
In 165 1 he sent a powerful fleet carrying, besides its proper crews, 
a large land force, all under command of Sir George Ayscue, 
with directions to subdue the islands of the West Indies, and to 
reduce all refractory colonies to subjection. The orders of Parlia- 
ment were stern and decided.^ 

Ayscue reduced Antigua and the Barbadoes to subjection, and 
sent Captain Dennis with what he deemed an adequate force to 

1 Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1. 113. Grahame, I. 98. 

2 Holmes' U. S., 41. s Hazard, I. 556-558. Grahame, I. 99. 



98 A History of the United States of America, 

Virginia. Governor Berkeley prepared for vigorous resistance. 
His military force was sinall, but efficient. Jamestown was arined 
and guarded at all points. Muskets wei^e distributed ; cannon 
mounted. A number of Dutch ships were lying in the river, and 
as their captains and crews had nothing to expect from the com- 
monwealth's forces except captivity and confiscation, they will- 
ingly united with Berkeley's forces. Their cargoes were carried 
ashore ; a select crew was assigned each ship ; their guns were 
heavily charged, and they were moored in a circular line, so as to 
cover by their fire every point of approach.^ 

Dennis was brought to a stand. He seems at once to have 
abandoned all thought of a violent attack, the result of which 
would have been doubtful. He resorted to negotiations for peace, 
and was aided by a fact which appealed to the pocket-nerve of 
two members of the Provincial Council. Dennis found means to 
inform them that aboard his ships a large quantity of goods, wares 
and merchandise belonging to them had been brought to Virginia. 

But whatever may have been the inixture of motives, the result 
was, in the highest degree, creditable to the colony. The treaty 
agreed upon was in every important respect favorable to her, and 
secured her cherished freedom. Even in the matter of religion it 
was agreed that the Book of Common Prayer should be contin- 
ued for a year in those parishes which desired it, provided only 
that the parts recognizing the king and the royal government 
should not be publicly used.'^ 

If the colony was conquered, never did a conquered province 
obtain terms more favorable to her privileges, her liberties and 
her honor. Virginia went on her way growing and prospering. 
Sir Williain Berkeley retired to his estate, where he remained un- 
molested. The General Assemblies continued, and elected in 
succession three provincial governors — viz. : Richard Bennett, in 
1653 ; Edward Digges, in 1656, and Samuel Matthews, in 1658. 

A mountain horde of savages who came down on the upper 
waters of the James were defeated with heavy loss. Among their 
.slain was the gallant chief Totopotomoi, who had once been 
friendly to the whites. 

So complete was the political and personal freedom enjoyed that 
the House of Burgesses, in a slight contest of powers with the 
aged Governor Matthews, voted that it was the right of the House 
to discuss, frst and aJone, any measure proposed for enactment.* 

1 Burk, II. 82. Beverley, 52. Grahame, I. 99. Keith, 147. Marshall, I. G7. Strange that 
Bancroft has nothing to sav of these Dutch ships ! 

2 Hening, I. 363-368. Hazard, I. 560-564. Jefferson's Notes, 118. 
sHening. I. 499. Bancroft, I. 243. 



Sir Mi/Iiaifi Berkeley. oo 

It has been common for compilers of history to state that Charles 
II. was proclaimed king by the Virginia colony before he was re- 
stored to the throne of England, and that thus originated for Vir- 
ginia the title of " The Old Dominion."^ This is not true. When 
Samuel Matthews died, in 1660, the question simply was who 
should be his successor. No tumult was raised ; no excited feel- 
ing prevailed ; no royal standard was unfurled to announce 
Charles as king. The assembly elected Sir William Berkeley 
governor by a decisive vote on the 13th day of March, 1660. He 
accepted the office without condition or compromise. He re- 
quii^ed no oath of allegiance to the king ; and it was not until 
the 29th of April, 1660, that Charles II. ascended the throne, left 
vacant for eleven years by the death of his father. 

■> Beverley, Keith, Robertson, Marshall, ami a shoal of modern "school histories." 



CHAPTER XIII. 
The Coming of the Puritans. 

WE come now to a settlement in North America which, unlike 
that in Virginia, was the result of jDurely religious motives. 
It did not take place imder the broad patent from King James 
granted in 1606 to the London and Plymouth companies. 

It is true that some temporary and unsuccessful efforts were 
made by individuals of the Plymouth Company. In 1606, Sir 
John Popham, Chief Justice of England, and Ferdinando Gorges, 
Governor of Plymouth, equipped a vessel intended for America ; 
but she was hardly out of port before she was seized and confis- 
cated by the Spaniards, under the claim that Spain alone had a 
right to send ships to the new hemisphere.^ A second and almost 
simultaneous expedition from Bristol was more fortunate, and on 
returning gave such accounts of the fishing and resources of water 
and land that public confidence was increased. 

In 1607 two ships were dispatched, commanded by Raleigh 
Gilbert, and bearing emigrants under George Popham. They 
landed near the mouth of Kennebec river, at a spot called Saga 
da Hok by the natives ; offered public thanks to God, and began 
a settlement by erecting a number of rude cabins, a store-house, 
and some well-planned fortifications. The name given was St. 
George. The ships sailed, leaving forty-five settlers.^ But the 
winter was intensely cold ; the natives, at first friendly, became 
hostile ; the store-house caught fire and w^as burned with part of 
the provisions ; the emigrants grew weary of the solitude ; George 
Popham died — " the only one of the company that died there ;" 
and Raleigh Gilbert, in command at St. George, wished to go 
back to take possession of an estate inherited from his brother. 
So they all abandoned the settlement and returned to England, 
and there " did coyne many excuses," consisting chiefly of exag- 
gerated accounts of the rugged poverty of the soil and the wintry 
severity of the climate. A stronger motive than fishing and ma- 
terial gain M^as needed to plant a permanent colony in that region. 

' Purchas, IV. 1827, 1832. Bancroft, I. 267. 

2 Gorges, 7, 8, 9. Smith, II. 173, 175. Bancroft, I. 268. Narrative and map, Brown's Gen- 
esis. I. 140-142, 190-194. 

[ 100 1 



The Cotning of the Puritans. loi 

The fisheries and fur-trade were not relinquished, and contin- 
ued to yield profit, but led to no settlement. In 1614, under a 
private adventure of four London merchants and himself. Captain 
John Smith came to this northern region, examined the shores 
from Penobscot to Cape Cod, prepared a map of the coast, and 
gave to the country the name "New England,'' which was con- 
firmed by Prince Charles. 

After Smith had left in one of the ships for England, Thomas 
Hunt, the master of the other ship, kidnaped a large party of 
Indians, and, sailing for Spain, sold " the poor innocents " into 
slavery ! One of them afterwards escaped, came to London, and 
in 16 19 was restored to his own land, where he became an inter- 
preter for English emigrants.' 

The settlement of New England was effected by a band of 
men, women and children, who came without the authority of any 
patent, or the protection of any earthly government. A higher 
Power shielded and established them. 

The Reformation in Europe was the protest of the human soul 
against the errors and abuses that encumbered Christianity. It was 
a separation from Rome and a throwing oft' of the yoke of the Ro- 
man Pontiff. It was not a separation from the visible church of 
Christ, nor a throwing oft' of the binding authority of his doctrines 
as set forth in his Word, and in the early and really oecumenical 
councils, of his church. The inspired Scriptures, made known 
throughout all civilized Europe by the art of printing, were the 
instrument by which the Reformation was effected. No single 
minds contributed more powerfully to distribute universal know- 
ledge of the Scriptures than those of Martin Luther, John Calvin 
and Desiderius Erasmus ; yet the latter never renounced the com- 
munion of the Roman church. What that church needed was 
reformation, not destruction. 

In England, under Henry VIII., the Reformation was far from 
complete. The most idolatrous and dangerous doctrines and 
practices of Rome were upheld by law, although the authority of 
her pontiff was rejected. Under Edward VI. much greater pro- 
gress was made ; the Reformation was sincerely upheld and urged 
on by many able minds, and its principles took deeper root. Un- 
der Mary — well-named the " bloody " — a reaction was forced for- 
ward by persecutions which have left a permanent impress upon 
the minds of the English people. 

Elizabeth upheld the Reformation ; yet her love of forms and 
splendor, and her critical condition as a sovereign, induced her to 
1 Smith's Description of New England, 47. Hist. Va., II. 176. Bancroft, I. 270.^ 



102 A History of the United States of America. 

enforce many practices which, in the judgment of all the seriously- 
pious people of her realm, tended strongly towards a reaction 
favorable to the Roman claims.^ 

It was in her reign, in 1564, that the name "Puritan" began to 
be applied to all such persons as desired to purge the visible 
church of all doctrines, forms, vestments and practices which, in 
their judgment, were not authorized by the Holy Scriptures, and 
tended to lead back to the Roman usurpation.'' It is entirely 
possible that many of these reformers went too far, and by 
their rigor and austerity, discouraged rather than helped on the 
Reformation. But, deep down in their souls was the principle of 
spiritual truth engendered by the inspired Word of God. Their 
motto might have been : '•'■Obsta principiisy They resisted 
priestly vestments and forms because they were the symbolism of 
doctrines destructive to souls.^ 

Elizabeth hated Puritanism and the Puritans, and persecuted 
them without mercy. Their strength is shown by the fact that 
in the convocation of 1563, which met to review the doctrine and 
discipline of the church. Bishop Sandys introduced a petition for 
reformation which went very far towards satisfying the Puritans, 
and which was only rejected by the proxies of absentees, and then 
only by a majority of one vote ! * 

But Elizabeth and her government resolved to suppress them. 
The court of High Commission put in moveinent against them its 
vague, but oppressive powers, " to visit, reform, redress, order, cor- 
rect and amend all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, conteinpts, 
offences and enormities whatsoever." All licenses to preach 
bearing date prior to ist March, 1564, were declared null and 
void. Thus nearly all the Puritan preachers were silenced. 

In 15S3, her special instrument, Whitgift, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, issued the famous series of articles under w^hich Puritan- 
ism was proscribed and a stigma of crime attached to all who de- 
clined to conform to the liturgy and practices of the Church of 
England as then administered. And in April, 1593, through the 
influence of Whitgift, who was a stern Calvinist, two Puritan 
ministers, Barrow and Greenwood, of unimpeached character and 
loyalty, were selected as examples, and were convicted and hanged 
at Tyburn, for no offence save persistent adherence to their reli- 
gious opinions.* 

The Puritans as a body had shown no disposition to separate 
from the visible church as it existed in England. But under such 

1 Art. Puritanism. Schaff-Herzog Encvc, III. 1980. 

2 Art. Puritan, New Amer. Enc, XIIL 666. 3 Art. Puritanism, Schaff-Herzog, III. 1980. 
< Ihid. 5 Strype's Whitgift, 414. Neal's Puritans, I. 526, 527. 



The Coming of the Puritans. 103 

persecutions we cannot wonder that many should have left the 
church and become Separatists^ as they were called, and that 
many others should have turned their thoughts to the New World 
with the hope of finding there the religious freedom denied them 
in England. Their special fault and misfortune were that they 
had not yet learned what true religious freedom meant. 

When James I. ascended the throne, in 1603, the Puritans hoped 
something favorable, because of his education under the learned 
and liberal Buchanan, and because of his own professions. But 
the king soon fell under the influence of religious persecutors. 
He required obedience to the decrees of the previous reign, and, 
sending for four influential Puritans, he told them he expected 
from their body obedience and humility, and said : " If this be all 
your party have to say, I -will make them conform, or I will harry 
them out of the land, or else do worse." ^ It was time for the 
Puritans to move towards the New World, and their movement 
soon began. 

Many of the Separatists went first to Holland. Among these 
were a little congregation in Scrooby, in the north of England, 
whose pastor's name was Richard Clifton. Under him were 
trained John Robinson, William Bradford and William Brewster. 
In 1607, the year in which Jamestown was settled, these perse- 
cuted people left England and settled in Holland, where they 
lived about thirteen years, most of the time in the city of Leyden.^ 

But for many reasons they wei'e not satisfied. They were Eng- 
lish, and loved their English homes, English habits and English 
tongue. If they continued in Holland, their children would grow 
up, marry there, and soon lose all that distinguished them as from 
England. This they did not desii"e. They determined to inigrate 
to America. From these facts the name of " Pilgrims " has come 
to them. 

They came back to England, and after making some efforts to 
obtain a grant from the London and Plymouth companies, moved 
without one. One ship, the Speedwell^ was left as unseaworthy. 
About one-half of them, one hundred and one in number, sailed 
in the Mayjioiver. Both in Holland and England their friends 
came with them to the shore, and they knelt and prayed to- 
gether.^ 

They sailed on the 6th of September, 1620. During the long 
and boisterous voyage of sixty-three days, one person died. On 
the 9th of November they saw land, and two days afterwards 

1 Art. Puritanism, Schaff-Herzog;, III. 1983. 

2 Eggleston's Houseliold U. S., 37. Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly, August, 1SS9. 

3 Eggleston's Household U. S., 39. Bancroft, I. 306-308. 



I04 A History of the United States of America. 

were safely moored in the harbor of Cape Cod. They had in- 
tended to seek the Hudson river, the best part of the American 
coast ; but, either by want of skill or by design, the captain of the 
Mayjioxver brought them to the " most barren and inhospitable part 
of Massachusetts."^ 

But before they landed, it was felt to be needful that some ade- 
quate form of government should be adopted, as they had no 
charter, and some were thought " not well affected to unity and 
concord." They, therefore, on the i ith of November, 1620, joined 
themselves into a body politic, under a solemn voluntary compact 
as follows : 

" In the name of God, amen : We whose names ai^e under 
written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign King James, 
having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the 
Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to 
plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by 
these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and 
one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together, into a 
civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and 
furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof to enact, 
constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, 
constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought 
most convenient for the general good of the colony. Unto which 
we promise all due submission and obedience." 

This instrument was signed in the cabin of the Alayjloiver by 
the whole body of the men, forty -one in number, who, with their 
families, constituted the one hundred of the colony. John Car- 
ver was unanimously chosen governor for a year.^ 

The place for the settlement was yet to be chosen. The shal- 
lop, brought on the deck of the JMayJloiver, was set up, but needed 
days of repair before she was fit for use. The shallow water 
tempted some of the men to wade, but in these trying expedi- 
tions, exposed to freezing water, snow and wind, the seeds of 
pulmonary diseases were introduced, and in the near future sev- 
eral died of consumption. Once they heard the war-whoop and 
encountered a flight of arrows from the Nausites, a tribe of In- 
dians, who had heard of the kidnaping by Thomas Hunt ; but no 
life was lost, and no further annoyance from these savages was 
experienced. 

At last, amid storm, darkness and chilling rain, they found a 
small island within the entrance of a harbor. A rocky promon- 
tory promised a firm place of landing. But the next day was 
1 Bancroft, I. 309. Derry's U. S., 35. = Bancroft, I. 309, 310. 



The Coniing of the Puritans. 105 

Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. True to their principles, and to 
the teachings of Nicholas Bownd, an eminent clergyman of the 
Anglican church, to whose sound doctrine King James had in 
vain opposed his " Book of Sports " for Sunday, the colonists re- 
mained quietly on Clark's Island all day, and engaged in prayer 
and worship/ 

The next day, Monday, the i ith of December, 1620 (old style), 
they landed on Plymouth Rock. Captain John Smith had already 
given the name to this locality and made it permanent in his 
map. The settlers gladly adopted it, because it recalled kindness 
they had received at Plymouth in England. They knelt in 
gratitude and adoration, although the heavens were yet black 
\vith the storms of wnnter. One of the most gifted of England's 
poets has described the scene in well-known words, from which 
we extract a single stanza : 

"Amidst the storm thej^ sang, 

And the stars heard and the sea; 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
With the anthem of the free." 

They began to build as soon as possible ; but the w^ork went on 
slowly, for many were sick and feeble, and some were near to 
death. But death had no terrors for them ; it was but the entrance 
to the heavenly rest. Duty was their watchw^ord, and with short 
intervals of sunshine between showers of sleet and snow, they con- 
tinued to build. 

On the 3d of Ivlarch, 1621, a south wind brought warm and 
fair weather. " The birds sang in the woods most pleasantly." 
But the mortality went on until the spring was far advanced ; then 
it ceased. Forty-four out of the hundred who landed had died, 
and among them the governor, John Carver, his wife and son. It 
was afterwards a subject of devout gratitude that of the survivors 
very many lived to extreme old age.^ Wishing to conceal their 
weakened condition from the Indians, the colonists leveled all 
the graves, and planted Indian corn over the places where their 
dead were buried. 

Even with the return of health, hardships and privation con- 
tinued. The same unfortunate policy of community as to land, 
which had afflicted the Virginia colony, was tried at Plymouth, 
and with the same result. The historian Winslow says : "I have 
seen men stagger by reason of faintness for want of food." They 
were once saved from famine by the kindness of fishermen off the 

1 Sabbath Essays, Oct. :S79, pp. 5, 176, 177. 
^Bancroft, I. 314. Eggleston's Household U. S., 39. 



io6 A History of the United States of A??ierica. 

coast. Sometimes they were oppressed by exorbitant charges for 
food made by the ships that visited them. In the autumn of 1621, 
a ship came in with more Puritan emigrants, and so unprovided 
with stores that the whole colony subsisted for six months on half 
allowance. For several inonths they had no corn. When visited 
by friends, all a family could offer was a lobster or a piece of fish 
M^ith a cup of spring water. ^ Yet they bore all their hardships 
with patience and cheerfulness. In the spring of 1623, it was 
agreed that each family should have its own land, and plant for 
itself. After the harvest of that year there was no general scarcity 
of food. Under the influence of industry and good morals, the 
colony grew slowly, but surely, in numbers and wealth. 

During their darkest and most trying seasons these pilgrims 
bore themselves with unyielding courage and resignation. John 
Robinson, the minister of Scrooby, had remained with the part 
of his flock in Holland, and he died there. The presbyter Brew- 
ster was the religious teacher of the Plymouth settlers. It is re- 
lated of him that when he had nothing for the dinner of himself 
and his family except a few clams and some cold water, he would 
cheerfully give thanks that they were " permitted to suck of the 
abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sand." ^ 

Whatever may have been the errors and shortcomings of such 
a people, they were worthy, by their virtues, to take part in the 
moulding of a great nation. Two monuments have been raised 
to them which will endure : one is the poem of Felicia Hemans ; 
the other is a material structure of New England granite, eighty 
feet in height, erected in Plymouth.* The corner-stone was laid 
August 2d, 1859, and the monument was completed and dedicated 
August ist, 1889, amid general rejoicings and in the presence of a 
multitude gathered from all parts of the United States. On the 
sides of the pedestal are carved the names of the passengers in 
the Mayjlovoer^ and also scenes in alto rilievo representing Rev. 
John Robinson's prayer at their departure from Delft Haven, the 
signing of the compact in the cabin of the ship, the landing on 
Plymouth Rock, and the treaty made between the pilgrims and 
the Indian chief Massasoit. On four projecting bases are seated 
allegorical figures, each nine feet high, representing Morality, 
Education, Law and Freedom. But towering above these, rises 
from the pedestal a noble figure, representing Christian Faith, 
carved in solid granite and thirty-six feet in height, with one 
hand uplifted and the other holding a copy of the Holy Scrip- 

1 Bancroft, I. 315. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 55. 

2 Eggleston's Household TT. S., 41. 

3 Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, Aug. 1889. Phila. Pres., Aug. 10, 1889. 



The Coiiiliig of the Puritans. 107 

tures. On the front panel of the monument is this inscription : 
" National Alonument to Forefathers, erected by a grateful peo- 
ple, in remembrance of their labors, sacrifices and sufferings for 
the cause of civil and religious liberty." 

This claim is, in a large measure, founded in truth ; but it would 
have been better for the country and the vs^orld if these forefathers 
had learned all that civil and religious liberty demanded before 
they reached the rock of Plymouth. That lesson the vv^orld had 
not yet learned. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Massachusetts Colony. 

IT was fortunate that, for some years, the feeble colony at Ply- 
mouth were not attacked by Indians. A pestilence among the 
savages of that region had been so fatal some years before that it 
had been deserted, and was regarded by them with superstitious 
dread. ^ 

In March, 162 1, A\^hile many of the colonists were yet sick, and 
among them Governor Carver and his family, they were surprised 
by a loud salutation froni an Indian, Samoset, w^ho shouted, " Wel- 
come, Englishmen ! Welcome, Englishmen ! " He had learned a 
little English from fishermen and traders on the coast. He wore 
little clothing, except a leathern belt and a skirt. But he was 
tall and well-shaped, with coal-black hair and piercing eyes. He 
was of the strong tribe of Wampanoags, and bade the settlers 
w^elcome, because, as he told them, the pestilence had killed or 
driven away all the Indians. 

It was now that the Indian who had been kidnaped by Hunt, 
and w^ho had returned somewhat christianized from Spain and 
England, acted as interpreter.^ The settlers were informed that 
Massasoit, the chieftain of the whole tribe, was coming to visit 
them. 

Feeble as he was, Governor Carver met them with as much of 
display, wnth flags, drums and trumjoets, as he could muster. Food 
was furnished, and the Indian chief drank so freely of the " strong 
v^^ater " offered by the AA^hites that it made him " sweat all the 
while." ' 

Nevertheless, a fair treaty of amity and peace Avas concluded, 
which was faithfully kept for fifty years, and which did much to 
save the Plymouth colony. This treaty was as good for the 
Indians as for the whites. The Narragansetts, a strong tribe in- 
habiting a part of what is now Rhode Island, made war on Mas- 
sasoit, and some hard fighting took place. The white settlers in- 
terfered and so influenced the Narragansetts that they made peace 
and agreed to be friendly. 

iBarnes' U. S., 54. Derry's U. S., 3G. = Bancroft, I. 317. 3Goodrich's U. S., C5. 

[ loS ] 



AfassacJiicsetts Colony. 109 

But they did not remain quiet long. Carver died about the last 
of March, and William Bradford, who afterwards wrote the early 
history of the colony, became governor, and continued in office 
for about forty years. He was a firm, yet prudent, man. 

All the colonists were not peaceful spirits. The first duel in 
North America occurred at this time, the two duellists being ser- 
vants in the Plymouth settlement. Each was armed with sword 
and dagger ; but neither was killed. They w^ere tried for their 
ofience by the whole colony sitting as a democratic court of jus- 
tice. They were found guilty, and sentenced to be publicly tied 
together, neck and heels, for twenty-four hours, without food or 
drink. ^ Had punishment like this continued to be steadily in- 
flicted in cases of duelling in America, it is probable that the 
practice would have been suppressed, and the lives of Alexander 
Hamilton and Stephen Decatur w^ould not have been sacrificed to 
a false god of pseudo-honor. 

Miles Standish, "the best linguist" and the best soldier among 
the colonists, was appointed commancfer of their military forces, 
and pi'oved himself brave and able.^ He never joined the church, 
but he loved it and fought for it. 

In September, 1622, Canonicus, a sachem of the Narragansetts, 
sent to Plymouth, as a preliminary declaration of war, a bundle 
of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. Governor Brad- 
ford, knowing that the savages had then no fire-arms, caused the 
skin to be filled with powder and bullets, and returned it to Ca- 
nonicus. The \vary chieftain took the hint, and w^as glad to 
make a treaty of peace. ^ 

Yet the pilgrims needed ceaseless watchfulness and preparation 
to fight. They went armed to church, and stationed a guard. 
They knew what human nature uninfluenced by Divine grace was 
capable of. Had they been more distrustful of their own know- 
ledge of what God had revealed, it would have been well. Their 
sermons v\^ere not approved unless hours in length. They con- 
tinued the habit of the English Puritans, and gave to their chil- 
dren, male and female, names taken from the Old Testament, or 
else names made up of several words expressive of their beliefs, 
such as " Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White,'''' and "Faint-not 
Hewittr 

In 1622, incited by desires for profitable fur-trade, a company 
of adventurers obtained a patent from the Plymouth Company in 
England, and under this sixty men went over in 1623 and settled 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 65, 66. - Bancroft, I. 306. 

3 Barnes' U. S., 55. Derry, 37. Holmes, 43. 



no A History of the United States of America. 

near Weymouth the first plantation in Boston harbor. They 
were all single men, and boasted of their superiority over the 
weak colony at Plymouth, %vhich contained \vomen and children. 
But they ^vere soon dependent on the older settlement for the ne- 
cessaries of life, and finally for protection against savage at- 
tacks. Their want of thrift brought want of food, and Plvmouth 
fed them. Their insolence and injustice provoked the Indians. 
A plot was formed for their destruction ; but Massasoit revealed 
it to the pilgrims. Miles Standish marched with eight armed 
men, and fell upon the hostile Indians with such suddenness and 
skill that they were instantly routed %vith severe loss.^ Some of 
the Weymouth settlers joined the pilgrims ; others went back to 
England. The settlement was abandoned. 

Thus the colony that had ^vomen and children proved itself 
to be brave and strong. It will always be so. Yet the Plvmouth 
colony, in ten years, had barelv a population of three hundred 
souls." Massasoit and the friendly Indians had taught them how 
to plant and fertilize, at tRe same time, Indian corn by putting 
one or two decayed fish into the com hills. They got cows and 
milk in 1633. and raised vegetables ; but their fisheries ^vere their 
chief source of supply. This settlement, though \veak, was indus- 
trious and virtuous : they \vere free from the %vorst vices of intol- 
erance and persecution, which soon appeared among their Puritan 
brethren of the Massachusetts Bay colony, to "vvhose life we must 
now attend. 

The hopes of the Puritans in England were still turned to\vards 
the New World. After some preliminary voyages and settle- 
ments for fishing and trade, a charter was obtained from King 
Charles I. ©n the 4th IMarch, 1629, under which a governor, deputy 
and eighteen assistants -were to be annuallv elected bv the stock- 
holders, and four times a year, or oftener if desired, a general as- 
sembly of the freemen was to be held, invested with powers of 
legislation, inquest and superintendence.^ 

There ^vas no express guaranty of religious libert}'. Xo la%vs 
nor ordinances repugnant to the laws and statutes of England 
were to be passed, and there -was an express concession of the 
power to administer the " oath of supremacv." ' Yet the charter 
■was granted to Puritans, and was so certainly intended to favor 
their wishes as to colonization that, in 1662. Charles II. declared 
officially, probably with the assent of Clarendon, that " the prin- 
ciple and foundation of the charter of Massachusetts were the free- 
dom of liberty of conscience." * 

1 Derrys r. 8., 37. Goodrich's r. S., 70, 71. * Swinton's Cond. U. S., 40. 

'Bancroft, I. 342. * Hutch. Collec., 378. Bancroft, I. 344. 



Massachusetts Colony. 1 1 1 

Under these auspices large numbers of Puritans of all classes 
embarked for America, and settled at Salem and Boston, on Masr 
sachusetts Bay. Boston was described as then " having sweet 
and pleasant springs and good lands affording rich corn fields and 
fruitful gardens." Many of the families had been accustomed to 
plenty and ease, the refinements of cultivated life and the conve- 
niences of luxury. Yet now they encountered all the hardships 
of a New England settlement. Before December, 1639, at least 
two hundred had died. Yet the survivors bore their lot with 
courage ; " the general distress did but augment the piety and con- 
firm the fortitude of the colonists." 

John Winthrop was governor, and showed himself to be pos- 
sessor of those high qualities of head and heart which have since 
adorned many bearing his name in New England. About a thou- 
sand colonists had come out with him ; yet such was the scarcity 
of food sometimes that, when Winthrop's last bread was in the 
oven, he divided all the flour he had among the needy. That very 
day a ship load of provisions arrived. Winthrop dressed plainly, 
di'ank little except water, and worked among his servants with 
his own hands. He was truly magnanimous. When one of the 
leading men in the colony wrote him an angry letter he sent it 
back, saying that he " was not willing to keep by him such a prov- 
ocation to ill feeling." The writer of the letter was gained, and 
answered, "Your overcoming yourself has overcome me."^ This 
great and good man was almost continuously governor till he died 
in 1649. His son of the same name inherited his virtues, and was 
afterwards the first Governor of Connecticut. 

Between the years 1630 and 1640 not less than twenty thou- 
sand persons are supposed to have come to New England.^ 
They were nearly all Puritans, fleeing from the continued oppres- 
sion of the mother country, and hoping to find religious freedom 
in the New World. It seems strange that it should not have oc- 
curred to them that the true teachings of Holy Scripture, accord- 
ing to the analogy of faith, required them to grant the same free- 
dom of conscience and conduct to others that they claimed for 
themselves. But this had not then been learned. Already the 
slavery of written and printed articles and creeds of religion had 
been established. Believing themselves and their interpretation 
of Holy Scripture to be infallibly right, they believed those who 
differed from them to be wrong, and they held it to be their sol- 
emn duty to refuse toleration and permission to live among 
them to those who diflfered from them in religious belief and prac- 

1 Eggleston's Household U. S., 44. 2 lud., 44, 45. 



112 A History of the United States of America. 

tice. Thus they repeated the exact sin of the Roman church, 
which most needed reform, and against which the Reformation 
and its adherents had most earnestly and conscientiously protested. 

Some of the settlers in Massachusetts thought they could find 
better lands. In i635-'36, under the leadership of a great di- 
vine named Thomas Hooker, they passed through the unbroken 
woods to the Connecticut river, and settled the towns of Wind- 
sor, Wethersfield and Hartford. There were already trading 
posts on this fine river ; but the emigration of Hooker and his 
tricnds was the true beginning of the colony of Connecticut. In 
163S a colony was planted near New Haven by Puritans under the 
lead of John Davenport. In 1665 it was united with Connecticut.' 

We have seen that as early as 1607 a feeble attempt at settle- 
ment on the Atlantic coast of Maine had been made by George 
Popham and Raleigh Gilbert. Much confusion as to titles in 
New Hampshire and Maine has arisen from the various and ap- 
parently conflicting grants riiade by the Plymouth Company in 
England ; but the skill and industry of a modern historian have, 
to a great extent, reconciled them and removed obscurity. 

On the loth of August, 1632, the Plymouth Company (of which 
the Duke of Lenox was then the head) granted to Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges and Captain John Mason all their title and rights (vmder 
the royal charter of November 3d, 1620) in a district of country 
certainly embracing a large part of New Hampshire, but not de- 
signated in the grant as Laconia. The title given is " The Pro- 
vince of Maine." On the 37th of November, 1639, the company 
made to them another grant of a district designated as Laconia. 
But under the first grant two settlements were made v»'hich be- 
came permanent, and which are certainly within the present limits 
of New Hampshire. They were, one near the mouth of Piscata- 
qua river, and near the present town of Portsmouth ; the other 
higher up the same river. The first was called " Strawberry 
Bank" or "Mason Hall," from the principal house in it, which 
was erected by Captain Mason ; the other was called " Dover," 
and still bears that name. Both of these settlements were made 
in 1633. 

On the 7th of November, 1639, (after these settlements were 
made.) John Mason obtained from the Plymouth Company a 
grant for a district including these settlements; and the name of 
New Hampshire was given to the whole district thus granted." 

The two settlements grew gradually, but no new settlements 
were attempted for several j'-ears. In the -winter of 163^— '36, 

1 Household U. S., 45. a A. H. Stephens' Comp. Hist, of U. S., 69, 70. 



J\IassarJ///srffs Colon i 



13 



John Mason died. He was the founder of New Hampshire. 
For many years no one claimed his proprietary rights ; the col- 
ony was neglected and made little progress. 

In 1638, Exeter was settled by John Wheelwright and his fol- 
lowers, compelled to leave ^lassachusetts on account of religious 
differences. Under like circumstances Hampton w^as settled in 
1640 by Stephen Batcheler and a few adherents.^ 

Dover, Exeter, Hampton and Portsmouth (Strawberry Bank) 
were each governed by its own laws and recognized no other au- 
thority ; but about 1641 jMassachusetts began to claim jurisdiction 
over these communities in New Plampshire. This dispute, be- 
tween the government of Massachusetts Bay and the proprietary 
claiming under John Mason, was brought to iinal adjudication in 
England in 1679, and was justly decided against the claims of 
jMassachusetts. 

But during all this time the colony of New Hampshire re- 
mained almost stationary. It grew very slowly both in numbers 
and wealth. In 16:^3 the whole population did not exceed one 
thousand. Yet, though small in quantity, they were high in 
quality. They were known for sterling virtue and warm love of 
liberty. The veiy air from their White Mountains seemed to in- 
spire them with patriotism. They were to take their part in he- 
roic scenes. 

We return now to the Puritan government and to the cases of 
Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams and others — cases which are 
the beacon lights of the history of Massachusetts. 

But it is important in advance to state that Roger Williams 
w^as not the father of religious liberty in America. Several years 
before he began his teachings in favor of freedom of conscience 
in Salem, George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) and his sons, Cecil 
and Leonard Calvert, had obtained from Charles I. the patent 
under which the colony of Maryland was settled. And in this 
colony, as early as 1634, the fundamental oath of the governor 
was in these words : " I will not, by myself or anv othei-, directly 
or indirectly, molest any person professing to believe in Jesus 
Christ, for or in respect of religion." ^ This was going as far as 
any Christian could go for religious liberty ; for heathen religious 
rites and practices were constantly so horrible and destructive to 
morality that Christian governments were obliged by duty to for- 
bid them. The Maiyland constitutions gave entii'e religious free- 
dom to all who came in good faith to settle thei-e ; vet these con- 

1 A. H. Stephens' Comp. Hist, of U. S.,71. 

■-Chalmers' Amer. Colon., 235. McMahon, 22G. Bancroft, I. 248. 

S 



114 ^ History of the United States of America. 

stitutions were given by men who conscientiously adhered to the 
Roman church. They knew all the history of that church, and 
how grossly she had, in many instances, in past ages violated the 
principles of religious freedom ; but they regarded such viola- 
tions as departures from the true principles of their church, which 
they held to be founded on the inspired teachings of prophets and 
apostles ; and they had seen and felt the bitterness of suffering 
coming from the religious intolei-ance of the established church 
in England and in the Virginia colony. Thus they had learned 
wisdom, and profited by her lessons. The same lessons might have 
been learned by Puritans in Massachusetts and by bigots and re- 
ligious persecutors in Virginia, had they been as apt and docile 
scholars. Therein lay the difference. 



CHAPTER XV. 
Anxe Hutchinson. — Roger Williams. — Qiiakers. 

THE colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth continued 
to prosper, and to sjDread their influence and power within 
tlieir territorial limits. The Plymouth colony never succeeded 
in obtaining a charter from the king ; but their two charters from 
the Plymouth Company in England — one granted in 163 1 by the 
influence of Gorges, and the other in 1633 by negotiation of their 
skillful agent, Allerton — gave them all they desired in territory 
and right. ^ 

In a few yeax's flourishing settlements existed not only at Bos- 
ton, Charlestown, Salem and Plymouth, but in and around the 
sites of Dorchester, Roxbury, Cambridge, Lynn and Watertown. 
Settlers had also passed into the province of Maine. These 
were not religious refugees, but men of rugged and vigorous en- 
terprise, who went to engage in the fisheries, the trade with the 
Indians, and the cutting of timber. This " District of Maine," 
as it was called, suffered some disorders of government until it 
was, by charter, annexed to the colony of Massachusetts in 1692. 
It remained a part of Massachusetts until it was admitted as one 
of the United States in 1830.^ 

The growth of the Puritan colonies alarmed Charles I. and his 
ministei-s. Archbishop Laud was placed at the head of a coin- 
mission for the government of New England. Restrictive mea- 
sures to check emigration were adopted. It is believed that, un- 
der these, Oliver Ci-omwell and John Hampden were prevented 
from coming out to Massachusetts.^ Was there a " divinity shap- 
ing these ends " and driving Charles to his fate and England into 
freedom ? 

From 1630 the Massachusetts Bay colony enjoyed self-govern- 
ment in consequence of the transfer of the charter and powers of 
government from England to the colony. But state and church 
were closely united. Freemen only could vote, and all freemen 
were required to be members of the church.* 

1 Bancroft, I. C20. 2 Eggleston's Household U. S., 4G. s Holmes' U. S., 45. 

4 Swinton's Cond. U. S., 43. Bancroft, I. 360. 

[ ii.S ] 



ii6 A History of the United States of America. 

In 1693, after retaining its independent government for seventy- 
two years, and attaining a population of eight thousand, the 
Plymouth colony was, by order of the English crown, united 
with the Massachusetts Bay colony ; but meantime important 
events had occxirred affecting the lives of both. 

On the 1 8th of September, 1634, one Anne Hutchinson, with 
her husband, came to Boston from England. She greatly ad- 
mired John Cotton and her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright, as 
preachers. She had already excited attention by her vivacity, her 
knowledge of Scripture, and the peculiar and disorganizing doc- 
trines she professed to draw therefrom. These doctrines were of 
the kind known as antinotnian. She taught that the Holy Spirit 
in miraculous personality dwelt in every true believer, and that 
the inward revelations of this Spirit, inciting the conscious judg- 
ments of the mind, gave infallibly the rule of conduct. Thus she 
dispensed with the written law as the rule of action.^ 

She organized meetings of women, and soon had many follow- 
ers in the colony. Among them were the young governor, Sir 
Harry Vane, the ministers Cotton and Wheelwright, and all the 
Boston members except five. But the stanch John Endicott, the 
assistant pastor Wilson, and the country clergymen generally were 
opposed to her and her teachings. 

Two factions were formed, and their contests affected the col- 
ony very seriously, extending even to the levy of troops for war 
with the Indians, the distribution of town lots, and the assess- 
ment of taxes.'' At length " the continued existence of the two 
opposing parties was considered inconsistent with the public 
peace." An ecclesiastical synod at Newtown, August 30, 1637, 
condemned eighty-two tenets, and among them all those held by 
Anne Hutchinson. 

She was summoned before the general court, and, after a trial 
of two days, she and some of her co-religionists were sentenced 
to banishment from the territory of Massachusetts ; but she was 
permitted to remain during the winter at a private residence in 
Roxbury, 

Joining many of her friends, she went first with them, under 
the lead of John Clarke and William Coddington, to the island of 
Aquetneck, subsequently known as Rhode Island. It had been 
obtained from the Narragansett Indians by the influence of Roger 
Williams ; and there a body politic was formed on democratic 
principles, in which no one was to be " accounted a delinquent 

' Art. Anne Hutchinson, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 396. 

- Bancroft, in Art. Anne Hutchinson, Am. Encyclop., IX. 396. 



Roger Williams. 117 

for doctrine." Her husband died in 1642. She then removed 
with her surviving family to the neighborhood of Hell Gate, in 
Westchester county, New York. This was under Dutch power, 
and she evidently thought herself safer than within a region which 
Massachusetts might possibly claim. But war was then raging 
between the Dutch and the Indians ; and the savages attacked 
her residence, set fire to her house, and she and all her family 
perished, except one child, who was carried into captivity.^ 

Even if Anne Hutchinson's doctrines were heretical and inju- 
rious, it would have been best to leave them to the correction of 
counter scriptural truth, rather than resort to persecution and 
banishinent. Her history and fate leave a dark stain on Massa- 
chusetts. 

The treatment of Roger Williams was worse still. He was a 
well-born and well-educated minister of the Anglican church, 
born in Wales in 1606. His instincts were deeply religious and 
Christian. When sixty years old he said : " From my childhood 
the Father of lights touched my soul with a love to himself, to 
his only begotten the true Lord Jesus, and to his Holy Scrip- 
tures." In his youth his readiness at short-hand reports of ser- 
mons and speeches in the Star Chamber attracted the favorable 
regard of Sir Edward Coke, who helped him in his education. 
He studied law, though he never came to the bar. He was at 
Oxford University, and logic and the classics, paramount in the 
studies there, left their traces deeply on his mind. He had a 
good acquaintance with the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French and 
Dutch languages. John Milton, secretary of the council, was his 
friend. He took orders in the church prior to 1630, but soon 
found that the creed, liturgy and vestments did not suit him. At 
the close of 1630 he embarked for America, arriving in Boston 
February 5, 1631, accompanied by his wife.^ 

He was admired for his zeal and directness in preaching, but 
soon incurred the hostility of the authorities by his religious 
opinions, and especially by denying that the civil magistrates had 
any power or authority except in purely civil matters. This 
tenet, which has since become the foundation rock of liberty in 
the United States, was highly repulsive to the Puritans of New 
England. He went to Salem, and soon became assistant pastor 
of Skelton, well known there. The Boston authorities followed 
him up with opposition on the ground above stated, and also that 
he " had refused to join the congregation at Boston because they 

lArt. Anne Hutchinson, New Amer. Encyclop., IX. 396. 
2:Art. Roger Williams, New Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 445. 



xi8 A History of the United States of America. 

would not make a public declaration of their repentance for ha\ 
ing communed with the churches in England." ^ 

If this was a true charge, it was a departure from the liberality 
of sentiment distinguishing Roger Williams. His objections to 
the Anglican church were, that it was composed indiscriminately 
of pious and worldly men, and that it assumed authority over the 
conscience and was a persecutoi'. These objections were only too 
M^ell founded ; but they were not sufficient to make it sinful to 
commune with that church. 

Persecution soon commenced in Salem, and Williams sadly i"e- 
tired to Plymouth. Here he was kindly received, and for tvv^o 
years was assistant of the pastor, Ralph Smith. He then, by in- 
vitation, resumed his ministry in Salem, succeeding Skelton as 
pastor. He preached what he believed, and his beliefs, although 
in accord with the highest teachings of Scripture and reason, did 
not suit the authorities of Massachusetts. He had called in ques- 
tion the right of either the king or the colony or the people of 
the colony to take and appropriate the lands of the Indians with- 
out paying adequate compensation for them ; and also the right 
of the civil power to impose faith and worship on any man. 

For these opinions, openly taught by him, the general court of 
the colony, late in the autumn of 163=^, pronounced sentence of 
banishment against him. The order was that " the said Mr. Wil- 
liams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now 
next ensuing, which if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful 
for the governor and tvv^o of the magistrates to send him to some 
place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without 
license from the court." ^ 

The time for his departure was extended to the coming spring. 
But his doctrines were taking root and spreading in many candid 
minds. It was determined, therefore, to send him back to Eng- 
land. A small vessel was dispatched to Salem for the purpose. 
But Williams got notice in some way, and when the vessel arrived 
was beyond their reach. In midwinter, abandoning friends and 
family, " sorely tossed for fourteen weeks, not knowing what 
bread or bed did mean," he plunged into the wilderness and lite- 
rally " steered his course " for the shores of the Narragansett. 
Purchasing of the Indian Ousamequin lands on the eastern shore 
of Seekonk river, he had planted his corn for the season, w^hen, 
ascertaining that he was still ^vithin the bounds of the Plyinouth 
grants, he felt impelled to move again. Accompanied by five 
companions, he embarked in a canoe, proceeded down the stream, 

1 Art. Roger Williams, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 445, 446. "^Ihid., p. 446. 



Roger IVillianis. 119 

turned the extremity of the peninsula, and ascended the Connec- 
ticut river to a spot which tradition has consecrated as his land- 
ing. His own words describe his acts : " I, having made covenant 
of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems and nations 
round about us, and having, of a sense of God's merciful provi- 
dence unto me in my distress, called the place Providence, I 
desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for con- 
science." ^ This was in 1636. 

Here was the genesis of the State of Rhode Island. Here was 
the second colony planted in America, in which religious liberty 
was the primitive condition of settlement. 

Roger Williams was the fast friend of the Indians. He trav- 
eled and visited so niuch among them that he acquired a know- 
ledge of their languages, w^hich enabled him afterwards to w^rite 
a valuable work, entitled a " Key into the Languages of America," 
including, also, accounts of the manners, habits, law^s and religion 
of the Indian tribes. Such was his influence with them that 
when, in 1637, the Pequot Indians began a war with the whites, 
and sought the strong alliance of the Narragansetts, Williams, to 
save the lives of some of the very men who had persecuted him, 
set out in a storm and paddled many weary miles to the Narra- 
gansett settlements to urge them not to join in the war against 
the colonists. Here he met the Pequot emissaries, and his life 
was in danger. But by his earnest arguments the Narragansetts 
were convinced, and refused to go to war.' 

During all this time Williams had not taken the name of 
" Baptist " upon him. It is probable that he admired and sym- 
pathized with the life and teachings of John Smyth, the leader 
of the " General Baptists " in England, who, finding the laws 
and policy of the reign of James I. ungenial, retired to Holland 
and became the influential pastor of " the Second English Church " 
at Amsterdam. Smyth was baptized by immersion ; by whom is 
not known — some say, by himself.^ At Amsterdam he, with 
Thomas Helwys, published a " Confession of Faith " in twenty- 
six articles, one of which contained a definite claim of religious 
freedom. He was a graduate and fellow of Cambridge, and a 
fine scholar, as well as a man of incorruptible integrity, beautiful 
humility, and glowing charity.* He died in 1613. 

In 1639, Roger Williams was immersed by Ezekiel Holliman, 
a layman without sacred orders of any kind. Then Williams 
baptized by immersion Holliman and ten other persons. Thus 

1 Gammell, 1846 ; Elton, 1852. Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 446. 2 Quackenbos' U. S., 89. 

3 Art. John Smyth, Schaff-HerzoK Encyclop., III. 2202. 
*Schaff-Herzog Encyclop., III. 2202. 



I20 A m story of the United States of America. 

the Baptist churches took their origin in the United States. In 
1643, Williams obtained a charter for Rhode Island from the 
English Parliament. He died in his colony in 1683, in the 
seventy-seventh year of his age,^ The island itself had been 
named by the Dutch Rood Eylandt from its reddish appearance. 
Hence the name of the colony and the State. 

Continuity of impression demands that this subject shall be 
carried further. The " Qiiakers " (or "Friends," as they more 
appropriately style themselves) began their career in England in 
1647. Their tenets have been fully made known, and were never 
a just ground for persecution. Among them the belief in the 
indwelling and enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, and in 
perfect freedom of conscience and religious life, were prominent. 
If some of their private members indulged themselves in extrav- 
agances and vagaries, persecution of the sect and all its adherents 
was not the proper remedy. 

In 1656, the Qiiakers first appeared in Boston, New England. 
They began immediately to preach against a paid clergy, civil 
oaths, war and military service, the visible sacraments of the 
church, the right of magistrates to govern in religious matters, 
and other beliefs held by the colonists. Provoking as all this 
was, it might not have led to active persecution had it not been 
attended by indecorums and indecencies of private "Friends," 
which called for correction, and which seemed to indicate that 
the system of faith leading to such practices was unsound at its 
core. 

In 1658, a furious fanatic of this sect, named Fanlord, was 
preparing to shed the blood of his own son, when the cries of 
the unhappy boy attracted neighbors, who seized the arm of this 
man. Another, enacting his idea of Jeremiah and his symbols, 
burst in upon an assembled congregation, and striking violently 
together two bottles held in his hands, shattered them in frag- 
ments, crying out : " Thus will the Lord break you in pieces." 
A Quaker woman, having spread coal dust over her face, exhib- 
ited herself to amazed spectators as a sign of some hideous disease 
that was soon to beset them. Another woman came into a 
church in a state of perfect nudity, and exhorted the people to 
look upon her as a sign of the unhappy condition of their own 
naked souls. A similar exhibition occurred in Salem ; and in a 
southern colony it is related that a Quaker walked naked through 
the streets of a town for several days as a sign of the times?' 

' Amer. Encvclop., XVI. 445-447. 

2 Thalheimer's Eclectic U. S., 59, 60. Grahame's Amer. Colon. Hist., I. 306,;307, note IX., 
I. 461. 



Quakers. 121 

We need not wonder that the Puritan spirit was moved to stern 
measures. 

There was no special statute against Qiiakers ; but, under the 
general law against heresy, in July, 16:^6, when Mary Fisher and 
Anne Austin appeared in the road before Boston and began to 
testify, their trunks were searched, and their books were burned 
by the hangman ; their bodies were examined in search of signs 
of witchcraft, and after five weeks of close imprisonment they 
were thrust out of the jurisdiction. Eight others, during the 
same year, v^^ere sent back to England. 

The next year a statute was enacted for their punishment, and 
a Quaker woman who "came all the way from London to warn 
the magistrates against persecution" was whipped with twenty 
stripes. Some who had been banished came again. They were 
imprisoned, whipped, and sent away, under penalty of more 
severe punishment if they returned. A fine was imposed on any 
person for entertaining or receiving into his house any '* of the 
accursed sect." A Quaker after the first conviction was to lose 
one ear ; after the second, the other ; after a third, his tongue was 
to be bored with a red-hot iron. Finally the death penalty was 
denounced in case of repeated return, and under this law, in vSep- 
tember and October, 16^9, four persons — three men and one 
woman — were hanged.' 

The cruelty of the persecutors was only equaled by the persis- 
tency of the persecuted. It has ever been so v^^ith persecution 
on account of religion. Conscience, whether good or evil, is felt 
to be too precious and sacred to submit to repression by violence. 
Had the Qiiakers who came to Massachusetts been left to them- 
selves, their false fires would speedily have burned themselves 
out, and their true fires would have remained to bless that part 
of America, as they have blessed other parts, with religious free- 
dom and a pure morality. 

And when we compare the results of persecution in America 
with those in Europe under the doctrines of the Roman church, 
and the secular governments upholding them, we will have no 
difficulty in discovering that already the passage across the 
Atlantic had cleansed the colonists of the sin of persecution. 
Under Charles V. the number of persons who were hanged, 
beheaded, buried alive, or burned for religious opinion and pro- 
fession, in the Netherlands alone, amounted to fifty thousand 
according to Fra Paolo, and Grotius estimates those thus put to • 

1 Bancroft, I. 452-157, 



122 A History of the United States of America. 

death in that country under Philip II. at one hundred thou- 
sand.' 

The government of Massachusetts was ashamed of the laws 
for mutilation, and they were not printed.^ Soon they were 
repealed, and persecution gradually ceased. Happy has it been 
for America that this lesson has been learned at so small a cost 
of human life and suffering. 

1 Sarpi, Istoria del Concil., Trid. L. v. Grotius, Aunales. Bancroft, I. 455. 
2 Bancroft, I. 453. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Connecticut. — Alleged Blue Laws. — New York. 

CONNECTICUT was settled almost entirely from Massachu- 
setts. In 1635 the inovement began. About sixty men, 
women and children set out with their faces westward. They 
were guided by the compass and the sun and stars. They drove 
their cattle before them. After fourteen days of toilsome jour- 
neying, through almost unbroken forests, they reached the Con- 
necticut [lon^ river), and settled the town of Windsor. 

In 1636 came other pioneers, under Thomas Hooker, of whom 
we have spoken. Some of them joined the settlers at Windsor ; 
others settled Hartford and Wethersfield. 

But the Dutch claimed Connecticut, and were there before the 
settlers from ISIassachusetts. The Dutch claim had no sound 
basis, for the territory was included in the original grants to the 
Plymouth ComjDany.^ 

In 1633 some Dutch traders from New Netherlands (now New 
York) came to the mouth of the Connecticut, and established a 
fortified trading-post on the river, near where Hartford no\v 
stands. It was commanded by a brave Hollander, Van Curler, 
and was called " Good Hope." 

But in the same year came a party of bold traders from the 
Plymouth colony. They entered the river, and disregarding pe- 
remptory commands to stop, seconded by several badly-aimed 
shots, they sailed by and ^vent up as far as Windsor, v\^here they 
built a trading-house. The Dutch soon found their post as un- 
tenable as their claims. Nevertheless, contests — sometimes of 
words, sometimes of blows — went on for years between the 
Dutch and the pilgrims of Connecticut, which have been ge- 
nially if not truthfully presented in Diedrich Knickerbocker's 
History of New York. 

In 1630 the Plvmouth Company granted the soil of Connecti- 
cut to the Earl of Warwick. In 1633 the Earl ceded his rights 
to Lord Say-and-Sele and Lord Brooke and others as a corpora- 
tion. 

1 Swinton's Cond. U. S., 48. A. H. Stephens' U. S., 7-1. 
t 123 J 



134 A History of the United States of America. 

They did not disturb the Puritan settlers, but sent out John Win- 
throp, son of Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, with direc- 
tions to build a fort at the mouth of the river. This was called 
Saybrook. In 1644 they united with the Connecticut colony. 

In 1637, John Davenport, a London clergyman, and his friend 
Theophilus Eaton, a rich merchant, with some associates, arrived 
in Boston. They were liberal non-conformists, and finding the 
religious atmosphere of Boston ungenial, they moved farther 
west. In the spring of 1638 they landed on the shores of a beau- 
tiful bay, and founded New Haven. Eaton was annually elected 
governor for more than twenty years. ^ 

Here, in 1700, originally as "the Collegiate School of the Col- 
ony of Connecticut," was founded Yale College, which has sent 
forth many brilliant graduates in science and literature. In 1639 
the settlements on the river held a convention at Hartford, and 
adopted a very liberal constitution and form of government. In 
1662, Charles II., moved by John Winthrop, Jr., granted to Con- 
necticut a free and advantageous charter ; and in 1665 the three 
distinct centres of settlement, known as the Connecticut, Say- 
brook and New Haven, were united in one colony, which was 
afterwards a State. ^ 

Connecticut was disturbed early in her life by a war with the 
Pequot Indians, already alluded to, and of which a farther account 
will be given when we give the history of the early Indian wars. 

But her course was onward and upward. The influence of 
such men as Hooker, Davenport, Eaton and Winthrop was felt 
for centuries ; in fact, it has never ceased. Education, in all its 
forms, and especially the higher literary and scientific forms, has 
been sedulously sought by her. 

To this favorable view an exception has long been taken in 
some minds by reason of a code of conduct known as the " Blue 
Laws," attributed to the settlement in and around New Haven 
while it enjoyed separate powers. 

But as a historical fact, no such code of public laws ever ex- 
isted. The idea which gave birth to this title, as a name of ridi- 
cule or reproach, has been traced to the times of the Charles 
Kings and Oliver Cromwell, of England, when all who disap- 
proved the licentiousness of the court and cavaliers were called 
"blue." In Hudibras this epithet is explained thus : 

" For his religion, it was fit 
To match his learning and his wit; 
'Twas Presbyterian true bine.'" 

1 A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 75. = Swinton's Cond. U. S., 49. 



Allesred Blue Lazvs. 



125 



The notion of the code of " Blue Laws " attributed to Connec- 
ticut originated in a false and maligning work, written and pub- 
lished in England in 1781 by one Samuel Peters, born in Connec- 
ticut in 1735. He graduated at Yale College in 1757, became a 
clergyman of the Church of England, and in 1762 took charge of 
the Episcopal churches in Hartford and Hebron. Being a Tory 
of the most odious type, he was forced to fly to England in 1774 ; 
and there, in order to wreak his revenge, he wrote and published 
his work under the title, "A General History of Connecticut." 
This work has long been recognized as unhistorical, and has been 
in modern times, with apparent justice, spoken of as " the most 
unscrupulous and malicious of lying narratives."^ 

The falsehoods of Samuel Peters as to the alleged " Blue 
Laws" were all the more indicative of malice prepense, because 
the truth on the subject had been made public fifteen years before 
he wrote his work. Judge Smith, of New York, had made a 
special search in New Haven for these laws, or any trace of them, 
or any evidence that they had ever existed. This was in 1767, 
He found nothing to indicate that they ever had been. The no- 
tion about them arose from the strictness of observance of what 
they understood to be scriptural teachings, or inferences from 
them, held by the more rigid Puritans of New Haven, and ap- 
plied by them in their families. Some of these private rules of 
conduct were doubtless exaggerated and perverted views of the 
inspired teachings. But while they may have been acquiesced 
in, even to the extent of submitting to private and voluntary 
fines and other slight penalties for non-observance, they never 
had any force as public or municipal laws.^ 

We come now to the New York colony. Henry Hudson, a 
native Englishman, but in the service of the Dutch East India 
Company in Holland, had, in 1609, in a ship called the Half 
Moon^ of ninety tons, entered the broad mouth of the Hudson 
river, and landed on the island of Manhattan. This word, in 
Indian parlance, means " the place of drunkenness," and had 
justly gained its name. 

When Hudson's ship drew near, the Indians were lost in 
amazeinent at this floating monster. But when Hudson, dressed 
in scarlet, landed, they took him to be the great "Manitou " him- 
self, and received him and his crew with unbounded respect. 
Hudson ordered a calabash of rum to be brought. After drink- 
ing some himself he offered it to the chiefs. Each smelled it, 

1 Art. Samuel Peters, Appleton's Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 195. 

2 New York Hist. Collec, Vol. IV. Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 393, 394. 



126 A Histo7-y of the United States of America. 

and then passed it to the next. But when it came to the last 
chief he was unwilling to oflend the Manitou ; so he drank 
freely. He was soon in a hilarious state, and after divers antics 
he fell to the ground. But he recovered, and gave to his com- 
rade chiefs such an account of his agreeable sensations and vis- 
ions that they all desired to drink the " fire water." They all 
became intoxicated, and in this state Hudson left them.' 

In the great stretch of water known as the Tappan Sea, above 
Yonkers, Hudson and his mate, Robert Juet, practiced another 
peciiliar experiment on the natives. Juet thus narrates it : 

" Our master and his mate determined to try some of the cheefe 
men of the country whether they had any treacherie in them. So 
they took them down into the cabin and gave them so much wine 
and aqua vitse that they were all very merrie ; one of them had 
his wife with him, which sate so modestly as any of our country 
women would do in a strange place. In the end, one of them 
was drunke ; and that was strange to them, for they could not tell 
how to take it.'" 

Such were the scenes with which the discovery and settlement 
of New York began. But the Dutch settlers gave it a phase of 
more gravity. Hudson sailed up the river as far as he could 
safely go, discovering, not indeed the East Indies as he had hoped to 
do, but a country of great beauty and a soil of boundless fertility. 
He then returned to Holland, and by his own accounts and those 
of his mate, Juet, excited much interest in this land thus explored. 

In the next year, 1610, a trading expedition, sent out by Am- 
sterdam merchants, came from Holland. They entered Long 
Island Sound, traded with the natives along the shores and on 
Mahattan Island, sailed up the Hudson, and established a trading 
fort near the present site of Albany, which they called Fort Au- 
rania or Orange.^ 

They gave the name New Amsterdam to the trading post on 
the island, and the name New Netherlands to the whole region. 

But the Dutch were slow in actual settlement. It was several 
years before they made their first permanent lodgment in the New 
World. This is supposed to have been on the Jersey shore, in the 
region afterwards known as Pavonia. It bore the mixed name of 
Communipaw^. Hither came the ship Gocde Vro?iru, said to have 
been named in honor of the wnfe of the West India Company's 
president;* and here the Dutch families built their houses, laid 

1 Quackenbos' TJ. S., 78. 

= Juet's Journal, in Purchas' Pilgrims. Irving's Wolferts Roost, Works, XVI. 12. 

sirving's Knickerbocker, Works, I. 94. Horace E. Scudder's U. S., 56, 57. 

* Irving, I. 95-97. 



Nexv York. 



137 



out their gardens, and lived in quiet until they removed to the 
more attractive settlement on Manhattan. Then began the peace- 
ful and somewhat lazy town, afterwards to expand into the 
busiest, richest and most populous city of the Western world. 

Their settlements spread slowly. The four Dutch governors, 
whose names have become historic, were Peter Minuits, who, in 
1626, bought from the Indians the whole island of Manhattan for 
about twenty-four dollars in barter ; Wouter Van Twiller, who was 
appointed governor in 1639 by the States-General of the United 
Netherlands, with the concurrence of the West India Company ; 
Wilhelmus Kieft (sometimes known as William the Testy, froin his 
irritable temper), who took the gubernatorial chair in 1634 ; and, 
finally, Peter Stuyvesant, often called Peter the Headstrong, who 
commenced his administration on the 29th of May, 1647, soon 
after the demise of Kieft, who, in 1647, embarked on the ship 
Pi-incess for Holland, taking with him specimens of what was 
thought to be gold ore found in the Kaatskill Mountains, and Avas 
never heai'd of afterwards.' Stuyvesant governed until the Dutch 
rule was overthrown by the English in 1664, and died in the New 
York colony in 1683. 

We have seen that, early in 1614, Captain Samuel Argall, under 
orders from Governor Thomas Dale of the Virginia colony, sailed 
north, and after overcoming the French settlement at Port Royal, 
in Acadia, came down the coast and paid his respects to the 
Dutch on Manhattan Island. Too weak to resist and too wise to 
fight, they quietly submitted. The English flag was hoisted, and 
Argall sailed away ; but hardly was he gone before the Dutch, 
having received some I'einforcements and having recovered from 
the alarm, rehoisted the flag of the New Netherlands, and all things 
were soon /;/ statu quo. 

The savages gave them more trouble, and with more bloody re- 
sults. Rum, furnished by the Dutch traders, was the moving 
cause. Excited to mad intoxication, the Indians committed 
various trespasses, and the colonists punished them severely. 
Roused to vengeance, the natives, in 1640, attacked a settlement 
on Staten Island. The next year a Dutchman was killed on Man- 
hattan by an Indian, who had vowed indiscriminate revenge for 
the murder of his uncle ten years before. In 1643 two more col- 
onists were slain by a Hackensack warrior, who had been first 
made drunk and then robbed by the whites.^ Satisfaction was 
demanded ; but the Indians, though willing to pay two hundred 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 93. Irving's Knickerbocker, I. 14G, 207, 203 (note). 
SQuackenbos' U. S., 96. 



128 A History of tlw United States of At?ierica. 

fathoms of wanipuni, justifiably refused to deliver up their war- 
rior, on the ground that the Dutch had provoked the act. 

Just then a band of river Indians, driven by the Mohawks, took 
refuge on the banks of the Hudson opposite ]Man[iattan, and 
prayed the help of the Dutch. Instead of granting it, Kieft, the 
governor, sent an armed force across the river in the dead of night. 
Thev fell upon the almost helpless Indians and put to death men, 
women and children. Such as escaped the sword ^vere driven 
from the cliffs and perished in the freezing water.^ 

A bloody war was the result of this inhumanitv. The red men 
assembled for vengeance from the Jersey shoi"e to the Connecticut 
river. The -whites were slain in numbers wherever they were 
found. As no mercy had been shown to their women, children, 
and their aged and helpless ones, the Indians showed no mercy. 
It Avas at this time that Anne Hutchinson and her family per- 
ished. 

Roger Williams, always for peace, persuaded the Indians for a 
time to bury the tomahawk ; but the war w^as soon renewed, and 
as the Indian tribes of New York were numerous and warlike, 
the Dutch might have been exterminated had they not appointed 
John LTnderhill, a brave New Englander, commander of their 
forces. He knew how to fight the savages, and by his courage 
and skill, brought the war to a close." 

Peter Stuyvesant had distinguished himself in the Dutch wars 
in the West Indies, and had lost a leg in the attack on the Portu- 
guese island of St. ISIartin. When he became Governor of New 
Netherlands, he established a different policy from that of Kieft, 
He conciliated the Indians by gifts and kindness. He restored 
order to every department of the government. He met the Nev\' 
England commissioners at Hartford in 16:^0, and fixed bv definite 
agreement a line of partition between the Dutch and New Eng- 
land colonies, thus ending many disputes and contests.^ 

But he was, with many good qualities, somewhat arbitrary and 
despotic. Thus was he urged on to claims and deeds which led 
to the complete overthrow of the Dutch power in North America. 

» Quackenbos' U. S., 96. 2 Bancroft, II. 292. 

3 Art. Stuyvesant, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 148. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Delaware. — New York. — Patroons. 

THE colony of Delaware, afterwards to become a state, took its 
name from Lord Dela-ware, who entered, in i6io, the broad 
bay into which the river, of the same name also, einpties its 
waters. 

But Hendrik Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India 
Company, had entered this same bay in 1609, and had to some 
extent explored the river and the contiguous country.^ Hence 
the Dutch government in New Netherlands claimed it ; and the 
Dutch made the first attempt to settle it. Under the auspices of 
Van Rensselaer, Godyn, Bloemart and De Laet, men of high 
character and distinction in Holland, an expedition was sent out 
from Texel, an island of the Zuyder Zee, and came in May, 1632, 
to a region of territory of about thirty miles square from Cape 
Henlopen to the niouth of the Delaware, which Godyn had pre- 
viously purchased from the Indians.^ 

De Vries, vs^ho commanded the expedition, was a skillful navi- 
gator, a good scholar and a devoted Protestant. He planted a 
little colony of about thirty persons on the soil of Delavi^are, near 
Le^viston, on the bay. He furnished them with seed, cattle and 
agricultural implements. Leaving them to their labors, he ascended 
the Delaware as far as the site of Philadelphia. Fort Nassau 
had been previously established, but was abandoned. Lewiston 
w^as the first settlement of Delaware, and came to a sad end. 

After spending nearly a year in America, De Vries returned to 
Holland, leaving Osset in command. He had not the rare quali- 
ties needed to deal with the Indians, and w^as soon involved in 
bloody contests. At the close of a year De Vries revisited his 
colony and found nothing but the bones of his countrymen.' 

Gustavus Adolphus, the most liberal and enlightened of all the 
Swedish kings, had formed, before his death, a jDlan for planting 
Swedes and Finns in America. But he fell, a martyr to religious 
liberty, at the battle of Lutzen in October, 1633, before he could 
carry out his plans. 

1 Art. Delaware, Amer. Encyelop., VI. 347. 2 a. H. Stephens' U. S., 71, 72. 

'De Vries' Narrative, in Bancroft, II. 2'52. 

9 [ 1^9 ] 



130 A History of the United States of America. 

His minister, Oxenstiern, became his executor in this great 
scheme. The first permanent settlement of Delaware is due to 
this serene and large-hearted chancellor. Peter Minuits, the first 
Governor of New Netherlands, entered into the Swedish plans, 
and offered his services. Early in 163S, two vessels, the Key of 
Cahnar and the Grifin, arrived in Delaware Bay, and brought a 
small body of Swedes and Finns, who purchased lands from the 
Indians near the mouth of Christiana creek, and established a 
stronghold, which they called Christiana, in honor of the young 
girl who was then Queen of Sweden. 

William Kieft, the third Governor of New Netherlands, failed 
not to enter against the Swedish occupation a protest, which is 
still preserved in the records at Albany.' But Sweden was then 
too formidable to make an attack safe. The country was attrac- 
tive and fertile. Swedish families came in numbers, and pushed 
their settlements even to the borders of what is now Philadelphia. 
The country was called New Sweden. It has never lost traces 
of its origin. 

But Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, was a soldier, and was 
not a man to permit w^hat he regarded as an encroachment on 
the territorial rights of Holland. New Netherlands was tenfold 
more populous than New Sweden. In 165 1, the Dutch built a 
fort called Casimir, on the present site of New Castle, within five 
miles of Christiana, near the inouth of the Brandywine.^ Quite 
naturally, the Swedish governor. Rising, regarded this as a 
menace. By a union of stratagem and force, he overpow^ered the 
garrison and took possession of Casimir. But his triumph was 
brief. Sweden had ceased to be a controlling power, and the 
Dutch Company fearlessly ordered Governor Stuyvesant to 
" revenge the wrong, and drive the Swedes from the river, or 
compel their submission." In 1655, ^^ ^^^^ head of a force of 
six hundred well-armed soldiers, Stuyvesant invaded New Swe- 
den, compelled fort after fort to surrender, and obtained the 
complete submission of Rising, on the honorable terms that the 
colonists should retain full and undisturbed title and possession of 
their settlements, provided the jurisdiction of New Netherlands 
was acknowledged.* Thus New Sweden ended her existence. 
The Swedes remained, but the Scandinavian government was 
overthrown. 

Notwithstanding his military triumph over the Swedes, Gov- 
ernor Stuyvesant did not find his path a smooth one. The very 

1 Albany Records, II. 7, 8. Bancroft, II. 287. 
» Bancroft, II. 296. A. H. Stephens' U. S., 72. 
8 Swedish Records, IV. and V. of Hazard's Hist. Register. 



JSfeiv York. 131 

qualities which made him a good soldier made him a stern and 
imperious ruler. He yielded reluctantly to every concession in 
favor of free government claimed by the people, vs^ho were grow- 
ing fast in numbers and intelligence. In 1653, the persevering 
and restless exertions of the people had led to the formation of a 
" General Assembly," composed of two deputies from each settle- 
ment. Such a body was unknown in the fatherland, and Stuy- 
vesant looked on it with bitter oj^position, though he took no 
steps to prevent its assembling.^ 

This free assembly claimed the right of deliberating on the 
civil condition of the country. George Baxter, a member, drafted 
a remonstrance and petition, which was adopted and sent to the 
governor. It contained in substance the following language : 
'' The States-General of the United Provinces are our liege lords ; 
we submit to their laws ; and our rights and privileges ought to 
be in harmony with those of the fatherland, for we are a member 
of the state, and not a subjugated people. We, who have come 
together from various parts of the world, and are a blended com- 
munity of various lineage ; w^e, vs^ho have, at our own expense, 
exchanged our native lands for the protection of the United 
Provinces ; we, who have transformed the wilderness into fruitful 
farms, demand that no new laws shall be enacted but with con- 
sent of the people ; that none shall be appointed to office but 
with the approbation of the people, and that obscure and obsolete 
laws shall never be revived."'' 

Stuyvesant was amazed at this free tone. He did not believe 
in self-government by man. He replied : " Will you set your 
names to the visionary notions of an Englishinan? Is there none 
of the Netherland's nation able to draft your petition ? " He 
commented in caustic terms on the claim that the people should 
elect their own officers. '' The thief will vote for a thief ; the 
smuggler for a smuggler ; and fraud and vice will become priv- 
ileged." 

But the assembly persisted in their claims, and Stuyvesant, 
having exhausted his arguments, resorted to an act of arbitrary 
power. He dissolved the assembly, commanding the members 
to separate on pain of imprisonment, and writing as to his own 
powers : " We derive our authority from God and the West India 
Company, not from the pleasure of a few ignorant subjects."^ 

The West India Company approved the course of the governor. 
They wrote to him : " We approve the taxes you propose ; have 

1 Landtag, Dutch Records, 2. Stephens, 44. Bancroft, II. 30G. 

2 Albany Records, IX. 28-33. Bancroft, II. 306. Stephens, 44, 45. 

3 Albany Rec, IX. 38^6. Stephens, 45. Bancroft, II. 307. 



132 A History of the United States- of America. 

no regard to the consent of the people ; let them indulge no 
longer the visionary dream that taxes can be imposed only with 
their consent." 

Thus " Peter the Headstrong " and the Dutch West India 
Company hastened the downfall of the New Netherlands. The 
assembly was dispersed, but the people did not forget. 

England always claimed this land and water occupied by the 
Dutch settlements. Oliver Cromwell had planned the conquest 
of the New Netherlands, and in the days of his son Richard the 
plan was revived. When Charles II. was restored, this became 
one of his cherished objects. 

This king was the meanest, most unscrupulous and debauched 
in character and life, that ever sat on the English throne. With 
equal indifference to the chartered rights of Connecticut and the 
peaceful claims and possession of the Netherlands, he granted to 
the secret papist, his brother James, Duke of York, the country 
from the Kennebec to the St. Croix, and the whole territory from 
the Connecticut river to the shores of the Delaware.' 

Richard Nichols, groom of the bed-chamber to the Duke of 
York, was commander of the naval and military expedition 
which in August, 1664, approached the Narrows and quietly cast 
anchor in Gravesend Bay. Long Island was immediately lost to 
the Dutch, and occupied by the invaders.^ 

England and the Netherlands were at peace ; but rumors of 
the invasion had reached Stuyvesant, and he had made such prep- 
aration to resist as he could. But his arm was paralyzed by the 
state of popular feeling in the colony and New Amsterdam. 
Many of the settlements were of English people. The governor 
had expressed his fears to his company. " To ask aid of the 
English villages would be inviting the Trojan horse within our 
walls. I have not time to tell how the company is cursed and 
scolded ; the inhabitants declare that the Dutch have never had 
a right to the country." ^ 

Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut, and Pynchon, as commis- 
siorier from that vState, had come with the fleet. They had the 
confidence of the Dutch inhabitants. Nichols demanded a sur- 
render, but offered the most liberal terms. Stuyvesant w^ould 
gladly have resisted, but the people were against him, and were 
organized in opposition. 

On the 8th September, 1664, the articles of surrender were 
agreed on. Security was promised to the customs, the religion, 

1 Bancroft, II. 313. Swinton's Cond. U. S., 59. sstephens, 47. Bancroft, II. 313. 

s Bancroft, II. 312. 



Patroons. 133 

the municipal institutions, and the possessions of all the people. 
The colonists were satisfied. It seemed as if English liberties 
were to be added to their home happiness. 

In a few days Fort Orange, now named Albany, from the 
Scottish title of the Duke of York, quietly surrendered. The 
league with the Five Nations was renewed. Early in October 
the Dutch and Swedes of Delaware capitulated. Then, for the 
first time, all the coast from Canada to Florida was united zander 
English rule.^ 

The name of the colony and the city w-as changed to New 
York. 

But there was one system which had originated under the 
Dutch rule and survived it, and which in comparatively modern 
times has been a sovirce of much debate, and of conflict some- 
times threatening life. This was the system of land-hold known 
as that of the " Patroons." 

It commenced in the time of Governor Van Tw^iller. In 1630, 
the Dutch East India Company, with the desire to promote rapid 
settlements in the colony, granted to Killian Van Rensselaer, the 
original patroon, a patent or charter, under which he was empow- 
ered to acquire title to an immense tract of land on condition of 
introducing, within a limited time, fifty settlers for each square 
mile of land. The proprietor was invested with the title and 
privileges of a lord patroon, or protector, and his colony or 
manor was to be governed by the same customs and law^s as were 
the feudal manors of the United Provinces. Thus, the feudal 
system, in all its essential and its worst features, was sought to be 
established in North America. Every objectionable incident of 
the tenures in socage and villeinage was imposed upon the tenants 
of these manors tmder the patroons. Purveyances, pre-emption, 
fines for alienation, banalities, ban-services and other similar 
feudal burdens, were exacted from the tenants.^ To deny that this 
was feudalism was to deny the light of the sun. 

Nevertheless, men had not then learned enough of the right of 
self-government to reject this system. In 1630, Killian Van 
Rensselaer appeared in his ship in the harbor of New Amster- 
dam. A great historian of New York has given us a description 
of his person which is, at least, the most reliable we have. "A 
stranger stepped on shore, a lofty, lordly kind of man, tall and 
dry, with a meagre face furnished with huge moustaches. He 
was clad in Flemish doublet and hose, and an insufferably tall 
hat with a cocktail feather." "Killian Van Rensselaer was a 
1 Bancroft, II. 315. - KxX,. Anti-rentism, New Amer. Encyclop., I. 668. 



134 -^ History of the United States oj" Afnerica. 

nine days' wonder in Nevv^ Amsterdam ; for he carried a high 
head, looked down upon the portly, short-legged burgomasters, 
and owned no allegiance to the governor himself, boasting that 
he held his patroonship directly from the Lords States-General." ^ 

After obtaining a few recruits in the tow^n, he sailed up the 
Hudson to the neighborhood of Fort Orange, now Albany. 
"Within a few years he had purchased a tract of land, twenty- 
four miles in breadth by forty-eight in length, extending from the 
neighborhood of the fort over the greater part of that region of 
New York now covered by the counties of Albany, Rensselaer 
and Columbia.^ 

He lorded it over his manor, known afterwards as Rensselaer- 
w^yck, and showed a disposition to exceed the bounds even of his 
immense domain, by taking possession of a rocky isle in the Hud- 
son called " Beam " or Bears' Island. Here he built a stronghold 
called Rensselaerstein, and is said to have placed there his hench- 
man, Nicholas Koorn, w^ho compelled all passing vessels to lower 
their flags in token of submission to the patroon's jurisdiction ; 
and when Governor Van Twiller sent to Killian Van Rensselaer 
a letter demanding by what right he had seized this island, the 
patroon is said to have answered : '■'■By xvapen rechf'' — that is, by 
right of arms, or club la-w.^ 

Even if some of these traditions be legendary rather than his- 
torical, they prove the character of the claims of this patroon. 
But when the English poM^er displaced the Dutch in 1664, his 
claims seem not only to have been undisturbed, but expressly re- 
cognized. Others had obtained similar grants, and the result was 
that huge bodies of land, sufficient to make a state rather than a 
farm, and covering a large part of many of the finest counties in 
New York were held in patroonship at the end of the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

It is a striking proof of the conservatism of North America that 
no serious efforts \vere made to contest and destroy these land- 
tenures until after the year 1S39. -'•^ ^^ \x\\q. that in 1779, and after- 
M'ards in 1785, law^s abolishing all feudal tenures were enacted by 
the Legislature of New York. These ought to have destroyed 
these patroonships at once, and would have done so but for the 
ingenuity and acquisitiveness of these claimants, who devised 
leases by which the grantees covenanted to pay rents and perform 
services precisely similar to the feudal incidents abolished.* 

1 Irving's Knickerbocker's N. Y., Works, 1. 179. 

2 Art. Van Rensselaer, New Amer. Encyelop., XVI. 25. 
sirving's Knickerbonker's X. Y., Works, I. 180, 181. 
*Art. Antl-rentism, New Amer. Eucyclop., I. 668. 



I 



Patroons. I'l^ 

But in 1S39 the evils of this system had become intolerable. 
The people of the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia, 
Greene, Ulster, Delaware, Schoharie, Montgomery, Herkimer, 
Otsego, Oneida and other counties began to join together in secret 
societies and bands, who disguised themselves in calico dresses 
like Indians, and appeared at the critical time with pistols, toma- 
hawks, guns and cutlasses to resist all enforcement of these feudal 
leases. Bloodshed frequently occurred. For inore than eight 
years these contests continued. Anti-rentism became a political 
question. The American novelist, Fenimore Cooper, warmly 
espoused the side of the patroons or landlords, and in several of 
his fictions, which are as weak and dismal as others are powerful 
and genial, sought to uphold these tenures,^ but in vain. All 
the principles of enlightened freedom were against them. Gov- 
ernor Wright, who upheld them, was defeated in 1846 by a ma- 
jority of ten thousand votes by John Young, the anti-rent candi- 
date for governor. In the same year, a clause was inserted in 
the new constitution of New York abolishing all feudal tenures 
and incidet/ts, and forbidding the leasing of agricultural lands 
for a term exceeding twenty years. The legislation of the State 
bore heavily against these tenures. Some suits continue arising 
from them. But, substantially, patroonism has ended in New 
York. 

1 Cooler's Crater, Redskins, etc. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
New York. — New Jersey. 

AFTER the conquest of New York, Nichols was made governor, 
and was popular and successful, continuing in office for sev- 
eral years. In 1667 he resigned, and was succeeded by Colonel 
Francis Lovelace, w^ho governed prosperously for six years.^ 

Towards the close of his rule, war commenced between the 
English and the Dutch. The latter fitted out a small squadron 
to prey on English commerce in America. This force made a 
descent on New York during the governor's absence, and cap- 
tured the town. But in less than a year it was restored to Eng- 
land under the treaty of Westminster in 1674. 

Sir Edmund Andros, a special creature of the Duke of York, 
succeeded Lovelace, and was governor until 1682, when Colonel 
Thomas Dongan, a member of the Roman church, was appointed. 
It was during his term that a representative government was 
established in New York. 

" All freeholders were granted the right of suffrage ; trial by 
jury was established ; taxes should no more be levied except by 
consent of the assembly ; soldiers should not be quartered on 
the people ; martial law should not exist ; no person accepting 
the general doctrines of religion should be in anyw^ise distressed 
or persecuted." ^ 

The administration of Dongan vv^as distinguished b}^ his atten- 
tion to Indian afiairs. Of this we shall see more when we come 
to narrate more fully the colonial wars with the natives. 

After James II. ascended the throne, his narrow and arbitrary 
character \vas soon exhibited, and the colonies felt it. He sent 
Sir Edmund Andros as captain-general and vice-admiral over 
New York, the Jerseys, including Delaware, and the four New 
England colonics. His hai'd rule was brief. 

In 1688, James was compelled to abdicate the throne and fly 
from England. Colonel Francis Nicholson, the deputy of Andros, 
as soon as he heard of this, fled from New York. One Jacob 
Leisler, a native of Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, a trader 

1 A. H. Stephens' U. S., 110. 2 Ridpath, 175. Stephens, 110, 111. 

[ 136 1 



Neiu York. 137 

with Indians and a captain of militia, without any definite author- 
ity, seized the fort of the town, avowing that he held it for the 
Prince of Orange under an old charter. But Courtlandt, the 
mayor, Colonel Bayard, ISIajor Schuyler, and other gentlemen, 
known adherents of Andros and Nicholson, refused to recognize 
Leisler, and retired to the fort at Albany, declaring, however, 
that they held it for King William.' 

Leisler sent Milbourne, his son-in-law. with troops against 
them. They gave up the fort and retired to the neighboring 
colonies. Leisler confiscated their estates. 

A committee of safety, with Leisler at its head, ruled the 
province. In a short time came a letter from the ministry in 
England directed to " Francis Nicholson, Esq., or such as for the 
time being take care of administering the laws of the province.""'' 

Leisler, with ready egotism, assvuiied that this letter was ad- 
dressed to himself. He exercised the authority conferred by it, 
issued commissions, and appointed his executive council. A con- 
vention was called, to consist of deputies from all the towns and 
districts. 

^Meanwhile war existed between France and England. An in- 
vasion of Canada was planned. New York troops, under Gene- 
ral Winthrop, were to take part in it ; but by the incompetency 
of Milbourne, who was commissary-general, supplies were not 
furnished, and the New York forces were obliged to retreat. 

Leisler, who pretended to military pro^vess, ordered the arrest 
of General Winthrop ; but this so aroused the indignation of all 
parties that he Avas compelled to release hiin.^ 

Having been involved, together with Milbourne, in certain 
chinx-h controversies at Albanv in 1676, in which heavy costs 
had been visited on them, Leisler had claimed special zeal tor the 
Reformation : and when he seized the fort. May 31, 16S9, had de- 
clared that he was acting '' for the preservation of the Protestant 
religion."* He had now arrayed against him the bitter animos- 
ity' of many of the higher social classes. 

A few months afterwards Major Ingoldsby arrived from Eng- 
land with news of the appointment of Henry Sloughter as gov- 
ernor, and demanded possession of the fort, which Leisler re- 
fused. In ]March, 1691, Sloughter himself arrived with full 
credentials. But Leisler, puffed up with brief authority, refused 
to recognize the new governor until proofs of his identity were 
furnished. Leisler and Milbourne were arrested, imprisoned and 

1 Stephens' U. S., 112. = 76iVf., J12. Art. Leisler, Amer. Encyclop., X. 446. 

^Stephens' Comp. U. S., pp. 112, 113. ♦Art. Leisler, New Amer. Encyclop., X. 446. 



J38 A History of the United States of America. 

tried on charges of treason and murder. They were convicted 
and sentenced to death. But the governor's warrant was neces- 
sary for their execution. 

Sloughter was evidently not satisfied as to their guilt. They 
had always claimed to act for William and Mary, and no proof 
adverse to this claim had been furnished. He delayed to sign 
the ^varrant of death. But the enemies of Leisler were powerful 
and vindictive. They contrived a dinner party, to which Sloughter 
was invited, and while he was near to intoxication they induced 
him to sign the death warrants. The two victims were hurried 
to the gibbet and hanged before the governor recovered from his 
debauch.^ 

Impartial history has affixed a black mark to this transaction. 
These men were weak and ignorant, and hurried into excesses by 
unexpected success and power ; but they were neither traitors 
nor murderers. The aristocratic element in the province pur- 
sued them with deliberate malice. 

We must now revie^v the settlement of New Jersey. In 1622 
some Danes made settlements on the Delaware and at Bergen.^ 
Before the overthi-ow of the Dutch dynasty many persons, gene- 
rally Presbyterians, and retiring from persecution in the Old 
World, had settled in this region on both sides of the Delaware 
river. The country was held as part of New Netherlands, and 
was surrendered to the English in 1664. 

The Duke of York conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George 
Carteret the territory which now constitutes the State of New 
Jersey. Sir George had been governor of the island of Jersey 
during the civil \vars of England, and had defended it skillfully 
and bravely against the parliamentary forces. In compliment to 
him this region was now called Jersey. It was afterwards fre- 
quently described as East and West Jersey. 

Liberal inducements to settlers were held out by the proprie- 
taries. No rent was to be collected for five years ; no taxes were 
to be imposed except by the General Assembly of the colony, 
and liberty of conscience was allowed in religious matters.' 

Before he knew of the gi^ant to Berkeley and Carteret, Nichols, 
the Governor of New York, had granted one or more licenses, 
under which settlements had been made at Elizabeth town (which 
took its name from the wife of Sir George Carteret) and other 
places. Disputes arose as to priority of title by reason of those 
licenses. 

iStephens' Comp. U. S., 114. Art. Leisler, Amer. Eucyclop., X. 446. ^Berry's U. S., 47. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 65. Egglestou's Household U. S., 58. 



New yersey. 139 

In 1665, Philip Carteret, brother of Sir George, arrived with 
thirty emigrants. He carried a hoe on his shoulder as a sign and 
emblem that industry and agriculture were to be their depend- 
ence.' 

Under both Charles II. and his brother James II. the people ol* 
Scotland were cruelly persecuted for the purpose of forcing them 
to accept a prelatic form of government for their church. Thou- 
sands migrated to America, and generally settled in the region 
covered by the Jersey patents, or else in the region over which 
William Penn had power. " Thus the mixed character of New 
Jersey springs from the difterent sources of its people. Puritans, 
Covenanters and Qiiakers met on her soil ; and their faith, insti- 
tutions and preferences, having life in the common mind, survive 
the Stuarts." ^ 

The government of Philip Carteret was wise, but not popular. 
The claimants under the Nichols licenses refused to pay rent, and 
when the governor resorted to coercive measures the people re- 
volted, and in 1670 displaced Philip and chose James Carteret, 
an illegitimate son of Sir George, as their governor. But Philip 
persevered in his prudent course, obtained concessions, and in- 
duced the great body of the settlers to submit again to his au- 
thority. Under his proclamation the first legislative assembly 
convened in May, 1668. It is remarkable only for having passed 
a bill of pains and penalties of extreme severity — the death pen- 
alty being assigned for no less than twelve offences.^ 

The colony had many advantages of soil, health and sites for 
manufactures. It prospered considerably, and would have ad- 
vanced more rapidly but for the ceaseless disputes under conflict- 
ing titles to lands. 

Wearied by these, in 1673 Berkeley sold his rights to John 
Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, Qiiakers. They conveyed an in- 
terest to William Penn, Garvin Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas ; and 
Fenwick, in 1671^, established a Qiiaker settlement at Salem, near 
the Delaware. 

For some years the province continued to be divided into East 
Jersey, subject to Sir George Carteret and his heirs, and West 
Jersey, under Fenwick and his associates. In February, 1682, the 
whole territory was purchased by William Penn and eleven other 
Friends. The first governor imder this new regime was Robert 
Barclay, a Scotchman, who made it an asylum for the oppressed 
of his country and of all creeds.* Prosperity prevailed. 

1 Swinton's Cond. U. S., 64. ^Bancroft, II. 413. 

3 Art. New Jersey, Amer. Enoyclop., XII. 233. < New Amer. Encyclop., XII. 234. 



140 A History of the United States of America. 

But as the difficulties as to titles continued, in 1702 the propri- 
etors surrendered the right of government to the Crown. The 
two Jerseys were united. 

Qiieen Anne made her unworthy, narrow-minded and unprin- 
cipled relative, Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York and New 
Jersey. But fortunately his influence was hardly felt in the 
smaller colony, which continued to have its own legislature. In 
1708, on petition for a separate governor, Lewis Morris was ap- 
pointed. The population was then about forty thousand. The 
last royal governor was William Franklin, a son of Benjamin 
Franklin, but not born in wedlock.' 

In 1776 a vState constitution was adopted. During the Revo- 
lutionary war New^ Jersey was overrun by both armies, and was 
the theatre of important battles. 

Her people have been true patriots, and have shown special 
interest in education. In 1746 the college of Princeton was 
founded, which has since expanded to the proportions and style 
of a university, and has sent out scholars of high culture in civil 
and religious life.^ 

1 y\rt. New Jersey, New Amrr Encyclop , XII 234. 
2Deriy's U. S., p. 48. Swintou's Cond. U. S., 04, 65. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Pennsylvania and her Friends. 

WE come now to one of the most genial and instructive pas- 
sages in the colonial life of North America — the settlement 
of Pennsylvania. It is the single bright spot in the dark and 
dreary reigns of Charles II. and James II. of England, so far as 
their policy in the New World was concerned. 

The world has learned to respect the genesis of the society 
known as Qiiakers or Friends. They came from the common 
people of England ; but their prevalent inspiration was the 
same that has moved great minds in all ages of the world. 
They builded their system on the divine principle whicli de- 
mands freedom of mind, purity of morals and universal enfran- 
chisement. 

"The sect had its birth in a period of intense public activity — 
Vv'hen the heart of England was swelling with passions and the 
public mind turbulent with factious leaders ; ^vhen zeal for re- 
form was invading the church, subverting the throne and repeal- 
ing the privileges of feudalism ; when Presbyterians in every 
village were quarreling with Anabaptists and Independents, 
and all with the Roman Catholics and the English church." ' 

George Fox, son of " righteous Christopher," a Leicestershire 
weaver, by his mother descended from martyrs, was the j^rime 
mover of the English Qiiakers. He was a shepherd boy, and 
passed his early years in solitude — in i-eading Holy Scripture, in 
frequent fasts, and in the reveries of contemplative devotion. 
He was not content with the phases of religion which he saw, 
and gradually reached the consciousness that the "inner light" 
given by the Holy Spirit, and not the mere letter of the Scrip- 
tures, must guide the soul. This light he believed to be free to 
all men. He adopted all the noblest principles of civil and reli- 
gious liberty. " His soul enjoyed the sweetness of repose, and 
he came up in spirit from the agony of doubt into the paradise 
of contemplation."^ 

Gradually his opinions spread, and were embraced everywhere 
by enthusiastic minds. They held that a paid ministiy was with- 

1 Bancroft, II. 330. ^Ibid., II. 333. 

[ HI ] 



14a 'i J/t's/ory of the United States of America. 

out Divine sanction, and that all nuMi and wonien who were 
moved bv the llol\ Spirit might preaeh. Thev (.ailed tor uni- 
versal repentance and retorni in lite. 

Tliev met opposition tVom all other sects anil jiarties in church 
anil state. As thev proclaimed their tenets thev were everywhere 
resisted with angrv vehemence, and priests and professors, magis- 
trates and people, raged like tiie angry seas. "At the Lancaster 
sessions lortv priests appeared against Fox at once. To the am- 
bitious Presbyterians, it seemed as if hell were broke loose."* 

When the state was against them, the church against them, 
the Independents against them, the Presbyterians against them, 
and the world ot" dissolute men against them, the result could not 
be long in doubt. Thev were persecuted with a bitterness and 
vindence hardly known even by Rome in her worst days. But 
the more they were persecuted by tines, imprisonments, scourgings, 
burnings, hangings, death, the more they grew in numbers and 
grew in triumph, in declaiming against civil despotism, religious 
intolerance, superstitious creeds, war, and conformity to worldly 
and depraving usages. 

William Penn, from deep conviction, became a member (">{ this 
society, and preached its doctrines, lie was born in London in 
1644, a son of Admiral William Peim ot" the British navy, who 
had gained high distinction in the wars with the Dutch. Peing 
grieved bv what he regardeil as fanaticism in his son, the admiral 
sent him to France for education and society, and brought him 
into contact with every form o'i the world that would be most 
apt to intluence him against the "' Friends." Put all in vain. 
The son became, indeed, an accomplished courtier and diplomatist, 
but was not therebv less a Friend. He traveled through Wales, 
Ireland, Holland, (.Jermanv and the Jerseys, preaching his cher- 
ished iloctrines. The admiral turned him out of his house, but 
befoi'e his death was reconciled to the son and learned to respect 
his convictions.* 

Charles L was indebted to Admiral Penn not only for support 
and loyalty in his troubles, but in the sum of sixteen thousand 
pounds sterling.* Massachusetts had purchased >hiine for a little 
more than one thousand pounds. It was not strange, therefore, 
that Charles 11. should regard with favor the proposition of Wil- 
liam Pent\, in lune, 16S0, to purchase with this claim a territory 
in North America, which, however large, was looked on as wild, 
unbroken and of little value ; and, moreover, both he and his 

» Kox, 73. 140. Knucivrt. 11 ;hk<. » Kggleston's Household I'. S., iV. 

'ronu, in Mem. Pa. Hist. Soi''y, 11. JM. 15anorv>a, 11. St;2. 



Pciinsyliuui'id ai/i/ fur /' rlci/ds. 



M.'^ 



Iiiollici );imcs refill (led VVilli:iiii I'ciiii vvilli iih.ic iciiI ;iil((tii)ii 
lliiiii t oiirl ii-is ^ciu-nilly enjoy. 

C'li;illcs ^i.i iilcd fo I'l-iiii tlir Itiiiloiy in Aniciii;!, wliiili tin- 
;^i:inlcc niuncd Sylviini;! ; l>u( (IkiiIcs insistcil on ;i |)|)<niliii;' llx: 
nainc ol" llic ;nlnili;il iilso, :in(l tlnis llir iniin<; vv;is j^ivcn, I'cnii- 
sylv:ini;i — "llic vv<ii><|l;i n<l <>l I'cnn." ' 

Alrcidy llic pcrscc iik-d < ^n.i k<i s liiid tinned llicir ctyes lo Aincr- 
i( ii ; and VVesI Jersey and some oC llie iK/nliers of llie \r\;in\cd 
teiiiloiy had ii-eeivecl many (d lln ni as sclllers. 

)anies, l)Mke <d" ^'or•k, ( lainied llie selllenieiils Unown as l>(da- 
ware, or "tlie llnce lower (oinilies." lie a|)])oin(e(l William 
reiu) j^overiior tliere<d'. When In- ( am<- lo \'evv C'aslle, llu: \£,*>\ - 
einment ol I he |)rovin( c was liansi^ ired lo him \\ illi ( cremonions 
s\ inholism. The ke\ ol' (he fori was (h livcred lo him ; with this 
he lirsl loilvcd himself in and llien let hims(ll out and locked the 
(loot Ixhind him. A iVa^nienl of sod with a Iwi^ planted in it, 
and a poirinj^cr ol water tVom ihe river, vvt-rc; siicecHKi v«dy <l(div- 
ered to him, to indicate that he inled over llie land and the water/ 

I'enn's lirsl sclllers, inidei William Markhani, (ame to tlur 
neii^hhoriiood of I'hiknh Iphia in \(u\\. All was yet virgin lorcHt 
or uncultivated soil. 'The people dii^ eavcans in the river hanks 
to liv<- in dmin;^ the winter. In Ihe lirsl \'ear nearly thirty ves- 
sels came to the new colony. 

William I'enn inslructcfl his (oloinsts to lay the foundation ol 
a new city with hroad s1ri;e(s and gardens inlerveiiinj^, so as to 
form ".a ^reenc; country town." He also wrote a letter to the 
Indians in a friendly and lovinj^ spirit, assinin^ them o( his 
peai(d"ul intentions, and entreatin<^ them, as children of the same 
(Jri'at Spirit, to have the same fecdin^^s of kindncrss tcjwards the 
settlers."'' 

Accompaiued hy one hundred innni<4rants, he arrived at New 
('astl(» on the; z\\\\ ()((oher, i6Su. Swedes, Dutch and I'ln^lish 
uidled in f.^ivin;^ him a hearty wcdl()nl(^ Men l)e;^Mn to le<d as il 
the healthful atmosphere of freedom had come at last. It is true 
that in Maryland rcdi<^ious liherty had ])een ])roilaimed hy the 
C'alvi'rts, adlu;rents (d' tin- Roman church; l)ut that church had 
(Iurin<^ so many centmies heen a persecutin}^ power that people 
found it. didicult to hcdieve in her c han<^e ol" principle or policy. 
JUit William I'enn and his colony of I''ric;nds formed a new regime. 
entirely, withoid any past record of hlood, and amioimcin<^, as 
their rock foundation, civil and ic li^ious liherty, release Irom all 



' lOKK'li^ston, ()I. HwliitdirHCoiiil. II. H., (.7, 

'■'KkkIchIoii'h noiiHciioici II. H., fii, liiiiicion, II. :!s(). 



iStoplK'HH' Cornii. II. B., M. 



144 ^ History of the United States of America. 

worldly traditions, and the absolute right of the individual con- 
science to Divine guidance, and to human respect and protection. 

The happy effects of such beginnings soon appeared. The 
grant of Charles II. to William Penn and his heirs made them ab- 
solute proprietors of the soil, with powers of law-making, and re- 
serving only allegiance to the crown of England.^ 

Penn did not abuse his great powers. He had hardly arrived 
before he promulgated a form of government for the colony, pro- 
viding for a governor, a council of three, and a house of delegates, 
to be chosen by the freemen ; and all were recognized as freemen 
and voters who believed in Christ and sustained a good moral 
character.^ 

In the autumn season of 16S3, by invitation widely given, the 
Indians of all the tribes of the Lenni Lenape met William Penn 
and some of his chosen friends, for the purpose of entering into 
a sacred treaty of peace and love. The spot was under an elm 
tree at Shakamaxon, on the northern edge of what is now the 
great city of Philadelphia. Already his words of love had made 
a lasting impression on these children of the foi-est. They sur- 
rounded him and listened as he repeated to them the heavenly 
principles on which his dealings with them would be founded. 
He said to them : 

" We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good Avill ; 
no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be open- 
ness and love. I will not call you children, for parents sometimes 
chide their children too severely ; nor brothers only, for brothers 
differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare 
to a chain ; for that the rains might rust or a falling tree might 
break. We are the same as if one man's body was to be divided 
into two parts ; we are all one flesh and blood." ^ 

The Indians were pi'ofoundly moved by his sincerity and his 
words. They received his presents with simple gratitude and 
gave back a belt of wampum in token of peace and friendship. 
This belt was presented, in 1857, by Granville Jones Penn, a de- 
scendant from William Penn, to the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania. And their promise has been preserved. " We will live 
in love with William Penn and his children as long as the sun 
and the moon shall endure."* 

This treaty was made under the open sky, on the banks of the 
Delaware, with the sun and the river and the forest and the In- 
dians and the white Friends for witnesses. There was no parch- 

1 Stephens, 82. Bancroft, II. 362, 363. Eggleston's Household U. S., 60-62. 2 Stephens, 84. 
3Heckewelder, Hist. Trans. Am. Phil. Soe'y, 176. Bancroft, II. 381, 382. 
* Holmes' U. S., 67, note. Bancroft, II. 382. 



Pennsylvania and her Friends. 145 

ment, no paper, no seal, no oath, no written record ; but it was 
recorded in the court of heaven, and it was kept as no other treaty 
on earth ever has been kept. Voltaire has said : " It is the only 
treaty that never was sworn to, and never was broken." No 
Quaker ever was knowingly and maliciously slain by an Indian. 
" The simple sons of the wilderness, returning to their wigwams, 
kept the history of the covenant by strings of wampum, and long 
afterwards, in their cabins, would count over the shells on a clean 
piece of bark, and recall to their own memory, and repeat to their 
children or to the stranger, the words of William Penn." ' 

The Delawares, a tribe of the Lenni Lenape, had been griev- 
ously warred on and opposed by the Iroquois, or the Five Nations. 
This only caused the words of peace and love from William Penn 
to sink more deeply into the memories of both tribes. The Dela- 
wares afterwards spoke of him as the just JMiguon and the Iro- 
quois gave him the title Onas, which attributes the highest equity 
and honor." 

Pennsylvania was the last colony, except one, of the original 
thirteen that was settled ; and yet such was the stimulating effect 
of the liberal and humane principles and policy which were de- 
clared to be the rock foundation of its existence, that this colony 
grew with unexampled rapidity. 

The city between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers, laid 
out by direction of Penn, was called bv him "Philadelphia" — 
brotherly love. In August, 16S3, " Philadelphia consisted of three 
or four little cottages." " The conies were yet undisturbed in their 
burrows ; the deer fearlessly bounded past blazed trees, uncon- 
scious of foreboded street^; the stranger that wandered from the 
river bank was lost in the thickets of the interminable forest." * 
Yet in two years the city contained six hundred houses, and the 
school-master and printing press had begun their work. In three 
years Philadelphia had gained more than New York had done in 
half a century. 

In 1683 a body of Germans from the fatherland came over 
and settled near Germantown. They put under cultivation broad 
fields of corn and wheat, and, being peaceable, industrious and 
skillful, they prospered greatly. 

On the 4th of December, 1683, the first legislative assembly 
convened. The second assembly was held in Philadelphia in 
March, 1684. The form of government was somewhat modified. 

1 Heckewelder, in Bancroft, II. 382. Quackenbos' U. S., 124. 

^Swinton's Cond. U. S., 67. Swinton's Primary U. S., 61. Art. Penn, New Amer. Encyc, 
XIII. lOS. 

3 Pastorius, in Watson, 61. Bancroft's U. S., II. 392. 



146 A History of the United States of America. 

La-ws were made to restrain vice. Labor on the Sabbath was 
forbidden ; and to discourage la-w suits, three " peace-makers " 
were appointed for each county.^ 

Three causes operated efficiently to expand the Pennsylvania 
colony. First., the enlightened and just policy towards the In- 
dians. Their lands were bought from them definitely and in 
good faith, and they remained peaceable and friendly. Second^ 
the perfect freedom in civil and religious life promised and en- 
joyed. Third., the low price of land, and the full ownership ac- 
quired. Penn offered for sale lots and tracts of one thousand 
acres at one penny per acre. Thus a man M^ho could raise four 
pounds four shillings, or about twenty-five dollars, could become 
fee-simple owner of a large tract. And as sales were freely made by 
the purchasers, a very poor man could become the owner of a farm.^ 

In 1684 imperative business called William Penn back to Eng- 
land. He had come to a wilderness ; he left a flourishing city, 
and a colony already organized into fifty townships, holding 
nearly ten thousand prosperous people, and making steady pro- 
gress.^ He did not return for fifteen years, but his work in the 
New World went on. 

The grants made to him by Charles II. were for full value re- 
ceived, and were therefore recognized as vesting in him and his 
heirs all rights of pi'oprietorship. Yet they impinged, both on 
the north and the south, upon claims set up under the vague pat- 
ents to the London and Plymouth companies and .their success- 
ors. The boundaries of Pennsylvania on the north were, how- 
ever, soon settled on just and amicable principles.* 

But on the south. Lord Baltimore and his successors in author- 
ity in Maryland continued the controversy. It was projected 
into the next century, and was never finally settled until, under 
negotiations and agreement, two celebrated English surveyors 
and engineers, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, commenced 
running the provisional line in 1763, and completed it in 1768.^ 
This line became historic and ominous in the subsequent contests 
concerning slavery. It runs on the parallel of 39'-' 43' 26.3" of 
north latitude. 

After Penn's return to England he exerted himself actively in 
favor of the oppressed and frequently imprisoned Friends. In 
16S6 twelve hundred were set free. In 1687 liberty of conscience 
and person was declared to all of them.^ Most of them came to 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 84. 2 Esgleston's Household U. S., 61, 02. Stephens, 83, 84. 

8 Stephens, 84. Horace E. Scudder's U. S., 114. 

* Art. Pennsylvania, New Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 110. 

6 New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 259-261 ; XIII. 110. 

6 Art. Penn, Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 108. 



Pennsylva/fiia a/id her J^?-i'ettds. 147 

Pennsylvania, adding to her population and prosperity, for they 
were habitually peaceful and industrious. 

After the revolution of 16SS, and the flight of James II., 
friendly relations continued between him and William Penn, and 
a letter written to him by the dethroned king caused the arrest of 
Penn and his examination before the privy council. He was ac- 
quitted of all treasonable purpose or act, the council being satis- 
fied that his relations with James were strictly and only those of 
a friend, and that he could not prevent the former king from 
writing him a letter. 

Between 1690 and 1692, Pennsylvania ^vas disturbed by civil 
and religious quarrels ; and injurious complaints were made, 
which, in October, 1692, induced William and Mary to deprive 
Penn of his authority as governor. But upon full examination 
he was honorably acquitted in November, 1693, and his authority 
was restored in 1694. 

In 1699 he returned to Pennsylvania with his second wife and 
his daughter. The troubles having subsided, he was warmly re- 
ceived. He became involved in many difficulties, chiefly through 
his son, who had led a vicious and riotous life ; but he continued 
his liberal and generous policy. 

In 1703 the "three lower counties," known as Delaware, be- 
ing dissatisfied with their connection with Pennsylvania, prayed 
for a separation. Penn granted their prayer, and allowed them 
to establish a separate legislatui'e. Though under the same gov- 
ernor for a time, Delaware and Pennsylvania were never after- 
wards united. Penn highly praised the morals, behavior and 
patriotism of the people of the smaller colony.' 

In 1 70 1 William Penn returned to England. Harassed by law 
suits, he suffered himself to be committed to the Fleet prison in 
1708, and remained there a long time rather than surrender his 
colonial investments. But he did not die in the prison, as some 
historians have inaccurately stated.' He was relieved by warm 
friends, who compounded with his creditors. Wearied by these 
litigations, he was negotiating for a transfer of his rights to the 
Crown for twelve thousand pounds, when he was stricken do\^■n 
by paralysis, depriving him almost entirely of the power of 
memory and motion. He never recovered, and, after lingering 
in this state for six years, he died July 30, 1718. 

Since his death the historian Macaulay, of England, sought to 
darken his reputation by charges or insinuations against his in- 
tegrity and honor ; but these charges have been carefully investi- 
1 Swintou's Cond. U. S., 70, 71, 87. = Ex. : Holmes' U. S., 68. 



I iS '-i Historv of the United States of America. 

gated and found to be without adequate historic basis. ^ So long 
as the Kevstone State of Pennsylvania exists, and so long as civil 
and religious freedom are prized in North America, the name of 
William Penn will be revered. To say he was hmnan is to say 
he was not without faults. That is all that can be said ag-ainst 
him. 

The proprietarv rights o\ Penn and his heirs were never ex- 
tinguished bv the English government. They continued down 
to the Revolutionarv war, during which, in 1779, the Common- 
wealth o( Pennsvlvaniu bought out the claims of the heirs for 
the sum of tive hundred and eighty thousand dollars." 

Six vears after the death of William Penn a young man named 
Benjamin Franklin came from Boston to Philadelphia, and en- 
tered upon his duties as a journeyman printer. He became iden- 
tified with Pennsylvania and her chief city ; but in reputation he 
belongs to the world. We shall meet hini again. 

» Art. William IVnn, in New Amer. Encyclop,. XIII. 10i>. 110. 

» Dcrry's V. S,, 51. S>viiitou, oi'. David R S«.vtts Smaller V. S., 50 



CHAPTER XX. 
Kings and Sir Edmund Andros. 

BEFORE \vc reach the history of the settlement of the remain- 
ing colonies of the primitive " thirteen," which afterwards 
became the United States, it will be instructive to note the pro- 
gress of tyranny under Kings Charles II. and James II. of Eng- 
land. These events very slightly affected the southern colonies, 
and are all connected with the career of Sir Edmund Andros, 
whose name has ever since been the symbol of oppression and 
hate in New England, New York and New Jersey, and yet re- 
presents in the colony of Virginia one of her happiest and most 
prosperous periods. Thus history points her finger against kings. 
They have in all ages been the worst rulers of the world ; and 
they have never failed to find instruments to carry out their many 
cruelties and oppressions, or to give effect to their few virtues. 

After the very brief Dutch triumph of 1673, and the restora- 
tion, in less than a year, of the English rule in New York, the 
two colonies, New^ York and New^ Jersey, with the " three lower 
counties," were united under one governor. 

After a mild and prosperous administration of six years, Sir 
Francis Lovelace retired, and the Duke of York, in 1674, ap- 
pointed Sir Edmund Andros governor of these settlements. The 
question as to the general moral character of Andros has not 
been decided adversely to him. One authority says : "The pri- 
vate character of Governor Andros was not bad, and his despotic 
acts were simply the fulfillment of the policy of the king." ^ 

He was a far better man morally than either Charles or James. 
His defect appears to have been that he was ready to hold au- 
thority and exercise delegated power under any monarch, good or 
bad. He reflected faithfully and vividly the vices of the two 
kings of the decaying Stuart dynasty, and was equally faithful in 
representing the better rule of William and Mary. 

The government of Andros in New York was so arbitrary and 
despotic that it excited the indignation of the people, and it was 
under the influence of their complaints that Col. Thomas Dongan 

1 Note in Thalheimer's Eclec. Hist. U. S., p. 81. 
[ H9 ] 



I ^o A History of the United States of America. 

was appointed governor in 1682.^ He was, as we have seen, a 
member of the Rgman church communion. He was, therefore, 
the more acceptable to both the king and the duke ; but neither 
of them forgot how earnestly and steadily Andros had carried out 
their arbitrary policy. 

In 1684, King Charles directed the institution of proceedings 
in the English courts under which, without adequate cause, the 
charter of the JSIassachusetts colony was abrogated.' It was easy 
to follow" up this policy \vith instruments so subservient; and in 
a short time all the other New^ England charters Avei'e declared 
null and void. Thus, the New England confederacy, which had 
existed from 1643, and which was founded on chartered rights, 
fell to the ground. They had excluded Rhode Island on gi'ounds 
of religious intolerance. They were now to reap bitter fruits. 

But Charles II. did not live to gather those fruits himself. He 
died in 168^, and his brother James ascended the throne. He pro- 
ceeded inmiediately to unite the New England colonies with 
those of New York, New Jersey and Delaware. It was felt to 
be at least a temporarv relief when Joseph Dudley was appointed 
governor of the territory from Narragansett to Nova Scotia.^ He 
was a native of Massachusetts, but marked as " a degenerate son 
of the colony.'" He did not openly oppress. But the general 
court, in session at his arrival and unprepared for open resistance, 
dissolved their assembly, and returned in sadness to their homes. 

King James did not leave the northern colonies long in doubt 
as to his policy. In December, 1686, Sir Edmund Andros, "glit- 
tering in scarlet and lace,"' arrived at Boston. He held a com- 
mission from the king as captain-general and vice-admiral over 
the four New England colonies and their dependencies and over 
New York, the Jerseys and Delaware.* 

He had authority to appoint and remove members of his owai 
council, and, with their conse?tt, to make laws, lay taxes, and con- 
trol the militia of the country. A more perfect absolutism could 
not have existed in theory. All power was in one hand, and 
he was responsible only to a king who was an adherent of the 
Roman church and a despot. A more complete overthrow of 
every purpose for which the New England colonies had been es- 
tablished and had contended could not have been effected. 

Andros was expressly instructed " to tolerate no printing press, 
to encourage episcopacy, and to sustain authority by force." ^ One 
West came from New York as secretary of the governor. Only 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S. , 110. "- Ibid. ,134. » Bancroft, II. 425. 

* Stephens' Comp. U. S., 112. Bancroft, II. 425. *Bancroft, II. 425. 



Kmgs and Sir Edmund Andros. 151 

one New England man was in the council. Nearly all were 
quietly subservient ; some members did, indeed, occasionally mur- 
mur and protest, thus giving occasion to a complaint to the Crown 
that "his excellency has to do with a perverse people." ^ 

Andros did not leave his powers to rust in desuetude. A series 
of measures followed, the most vexatious and tyrannical to which 
men of English descent were ever exposed. " The wicked walked 
on every side, and the vilest men were exalted." 

The schools of learning, formerly so carefully nurtured and 
cherished, were left to decay. The religious institutions were im- 
paired bv abolishing the methods of their support. Personal lib- 
erty and the customs of the country were disregarded. None 
could leave without a special permit. Probate fees were increased 
some twenty fold. The scrupulous Puritans were outraged by 
being forbidden to swear with the uplifted hand, and required to 
lay the hand on and kiss the Bible, which practice they regarded 
as idolatrous. Thus, wide disfranchisement was wrought.^ 

Prelatic forms and services were forced upon the churches. 
Taxes were arbitrarily laid, and when some of the towns resisted, 
one of the governor's council said to their selectmen : " You have 
no privileges left you but not to be sold as slaves." And Andros 
himself, with haughty sarcasm, asked them : " Do you believe Joe 
and Tom may tell the king what money he may have?" 

The writ of habeas corpus was withheld. When some were 
imprisoned, and appealed to Magna Charta, and also to the mem- 
orable statute passed by the Parliament in the reign of Charles 11. 
and signed by him, their oppressors laughed, and derisively 
asked : " Do you think the laws of England follow you to the 
ends of the earth?" Fines and imprisonment followed. Oppres- 
sion threatened the country with ruin, and when the suffering 
people pointed this out, their oppressors answered without dis- 
guise : " It is not for his majesty's interest that you should thrive." ' 
It is not wonderful that the great body of the people of North 
America have learned to hate kings and all kingly authority. 

Proceedings having been instituted to abrogate the charter of 
Rhode Island, Andros demanded its suri-ender. The people of 
this colony, many of whom were Quakers, did not resist, by law, 
the proceedings, but appealed to the conscience of the kingiox the 
" privileges and liberties granted by Charles II. of blessed mem- 
ory."* They might as well have appealed to the conscience of 
Belial. 

1 Randolph, in Bancroft, II. 425. 2 Bancroft, II. 426. ? Bancroft, II. 428, 

4 j(,/d., II. 429, 



152 A History of the United States of America. 

Walter Clarke, the governor, delayed the surrender and insisted 
on " waiting for a fitter season." But Andros promptly marched, 
in January, 1687, to Rhode Island, dissolved its government, 
broke its colonial seal, and set up a commission to rule the land 
wholly irresponsible to the people.^ 

But the progress of absolutism was not to be unresisted. 
Andros now turned his attention to the Connecticut colony. He 
had already received a check in that region which he probably 
did not forget. The Dutch had claimed Connecticut. The Duke 
of York considered himself as the possessor, by conquest, of all 
the claims of the Dutch ; so, when Andros was appointed Gover- 
nor of New York in 1674, he conceived himself to be entitled to 
rule Connecticut also. 

Rumors of his claims and of his purpose to carry them out by 
force having reached Saybrook, preparations were made to meet 
him. Detachments of troops were moved. Capt. Thomas Bull 
commanded the armed garrison in the fort at Saybrook. 

On the 9th of July, 167^, Andros, with an armed force in a ship 
on the sound, made directly for the fort. He hoisted the king's 
flag and demanded a suiTender ; but Bull was not daunted ; he 
also hoisted the English flag, and refused surrender. Here were 
two flags of the same government threatening bloody conflict. 
Andros was discouraged ; he demanded a parley, and met Bull 
face to face. Admiring his courage, he asked his name, and on 
hearing it, he repeated it several times, saying : " Bull ! it is a 
pity your horns are not tipped with silver." Finding he could 
not obtain a surrender, he returned to New York.^ 

But now, in 1687, holding the high commission of the king, 
Andros felt himself to be strong enough to cope with Connecti- 
cut, and overthrow her liberties. In October, attended by some 
of his council and by a considerable armed force, he marched 
upon Hartford. He found the colonial assembly in session, and 
demanded the surrender of the charter. This patent of their free- 
dom was peculiarly dear to them. It had been granted in 1663 
by Charles II. and united the two colonies of Connecticut and 
New Haven, and had been purchased by sacrifices and martyr- 
doms, and was the most favorable to liberty of any of the charters."' 

Governor Treat pleaded strongly, warmly, for its retention. 
Evening came, and darkness began to settle down on the room 
of the assembly. Lights w^ere brought. An anxious crowd of 
farmers and other earnest men were listening to the debate. The 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S , 79. Bancroft, II. 429. 

2 Centennial U. S., 1876, by C. B. Taylor, pp. 78, 79. 

3 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 63. Bancroft, II. 430. 



Kings and Sir Ed?nuttd Andros. 153 

charter was lying on the table. Suddenly the lights were ail put 
out. In the darkness, Joseph Wadsworth, of Hartford, crept 
noiselessly through the crowd, seized the precious parchment, and 
bore it swiftly away to an oak tree known to hiin, in which was 
a hollow crypt almost concealed by the gnarled and rough edges 
of the bark. Here he deposited the charter.^ 

When the lights were restored in the assembly's room, the 
charter was gone ! But Andros announced that the powers and 
privileges granted by it to the colony were also gone. He com- 
pelled the production of the public records of the colony, and 
made this entry : 

"At a general court at Hartford, October 31st, 16S7, his excel- 
lency Sir Edmund Andros, knight and captain-general, and gov- 
ernor of his majesty's territories and dominions in New England, 
by order from his majesty James H., King of England, Scotland, 
France and Ireland, the 31st of October, 1687, took into his hands 
the government of the colony of Connecticut, it being by his 
majesty annexed to Massachusetts and other colonies under his 
excellency's government." ^ 

To this closing record, Andros added the word " Finis." But 
it was not " the end " ; it was in no sense the finality. The char- 
ter v\ras safely hidden for a time, and was safely withdrawn from 
the ciypt when James was driven from the English throne. The 
oak tree was preserved with sacred reverence and care. It stood 
on the grounds of Samuel Wallys, of Hartford, up to the year 
1S56, when it was blown down in a violent storm. Like almost 
every scene in history -which is picturesque moi-e than prosaic, 
this incident has been sought to be disci'edited.'^ But although, 
very naturally, no immediate record of it was made, it is attested 
by evidence adequate to induce belief.'' 

On the 4th day of April, 1689, the great news of the flight of 
James II., and the invasion of England by the Prince of Orange 
and his declaration, reached Boston. Andros and his creatures 
immediately seized and imprisoned the messengers ; but the mes- 
sage was already known. It could not be imprisoned. An ex- 
cited crowd assembled ; but their counsels were guided by strong 
minds, for the events that followed were "not a violent passion 
of the rabble," but what Andros and his sympathizers designated 
as "a long-contrived piece of wickedness."'' The well-known 
minister Increase Mather had already secretly sailed to England 
with a written remonstrance against the rule of Andros. 

iSewall'sMSS. Hinman, 172. Trumbull. Bancroft, II. 430. 

2 Centennial Hist. U. S., C. B. Taylor, p. 86. ^Sce BarnesA Co.'s U. S., 64. 

4Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 80, 81. ^ Lambeth MSS., 1825, in Bancroft, II. 445. 



i^/j. A History of the United States of America. 

The captain of the English frigate Rose was first seized and 
made a prisoner. Thus no orders could go to her. The multi- 
tude were organized. They hastened to the major of the local 
regiment and demanded colors and drums. Old patriotic leaders 
appeared, among them Nelson, Foster, Waterhouse, and the for- 
mer governor, Simon Bradstreet. At ten o'clock they seized the 
obnoxious ofHcers Bullivant, Foxcroft and Ravenscroft. On the 
Charlestown side a thousand colony soldiers were assembled. An- 
dres and his adherents attempted in vain to make their escape to 
the frigate. They saw there "was no safety for them except in 
submission. They surrendered ; were marched hrst to the town- 
house and thence to prison. Thus was overthrown the despotism 
of Charles and James. 

One other attempt at infringement of chartered rights was 
made. Governor Fletcher, of New York, in the time of Wil- 
liam and Mary, renewed the claim to control Connecticut. The 
colonists were at war with the Indians. Fletcher sent orders 
that the Connecticut soldiers should march to the Canada fron- 
tier. Thev refused to obey. The incensed governor hastened 
with a small retinue to Hartford to compel obedience. 

When he rode up, a military company was assembled for exer- 
cise and review, imder command of Captain Wadsworth. The 
governor ordered his secretary to read aloud a paper, in the na- 
ture of a commission from the king, which he construed as giving 
him authority to command all the military forces of the northern 
colonies for the war. " Beat the drums ! " commanded Wads- 
worth, and a ceaseless roll of the drums drowned the voice of the 
reader. The governor commanded silence, and ordered the sec- 
retary to read. " Music ! music ! " shouted Wadsworth, and 
again the reverberating roll of bass and kettle drums was heard. 
" Silence ! silence ! " commanded the governor ; but when a mo- 
mentary silence was established. Captain Wadsworth renewed 
his order, and, looking fiercely at the governor, said in a stern 
voice : "' If I am interrupted again, I will make daylight shine 
through you ! " * 

Governor Fletcher, though not wanting in firmness, thought it 
wisest to desist. He returned to Ne^v York, -where his authority 
was legitimate. 

Nevertheless, the government under William and Mary did 
not convict or punish Sir Edmund Andros. He ^vas fully pre- 
pared to prove that his whole career in New England was ad- 
cording to the spirit and letter of orders from King James. 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 124, 125. C. B. Taylor, Centen. U. S., 92, 93. 



Kings and Sir Edmund Andros. 155 

His knowledge of colonial aflaiis was so intimate, and his ex- 
perience so salutary, that in 1693 he ^vas appointed by the Crown 
to succeed Francis Nicholson in the Virginia colony, with the 
full title and authority of governor-in-chief. He ruled for six 
years. 

" Whether experience had taught him wisdom, or advancing 
years had calmed the heat of youth, or he found no pretext for 
the exercise of arbitrary power, we know not ; but all authori- 
ties agree in declaring that his administration was a season of 
unwonted prosperity in Virginia." 

He introduced order into the business and papers of the public 
departments, promoted schemes of useful labor, encouraged man- 
ufactures, incited the planters to the cultivation of cotton, and 
assented to the act establishing the first fulling mills ever known 
in the colony. Laws were respected, education was fostered, the 
people were quiet and contented.^ 

These facts suggest the truth that the English kings were more 
culpable and more responsible for the abuses and oppressions 
which drove the colonies to independence than any of their ofii- 
cers and favorites, bad as some of these were. 

1 Grahame's Colon. Hist., III. 9, 10. Keith, 169, 170. Beverley, 90, 91. Holmes' Annals, 
I. 468. Bancroft, III. 25. 



CHAPTER XXL 
Maryland. 

MARYLAND was not first colonized by Lord Baltimore and 
his followers of the Roinan church, as some historians repre- 
sent.' On this subject the duty of history is to present the sim- 
ple truth. 

No one can deny that the original patents of James L to the 
London Company embraced not only what is now Virginia, but 
what is now Maryland. And although the London Company 
was dissolved by a judicial decision confirming the king's procla- 
mation in 1634, yet the rights of the Virginia colony remained. 
Valid grants within her boundaries could only be obtained by 
patents approved by herself. 

Captain John Smith, in 1608, had explored the Chesapeake Bay 
in its upper parts, coasting along the shore from the mouth of the 
Patuxent to the Patapsco river. His map of all this region was 
published, and has been often reproduced.^ During the next 
quarter of a century several settlements had been made by Vir- 
ginia colonists in this region. 

In 1637, William Clayborne, v»dio had come early to Virginia 
from the mother country, and who had been sufficiently esteemed 
to become a ineinber of the council and Secretary of State, ob- 
tained from Sir Francis Wyatt, governor of the colony, a deed 
of authority to discover the head of Chesapeake Bay, or any part 
of Virginia from 34*^ to 41° north latitude. This deed was after- 
wards confirmed in substance by King Charles L, who in 163 1 
granted to William Clayborne a license to make further discov- 
eries, and to establish settlements for trade in that region of Vir- 
ginia. Under these definite sources of authority Clayborne, after 
much hardship and expenditure, established a trading settlement 
on Kent Island, in the bay (not far from what is now the city of 
Annapolis), which grew and prospered and promised to wax into 
a permanent town.^ 

lEx. : Swinton's Cond. U. S, 71-73. Scudder's U. S., 120-123. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 
4;>-47. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 76, 77. Holmes, 39, 51-53. 

2 Smith, I. 14'.1. Purchas, IV. 1091. 

3 Art. Clayborne, New Amer. Encyclop., V. 324. Belknap's Am. Biog., III., 216. Bancroft, 
I. 264-266. 

[ 156 ] 



Ma rj 'la n d. 157 

George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore of American fame, 
did not come to Virginia until 1628, one year after Sir Francis 
Wyatt's grant to Clajborne. In 1624 he had declared himself a 
Roman Catholic upon serious conviction, and innnediately re- 
signed his lucrative otHce under the English government. 

King James I. conferred the title so long retained by this 
excellent nobleman and his descendaiits, and, by his request, 
granted him the southeastern peninsula of Newfoundland/ He 
came to it with colonists ; but the hostility of the French and 
the rigor of the climate so discouraged him that he abandoned 
this region, after having expended much money and care. He 
came to Virginia in 162S, hoping to find in her genial air and 
fertile soil an asylum for the persecuted adherents of his church.^ 

But here he was met by the old spirit long cherished by his 
own communion and not yet exoixised by Protestants. The 
Church of England was established by law, and the advent of a 
wealthy and influential nobleman professing the creed of R*ome 
was enough to arouse the vigilance of the authorities. The test 
act was brought forward, and the oath of supremacy was ten- 
dered to him in the comprehensive form prescribed by the law 
then in force. He refused to take it, but tendered for himself 
and his followers a modified form, in which he promised all obe- 
dience consistent with his rights of conscience. This the council 
declined to accept, and referred the whole matter to the privy 
council in England. 

Lord Baltimore sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, and was charmed 
with the advantages and attractions of the country on its upper 
parts, and lying immediately north of the Potomac. He returned 
to England, and easily obtained from Charles L the promise of 
a charter grantmg a territory which was called Terra ^laria — 
" IMary's Land " — in honor of Qiieen Henrietta IMaria. Lord Bal- 
timore preferred " Crescentia," but the king gave the name of his 
queen. It embraced the fine tract of country lying on both sides 
of the bay of Chesapeake and north of the Potomac, running up 
to the fortieth parallel of latitude from the point where it strikes 
the first fountain of the river to the Atlantic Ocean.^ The king 
disregarded alike the previous patents of his father and his own 
deed of license to Clayborne. 

The first Lord Baltimore died in April, 1632. But the charter 
was made out to his son, Cecelius Calvert, who inherited the vir- 
tues and the religious preferences of his father. Under this grant, 

1 Belknap, III. 208. Burk, II. 25. Grahame, 11. 2. 2 Grahamc's Colon. Hist., II. 2. 

» Belknap, III. 213. Grahame, II. 3, 4. Bancroft, I. 259. Ogilby, in Belknap, 183. 



158 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

early in 1634, Leonard Calvert, brother of Cecil, with about two 
hundred colonists, many of whom were gentlemen of fortune and 
respectability, and nearly all of whom were of the Roman church, 
came to Jamestown on their way to Maryland. Two devout 
Jesuit priests. Fathers Andrew White and John Altham, accom- 
panied them. The governor and council received them all cour- 
teously, but distinctly announced to them that their grant was 
considered an encroachment on the rights of Virginia.^ 

They sailed up the Chesapeake in their two vessels — The Ark 
and 77ie Dove — and landed on vSt. Clements' Island, March 35th, 
1634. Two days afterwards, having purchased the land from the 
Indians, they commenced a settlement on the main-land at a place 
named St. Mary's. Hence, in the early traditions of the colony 
and afterwards of the State, they were called the " Pilgrims of 
St. Mary's." ' 

Thus, in the New World, two bands of colonists, both profess- 
ing the religion of the meek and lowly Redeemer of mankind, 
had drawn to themselves the name of " Pilgrims." They differed 
widely in their views of Christian polity and doctrine ; but they 
were alike in one point : both had fled from persecution in the 
mother country. Both had the strongest reasons for adopting the 
principle and the practice of complete religious freedom. But 
only one band had learned it ; and that was not the band that 
landed on Plymouth Rock. It was the band belonging to the 
church organization that had for ages been held as the most ex- 
clusive and intolerant. 

Leonard Calvert was the first Governor of Maryland. He lost 
no time in putting in motion the machinery of government 
mapped out in the patent from King Charles. That patent was 
probably drawn by the hand of the first Lord Baltimore, and is 
an enduring proof of his wisdom, liberality and political sagacity.^ 
We can only wonder that such a king should have granted it. 

It went far beyond any colonial patent theretofore issued. It 
is true, the powers and authority of the proprietary were very 
ample, and he held only by the tenure of fealty, paying a yearly 
rent of two Indian arrows and a fifth of all gold and silver ore 
which might be found. But the charter secured to the colonists 
themselves an independent share in the legislation of the pro- 
vince, as the statutes were to be established with the advice and 
approbation of the majority of the freemen or their deputies. It 
was expressly provided that the authority of the proprietary 

1 Grahame, IT. 3, 4. Bancroft, III. 259, 260. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 62. ' " '^ 

2 Art. Maryland, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 249. s Bancroft, I. 241. Hazard, I. 327-337. 



Ma ryla 71 d. 1 1^ 9 

should not extend to the life, freehold or estate of any emigrant. 
Christianity was made the law of the land, but no preference was 
given to any sect or denomination, and equality in religious 
rights, no less than in civil freedom, was secured. All monopoly 
of the fisheries in the deep waters of the bay or the ocean on the 
coast w^as expressly renounced by the pi^oprietary.' 

Leonard Calvert took the oath of office in words which deserve 
to be I'epeated : " I will not by myself or any other, directly or 
indirectly, molest any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ 
for or in respect of religion." ^ 

Under such auspices of peace and liberty the colony grew fast 
in numbers and prosperity. In less than twelve months the as- 
sembly was convened for legislation. All freemen were repre- 
sented. Within six months Maryland advanced more than Vir- 
ginia had in six years. ^ But there was a root of bitterness amid 
this harmony, and the root sprang from the inconsiderate and 
unscrupulous acts of the king. 

As the colonists under Calvert had ascended the bay, they had 
met with William Clayborne, who had made known his claims 
and their ground, had asserted the jurisdiction of Virginia, and 
had sought to deter them from advancing by representing in 
strong colors the hostile character of the Indians. It is to be re- 
gretted that Leonard Calvert made no serious eflbrt to conciliate 
him and to reach terms of agreement. They would have saved 
much subsequent turmoil and bloodshed. But it does not appear 
that Calvert made such effort, or was disposed to give any recog- 
nition to his claims. 

Within less than two years these conflicting claims led to dis- 
aster. The Virginia authorities upheld the rights of Clayborne. 
The privy council of Charles left the disputants to the law. 
Clayborne continued to claim Kent Island and repudiate the 
jurisdiction of Maryland, and his influence with the Indians was 
exerted unfavorably to peace.* Lord Baltimore gave orders for 
his arrest. 

This precipitated the conflict. On the 33d of April, 163^, an 
engagement took place between a small armed vessel cruising 
under Clayborne's orders and tw^o vessels seiit out by Calvert. 
One of the Marylanders was killed, and several of the Kent 
Island party also fell. 

The attempt to arrest Cla3d3orne failed. He took refuge in the 
more settled part of Virginia. The Maryland authorities, in his 

1 Bancroft, I. 242, 243. Chalmers' Amer. Colon., 205. McMahon, 133-1S3. 

2 Chalmers, 235. McMahon, 220. 3 Bancroft, I. 247. 
* Art. William Clayborne, New Amer. Eneyclop., V. 324. 



l6o A History of the Uftited States oj" A?nerica. 

absence, proceeded harshly against him. He was indicted for 
murder, piracy and sedition, and without serving process on him, 
these charges were tried and he was convicted. The assembly 
also passed a bill of attainder against him. His estate on Kent 
Island w^as seized and confiscated.^ The effect of such proceed- 
ings on a temper excitable, stern and unyielding may be con- 
ceived. He bided his time for revenge. 

Governor Calvert demanded his surrender from Virginia, but Sir 
John Hervey positively refused. This enabled Clayborne to go to 
England, accompanied by witnesses and documents, and lay his case 
before the king. Charles I., in 1638, severely reprimanded Lord 
Baltimore for violating the royal license, and dispossessing Clay- 
borne of his estate and personal property in Kent Island, and also 
for the measures which had caused the loss of several lives. ^ 
Nevertheless, in the next year, the whole matter was reopened 
and brought before the Lords Commissioners of Plantations. 
Archbishop Laud was the head of this body, and was already so 
deeply in sympathy with the Roman church and with the worst 
form of hierarchic claims in England that Lord Baltimore's title 
would receive from him the utmost favor. The decision, there- 
fore, was adverse to William Clayborne ; but he was not content. 

The Maryland colony continued to prosper. The Indians 
taught them the best modes of planting maize and tobacco. The 
native women taught them how to make corn-bread and hoe- 
cakes. The priests — White and Altham — were indefatigable in 
giving religious instruction and sympathy to the natives. Four 
regular missions were established. The chief Chitomachen, of 
Piscatoway, and his wife received baptism, and were soon fol- 
lowed by one hundred and thirty other natives who professed 
Christianity.'^ 

But as the white colonists increased the Indians grew jealous, 
and were easily estranged by intriguers among them. Unfortu- 
nately, too, for Governor Calvert, the very intolerance of the Vir- 
ginia religious laws under Sir William Berkeley worked ad- 
versely to Maryland's peace. In 1642 a considerable number of 
non-conformists left Virginia and settled in the upper colony, 
chiefly around the site of Annapolis, which v^-as then called Pro- 
vidence.^ They soon grew strong enough to claim power in gov- 
ernment. 

Meanwhile the civil war was hastening on, and was drawing 
away the attention of England from the colonies. Clayborne, 

1 Bancroft, I. 249. Chalmers, 210. Art. Clayborne, Amer. E"cyclop., V. 324. 

2 Art. Clayborne, Amer. Encyclop., V 324. 3 Stephens' Comp. U. 8., 63. 
* Art. Maryland, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 249. 



M'aryland. l6i 

with skill and energy, availed himself of this favorable crisis. 
In 1644 he returned to Kent Island, regained possession, organ- 
ized all discontented elements, armed his followers, and advanced 
upon the unprepared Marylanders under Calvert so suddenly and 
boldly that all opposition was dispersed, and the governor, to 
save his life or libertv, was obliged to fly into Virginia and take 
refuge at Jamestown.' During the disorder and violence of this 
period many of the public records were lost. 

But Lord Baltimox'e exerted himself manfully for reinstate- 
ment. In 1646 Leonard Calvert was enabled to return at the 
head of a considerable armed force, and Clayborne's rule was 
overthrown. 

Desiring to conciliate the Protestants and have peace. Lord 
Baltimore, on the death of Leonard Calvert in 1647, exerted his 
influence to have William Stone appointed governor. He was a 
Protestant and a worthy ruler. Under his auspices the legisla- 
ture passed, in 1649, the memorable act in favor of religious free- 
dom and the rights of conscience, which has ever since rendered 
the name of Maryland dear to all Americans.^ 

In 1649, after the execution of Charles I., the authorities of 
Maryland proclaimed Charles II. king. But the commonwealth 
under Cromwell did not leave her free to pursue her own course. 

In 16^1 an expedition was sent, with commissioners and with 
instructions, to reduce to submission "all the plantations within 
the bay of the Chesapeake." ^ And one of the commissioners 
was the irrepressible Clayborne ! But they did not act with 
haste or harshness. Governor Stone was thought to be favorable 
to the commonwealth. A compromise was effected by which 
he, with three of his council, was permitted to retain the execu- 
tive power. The laws remained unchanged.* 

Happy would it have been had this fair arrangement been left 
undisturbed ; but, upon the dissolution of the Long Parliament 
in 1653, Stone and his friends declared Lord Baltimore reinstated, 
and that the province, under the rule agreed on with Clayborne 
and his co-commissioner Bennett, had been in rebellion ! " 

This was rash and ill-advised. Clayborne and Bennett re- 
turned, overthrew the Lord Baltimore government, and appointed 
a board of ten commissioners with full powers to rule. Intol- 
erance followed. A new assembly v\^as convened at Patuxent. 
It passed an act concerning religion, confirming, in words, free- 

1 Bancroft, I. 255. Stephens' U. S., 63. 

2 Art. Maryland, Amer. Encyclop., XI. 249. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 63. 
3Thurloe, 1. 198. Hazard, I. 557. 

^Strong, 2, 3. Langford, 7, 8. Bancroft, I. 2C0. " Bancroft, I, 2G0. 

II 



162 A History of the United States of America. 

dom of conscience, but declaring also that liberty was not ex- 
tended to "popery, prelacy or licentiousness of opinion/'^ 

Lord Baltimore made firm efforts to vindicate his supremacy. 
Civil war ensued. Governor Stone raised an armed force and 
marched from Patuxent to capture Providence, the chief seat of 
the republicans. But the party under Clayborne was ready. A 
battle on a small scale took place March 35th, 1655. Stone and 
his forces were defeated and utterly routed with considerable loss. 
He was captured, and would have been put to death but for the 
surviving affection felt for him by some of the captors. He was 
kept a prisoner during most of the protectorship of Cromwell. 
A council of war sentenced four of the chief movers for the at- 
tempted government to death ; and they were executed accord- 
ingly.' 

William Clayborne retained his island and his power. In 1660, 
when Sir William Berkeley was elected Governor of Virginia ad 
iftteri?n, Clayborne concurred in the appointment. He was re- 
spected because of his indomitable faithfulness to what he believed 
to be the chartered rights of Virginia. He sat as a member of the 
court-inartial that tried the alleged rebels after Bacon's death. 
He is thought to have died at an advanced age in the county of 
New Kent, which probably derived its name from his island in 
the bay. His son fell mortally wounded in a battle with the In- 
dians near West Point, in King William county, and lies buried 
there. The family name was changed to Claiborne, and some of 
its descendants, reputable and esteemed, are still living.^ 

These disturbances projected a long shadow over the fortunes 
of Maryland ; but she continued to prosper and to contend for her 
principles of freedom. In 1729 the city of Baltimore was laid 
out. In 1745 the Maryland Gazette, the first newspaper, was 
established at Annapolis, and continued to be issued by Thomas 
Green and his descendants until 1839. 

In the Revolution no State was more faithful to freedom than 
Maryland. The " Maryland line " was distinguished under 
Washington ; and troops from Maryland took brave part in every 
campaign of the war, except that against Burgoyne. None of 
them were there because they were retained by the commander- 
in-chief. 

1 Bacon's Maryland Laws, 1654. Bancroft, I. 261. - Hammond, 22, 23. 

3 Art. Clayborne, New Amer. Encyclop., V. 325. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Carolinas and John Locke. 

WE have seen that the earliest attempts at settlement by Eng- 
lish colonists in North America were on or near Roanoke 
Island, in the sounds opening from the Atlantic. This was in the 
waters of what is now North Carolina. But it was embraced 
within the parallels designated by the earliest patent of Virginia, 
which granted down to the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude. 
North Carolina lies between 33° =53' and 36" 33'. 

These earliest attempts were disasti^ous and abortive. The set- 
tlements at Jamestown and along the rivers of Virginia soon fol- 
lowed, and many years passed before the permanent colonization 
of the Carolinas. 

Charles I. succeeded his father in 162 i,, and began soon to ex- 
hibit that tendency to have favorites, and to violate, in their be- 
half, the principles of justice and honesty, which contributed very 
potently to the final downfall of the Stuart dynasty in England. 

In 1630 he issued a patent to Sir Robert Heath for an immense 
territory covering a large part of -what is now North Carolina, 
and what was then Virginia. This domain was designated as 
Carolina.' In 1639, Heath's assignee, Lord Maltravers, seems to 
have planned and attempted settlements under his grant. One 
William Hawley appeared in Virginia as " Governor of Caro- 
lina," and leave was granted by the Virginia Legislature that this 
region might be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, 
"'being freemen, single, and disengaged of debt."* But these 
efforts were unsuccessful, and the patent to Sir Robert Heath was 
declared void, because its purposes had never been fulfilled.^ 

Between the years 1630 and 1663, numerous bands of settlers 
made their way into the region " south of the Chesapeake," bought 
lands from the Indians, and began the forms of civilized life. One 
of these parties was from Massachusetts, and settled at Oldtown 
creek, near the south side of the river Cape Fear. This region 
was neither fertile nor healthful, and some of the settlers, return- 

1 Records, No. 1, 1639, 1642, p. 70, Gen. Court, Richmond, Va. Bancroft, II. 130. Art. Car. 
olina, Amer. Encyclop., IV. 461. 

- Gen. Court Records, Richmond, Va., 70. Bancroft. II. 130. 

8 Williamson's N. C, I. 84, 85. Martin, I. 94, 125. Chalmers, 515. 

[ 163 ] 



164 -A History of the United States of America. 

ing, " spread a reproach on the harbor and the soil." But the 
effort was not abandoned. Aid was given from Massachusetts 
until the infant colony could support itself. Other settlers came 
from Virginia, driven out bv the religious persecutions, legal and 
social, already prevailing there. These occupied the beautiful 
"summer lands" of North Carolina about the river Chowan, and 
what is now the county of Albemarle. None of these colonists 
claimed under any special patent ; but they satisfied the natives, 
and by their industry and well-directed labor they soon began to 
prosper. 

Among these settlers from Virginia came Roger Green, a Pres- 
byterian, who, with a choice band of associates, settled in 16:^3 
on the banks of the Chowan. A few years afterwards came 
George Durant, a devoted Qiiaker, with a considerable number of 
Friends. He purchased lands from the Yeopim Indians in Per- 
quimans county, and this region still bears his name.^ Large 
bodies of settlers similar to these in professions and character 
soon follow^ed. They governed themselves by their own chosen 
officers. 

It was not to be expected that such a man as Sir William 
Berkeley would remain long indifferent to a movement which to 
his eyes looked like the establishment of dissent. He made no 
attempt to disturb them by direct interference ; but he informed 
Charles II. and his courtiers in England, and the result was soon 
apparent. 

King Charles, in 1663, issued a broad patent for the whole ter- 
ritory from the thirtieth to the thirty-sixth degree of north lati- 
tude. This, of course, impinged deeply on the domain of Vir- 
ginia ; but it was only an added proof of the ingratitude of this 
selfish and licentious monarch. Of his unscrupulous grants a 
discriminating historian has spoken thus : " During the first four 
years of his power, Charles II. gave away a large part of a con- 
tinent. Could he have continued as lavish in the course of his 
reign, he would have given away the world." ^ 

The grantees or proprietaries under this new and extravagant 
patent were as follows : Lord Clarendon, a great lawyer and 
statesman, and once lord chancellor ; he left two grand-daughters, 
who became queens of England ; but he was grasping and am- 
bitious, and in his old age lost the king's favor. Next., Lord 
Ashley, afterwards lord chancellor and Earl of Shaftesbury. He 
deserves lasting fame as the statesman who made the writ of 
habeas corpus a permanent right of every man under English rule. 
1 A. H, Stephens, 99. 2 Bancroft, II. 70. 



The Carolitias and yohn Locke, 165 

His talents were great, but he was intriguing and profligate, and 
the boldest demagogue of his day. The poet Dryden has sketched 
his character \vith a master's hand.^ Next^ Gen. George Monk, 
a morose, dull oftiCer of Cromwell, who had been created Duke 
of Albemarle for the part he took in bringing about the king's 
restoration. Next^ William, Earl of Craven, a brave old cava- 
lier and soldier of the German discipline, who was suspected of 
being husband of the Qiieen of Bohemia." Next,, Sir John Colle- 
ton, a royalist of small notoriety. Next,, Sir George Carteret, 
passionate, ignorant, and not too honest. Next^ Lord John Berke- 
ley ; and last,, his younger brother, Sir William Berkeley, the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, who had manifested some good traits, but was 
yet to manifest some of the worst known among the rulers of 
North America.^ 

It seemed needful that proprietaries so eminent should not un- 
dertake to set up an empire in the New World without seeking 
a form of government constructed by the highest learning, thought 
and skill. For this purpose the English philosopher John Locke 
w^as selected. He had aided Shaftesbury in a critical surgical 
operation, and was beloved by him. He afterwards wrote a cel- 
ebrated essay on "The Human Understanding" and some other 
works. But he was as little fitted to prepare a suitable govern- 
ment for people in the pine forests, alluvial fields and fertile 
river bottoms of the Carolinas as w^ould have been any of the 
dreamers of Egypt or Greece. 

Nevertheless, he went to work, and, aided by sagacious liints 
and suggestions from some of the patentees, he prepared in 1672 
a draft of a form of government containing more than a hundred 
articles, entitled the " Grand Model," which was afterwards 
pressed upon the planters and laborers of the colony with a per- 
tinacity only equaled by the sturdy good sense shown by them 
in rejecting it as utterly unsuited to their condition.* 

What they needed in government was simplicity, directness, 
and close contact and responsibility between themselves and their 
law-makers and rulers. John Locke's " Grand Model " was com- 
plicated and abstruse. It adopted monarchy as the best form, 
and, if submitted to, would have perpetuated the rule of the Eng- 
lish sovereigns in America. But beneath the king it made the 
eight proprietaries practically sovereigns, with a number never 
to be increased or diminished, with hereditary rights, and, in de- 
fault of heir, with power in the survivors to elect. " Thus v/as 

1 Moore's N. C, I. 15. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 99. = Bancroft, II. 129. 

3 Pepys, I. 140, 235, 356. Grahame, 1 1. 317. 

4 Moore's N. C, I. 18-20. Bancroft, 11. 144-M7. 



i66 A History of the United States of America. 

formed an upper house " — a diet of starosts — " self-elected and 
immortal." ' 

For purposes of settlement the immense territory of the Caro- 
linas was to be divided into counties, each of 'four hundred and 
eighty thousand acres. Two permanent orders of nobility were 
to exist — one landgrave, or earl, and two caciques, or barons, for 
each county. The lands were to be divided into five equal parts, 
of which one part was to be inalienably held by the proprieta- 
ries, one in like manner by the nobles, and the remaining three 
might be acquired and cultivated by the common people, but 
with jDrovision for manorial estates, in which the lords of manors 
were to have judicial powers in baronial courts. Tenants hold- 
ing ten acres of land were to be " leet-men." They wei"e to have 
no political privileges, but to be " adscripts " of the soil, " under 
the jurisdiction of their lord, without appeal " ; and the provision 
was added that "all the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, 
and so to all generations." The fundamental principles of this 
scheme were openly declared to be " the interests of the proprie- 
tors," the desire for " a government most agreeable to monarchy," 
and the dread of " a numerous democracy." The welfare and 
happiness of the people are nowhere looked to. 

The Earl of Shaftesbury had influence enough to induce Locke 
(contrary to his own judgment) to provide for a chiuxh estab- 
lishment in all important respects conformed to the Anglican 
church, which had already fallen under the influence of Arch- 
bishop Laud and his successors. But Locke steadily insisted on 
a clause of universal toleration. This was in itself an insult to 
freedom. It provided not equal rights, but only contingent tol- 
eration to "Jews, heathens, and other dissenters," and " to men of 
any religion." ^ 

The prominent features of this " Grand Model " have thus been 
given for the purpose of show^ing how North America was threat- 
ened by the already waning and rotten ideas of English oligarch- 
ists, and how blessed have been the impulses and opportunities 
which have enabled her to escape them. 

The name given in the patent of King Charles was " Caro- 
lina," in honor of his own name and that of his father. But this 
was only a repetition and confirmation of the name which had 
been given just one hundred years previously by the French ex- 
plorers, who sought to honor the name of Charles IX. ( Carolus) 
of France.' 

HJillies' Arist., II. 24S. Bancroft, II. 147. 

2 Preamble in Charters, 33. Martin, I., Append. 71. 

8 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 99. Perry's U. S., 52. 



The Carolhias and yohn Locke. 167 

By the influence of Sir William Berkeley, William Drummond, 
a Scottish settler in Virginia, was appointed the first governor of 
the Albemarle colony. He was a prudent and intelligent man, 
and soon reached a clear understanding with Durant and other 
settlers as to tenures of land and the relations of the government 
to them. In 1665 the first legislative session, known as the 
" General Assembly of Albemarle," was held in a private house. 
The colony continued to prosper, because the proprietary hand 
was not yet on them. 

In February, 1664, Sir John Yeamans, a man of family, culture 
and wealth, came from the Barbadoes islands to search for a new 
settlement in Carolina under the jurisdiction of the proprietors. 
He ascended Cape Fear river to the neighborhood of Oldtown 
creek, and found a site that suited him. He purchased a large 
tract of land from the Indians, and obtaiiaed license for a colony. 
On the 39th of May, 1665, he came back from Barbadoes with 
eight hundred followers, two hundred of whom were his slaves. 
He called his settlement Charlestown, and was appointed governor 
and commander-in-chief of the county which w^as called Claren- 
don. This colony had a pi'osperous and interesting life up to 
1670, when it was united to Albemarle on the east, and the tw^o 
were thenceforth designated as North Carolina.^ 

In 1667, Governor Drummond resigned and returned to Vir- 
ginia, to meet, in a few years, a sad fate there, under the revenge- 
ful passions of Berkeley. 

He was succeeded by Samuel Stephens, who was an able and 
beneficent governor. During his rule the great Quaker George 
Fox came to Maryland, and dispatched his co-preacher William 
Edmondson to hold Friends' meetings in Albemarle. The In- 
dians attended these meetings, which were held near the nar- 
rows of Perquimans river, where Hertford was afterwards built. 
During the long silence the natives comforted themselves by 
smoking their pipes, which somewhat shocked the devout 
Friends.^ Yet their religious assemblages (said to be the first 
ever held in North Carolina) were not without permanently good 
effects on the strangely mingled congregations who attended them. 

Governor Stephens lived long enough to proniulgate the " Grand 
Model " of Locke for the government of the colony. His good 
sense soon enabled him to see its folly. He showed no enthu- 
siasm for it. He died in 1673. 

He was succeeded by Sir George Carteret, one of the proprie- 
taries. He pressed the obnoxious plan upon the people by all the 
1 Stephens, 100. Moore, 1. 16. Bancroft, 1. 142. 2 Moore's N. C, I. 20. Stephens, 101. 



1 68 A History of the United States of Afuerica. 

means in his power ; but the opposition to it was clogged and 
unyielding. Finding he could not succeed, Carteret resigned in 
disgust, and retvn-ned to England, leaving the administration, in 
his own words, "• in ill order and worse hands.'" ' 

A season of disorder near to anarchy followed. One ISliller had 
been arrested by Carteret for sedition and sent to \'irginia, but be- 
ing acquitted by Governor Berkeley, he had gone to England and 
made favor with the proprietaries, who sent him back with a 
commissiorT as secretary, and with power to act as governor in 
the absence of one regularly appointed. His first attempt was 
to enforce the oppressive " navigation laws " passed by Charles' 
Parliament. He was resisted by George Durant, who was the 
oldest settler, and a man of great wealth and influence. A con- 
flict ensued on a New England vessel named the Gillant. Du- 
rant was aboard. Miller attempted to seize him. John Culpep- 
per, a firm and prompt man, made by the pressure of the times, 
collected a band of adherents and defended Durant. In Decem- 
ber, 1677, jSIiller and seven deputies appointed by the proprietors 
were all seized and imprisoned. Culpepper and his followers 
also took possession of the public funds and administered the 
government. A paper \vas prepared setting forth all the out- 
rages of Miller and grievances of the colonists. 

Just at this time the regularly appointed governor, Eastchurch, 
arrived. He sought aid from Virginia, but was very feebly 
seconded. The people had real and just cause of complaint. 
John Culpepper remained in office as governor for two years, 
and performed his duties to the satisfaction of the people. He 
then went to England, and bv the machinations of Miller was 
arrested and tried for treason in 16S0 in the court of King's 
Bench ; but the Earl of Shaftesbury defended him, and obtained 
his acquittal on the ground that " there never had been any 
regular government at Albemarle, and that its disorders were 
only feuds between the planters, which could only amount to 
a riot." • 

After Culpepper went to England, John Harvey was governor ; 
then John Jennings ; then Henrv Wilkinson. These all tried to 
carry on the government upon the " Grand Model " plan ; but 
they all failed as signally as had Sir George Carteret. "• The 
clumsv arrangements of the proprietors all failed "when they tried 
to apply them. Their degrees of nobility and the officers with 
titles were of no use in the woods of America. The people did 
not care to rent land when so much lay vacant, and the ma- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 102. »iWd., 103. 



The Carolinas and yohn Locke. 169 

chinery of their constiliitioa was ridiculed when their agents 
tried to put it in motion.'' ' 

And soon tVoni the fogs of this unhealthy misrule there i"Ose 
one of the meanest of all the men ever appointed in England to 
govern the colonies of America. Upon the death of the Earl of 
Clarendon, one Seth Sothel found the means of purchasing the 
interest of his heirs in the Carolina charter. He is so obscure in 
his birth and earh' life that the ordinary sources of history are 
searched in vain for traces of liim. We know, however, that the 
surviving proprietors elected him in 1680 to succeed Wilkinson, 
and that, bv reason of delays and some mishaps at sea, he did not 
reach the North Carolina colony until 1683. He entered upon 
his governorship, and alllicted the imhappy people for nearly six 
years. 

We need onlv give the words of an accepted historian for his 
career and character. Moore says: " It would have been better 
for the colon\ il" he had never come. By common consent he is 
remembered as the most beastly and detestable man ever per- 
mitted to rule in America. He broke up all trade between the 
colonists and the Indians, that he might monopolize the profits. 
He seized and confiscated, without the shadow of cause, merchant 
ships and ihoir cargoes. He imprisoned Thomas Pollock for at- 
tempting to appeal against his rapacity ; and George Durant, 
having expressed disapprobation of his course, received like 
treatment and further injury. He stole negroes, cattle, planta- 
tions ; and even ]-)e\\ ter dishes were not exempt from his filthy 
and rapacious hands. All his sympathies Avere ^vith villains like 
himself, and no man could be prosecuted to punishment who had 
money to bribe the governor. For five years was this monster 
endured, when in 1688 the people seized his person with the pur- 
pose of sending him to England for trial. He added cowardice 
to his other enormities, and, fearing judgment if he were tried in 
W^estminster, he begged that the General Assembly would take 
jurisdiction and punish him as he deserved. He was found guilty 
of all the charges, and compelled to leave the country for twelve 
months and the office of governor for all time." 

In 16S9, Philip Ludwell, of \"irginia, was appointed (jovernor 
of Albemarle. He ruled four years, and was succeeded by ISIajor 
Eillington, who governed wisely, and founded a family long re- 
verenced in the colony and State. During his term, in April, 
1693, the cumbrous and unsuccessful plan of the " Grand Model'' 

1 Eg-gleston's Ilousehold U. S., 5(5, 57. 

-Moore's Hist, of N. C, I. 26. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 103. 



lyo A History of the United States oj^ America. 

was abrogated, and finally laid aside. The people were relieved, 
and prosperity began to return. This experiment and the disor- 
ders attending its trial had undoubtedly wrought evil to the col- 
ony and prevented the inflow of settlers. 

Thomas Harvey, John Archdale and Henderson Walker gov- 
erned successively to 1704. The population of Albemarle had 
now reached nearly six thousand. Robert Daniel succeeded 
Walker. Under him there was disturbance arising from an at- 
tempt by act of assembly to establish the Church of England in the 
colony. The great body of the people steadily resisted this move- 
ment ; and upon appeal to the English House of Lords the act of 
assembly was decided to be null and void.^ John Archdale was 
a Quaker, and the influence of this society in the counsels of the 
colony was felt for her good. 

Subsecjuent governors were Thomas Carey, John Porter, and 
Edward Plyde, who was a relative of the reigning queen. Im- 
migration became active. In 1707 a large company of French 
Protestants settled on the river Trent. In 17 10 came a consid- 
erable number of persecuted German Lutherans.^ Soon a tide of 
Scottish, French, German and North Ireland people began to 
pour into the desirable parts of North Carolina. But with in- 
crease of population came the almost inevitable evil of an Indian 
war. 

Meanwhile the lower colony, which was afterwards South 
Carolina, was yearly. advancing in numbers and prosperity. 

The first permanent settlement was near Port Royal, in 1670, 
by a few emigrants from England under William Sayle, the first 
governor of the province.^ These emigrants had purchased from 
the Clarendon pi'oprietors. 

In 1 67 1, Governor Sayle left Port Royal and selected a site 
for a city on the Ashley river ; but finding that it could not be 
approached by vessels of large burden and deep draught, he 
again i"emoved his colonists to Oyster Point, at the junction of 
Ashley and Cooper rivers. Here, in 1680, were laid the founda- 
tions of the famed city of Charleston. In one year thirty houses 
w^ere completed. 

William Sayle died within a few months after this removal, 
and was succeeded in 167 1 by Sir John Yeamans, w^hose name 
has already become known to us in the history of the northern 
Carolina. He had not been entirely satisfied with his lands on 
Cape Fear river ; and when approached by the proprietors with 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 104. " Swinton's Cond. U. S., 76, 77. 

3 Ramsay's Hist. S. C, in Stephens, 118. 



The Carol inas and yohn Locke. 171 

an offer to appoint him governor of tlie southern colony he 
promptly accepted it. He carried with him nearly all of the fol- 
lowers who had come with him from Barbadoes to Clarendon/ 

He carried also at least two hundred slaves. They were the 
first imported into South Carolina. But in subsequent years the 
character of her soil, the heat of her seasons, and the cultivation 
of rice, indigo and cotton caused the labor of African slaves 
to be very profitable within her bounds. Consequently they 
increased so fast that they became far more numerous than 
the white population. In 1734, the negroes outnumbered the 
whites as five to one." And although this proportion was not 
maintained up to the time of the Revolutionary war, when the 
total population of the State was about one hundred and eighty 
thousand, yet, from the year 1830 onward, the slaves greatly out- 
numbei-ed the whites, and in 1S50 had reached the proportion of 
three hundred and ninety-five thousand to two hundred and sev- 
enty-five thousand.^ 

This ominous fact, uniting with interests almost exclusively 
agricultural, and with a large class of the whites privileged, by 
wealth, culture and leisure, to speculate upon problems of society 
and government, afterwards gave to South Carolina a leadership 
in thought and action productive of results grave and momentous 
beyond expression. 

During the administration of Governor Yeamans the Spaniards 
of Florida, finding Protestant populations coming nearer and 
increasing all the time, began to give serious trouble by send- 
ing emissaries to Charleston and stirring up the people, white 
and black, to revolt. But their schemes finally recoiled upon 
them. 

In 1673, large numbers of Dutch people from New York came 
southward in search of more congenial homes. Most of them 
settled in South Carolina.* 

Disputes arose between the English proprietaries and Sir John 
Yeamans because the profits from the colony were not considered 
proportionate to the heavy expenses incurred. The governor, 
being free from any ground of censure, and independent in mind 
and fortune, resigned his office, and returned to Barbadoes, vs^here 
he soon afterwards died. Joseph West succeeded him in 1674, 
and governed the colony for eight years. 

Then came a season of four years prolific of governors ; for no 
less than five — viz., Joseph Morton, Joseph West again, Richard 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 119. sSwinton's Cond. U. S., 80. 

3 Art. So. Car., New Amcr. Encyclop., IV. 1G3. 

< Swinton's Cond. U. S., 78. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 119. 



173 A History of the United States of America. 

Kyrle, Robert Quarry, and James Colleton — were in the office 
from 1682 to 1686/ 

These tAvelve years were embittered by almost ceaseless con- 
tests. The proprietors were still pressing Locke's " Grand Model " 
on the people, and the people were strenuously resisting. A 
small class, indulging aristocratic pretensions, favored the pro- 
prietary scheme, which embraced the establishment of the An- 
glican church with parishes, inductions, tithes and ritual forms, 
and embraced also the collection of rents from the " leet-men," 
who were to be forever without votes or political franchises. A 
vast majority of the people opposed all these things. A governor 
who sought to uphold the proprietor's policy was sure to meet 
so much of popular outcry, and even insult, that he speedily 
resigned. 

In 16S6 came a tide of immigration which ought to have been 
welcomed with the deepest sympathy and favor ; but it was not 
to be so. This immigration was that of thousands of Hugue7iots 
from France, driven away from their native homes bv the revoca- 
tion of the edict of Nantes. That wise edict had been granted in 
1598 by the chivalrous King Henri Quatre, to secure liberty of 
conscience and regulated worship to his Protestant subjects. But 
Louis XIV., in 1685, under the influence of his bigoted and licen- 
tious concubines, revoked this edict. The disastrous results are 
affecting France to this day. The previous dragonjiades and the 
revocation operated to cause not less than three hundred and fifty 
thousand of the people of France, of the most virtuous, enterpris- 
ing and industrious classes, skilled in agriculture and manufac- 
tures, to quit her soil and seek refuge in foreign countries.^ 

Some of these came to the northern colonies of America, some 
to Virginia, some to North Carolina ; but the greater number 
came to South Carolina, inoved, perhaps, by memories of Coligny 
and Ribault. Coming as refugees from religious persecution and 
with high credentials as to morality and industry, they ought to 
have been warmly welcomed. 

The proprietaries looked on them with favor ; but this fact did 
not help them with the common English settlers. These were of 
that sturdy and obstinate race who had been born and trained 
under traditions causing them to hate France and everything 
French. They knew but little of the Huguenot history. They 
looked on these immigrants with dislike, and sought to shut them 
out from the rights and franchises enjoyed by themselves.^ 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 120. 

2 Art. Huguenots, Srhafi'-Herzog Encyclop., II. 1034. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 120-122. Horace E. Scudder's U. S., 126. 



The Cai'oliuas and yohn Locke. ly-^ 

Another form of trouble beset the Huguenots. The John Locke 
" model " gave the men no rights in their lands except for their own 
lives, and subject to a tenure humiliating and oppressive. They 
naturally feared that their children v^^ould be left landless and 
destitute amid imfriendly surroundings.' It was not until 1696 
after earnest exertions in their behalf by the eminent Quaker 
John Archdale (who had been transferred as governor to South 
Carolina from the Albemarle colony by the proprietors), that the 
prejudices against the Huguenots were removed, and law^s were 
passed giving them full equality with other citizens. From them 
descended some of the noblest and brightest names that have 
adorned the annals of South Carolina. 

Governor Colleton tried to collect quit-rents for the proprieta- 
ries, but he was met with opposition so stern and demonstrative 
that he was driven, in an hour of desperation, to proclaim martial 
law and call out the militia. The General Assembly met, and, 
nothing daunted, passed a resolution that the governor's act was 
a usurpation of power and an encroachment on their liberties. 
The governor sought in vain to awe them. In 1690 they passed 
a bill impeaching Colleton, declaring him disqualified for holding 
any ofhce, and giving him notice to leave the colony." 

And now, out of these turbid and troubled waters, rose a bad 
man, only too well known already in the northern colony. Seth 
Sothel appeared in Charleston, and, by the pretence that he held 
by assignment the rights of a proprietary, stepped into the gov- 
ernorship. He ruled, for a time, with a high hand ; seized lawful 
traders from Bermuda and Barbadoes as pirates, and imprisoned 
them until he had exacted as much money as he could as their 
ransom, took bribes from felons and traitors, and compelled 
honest planters to pay large simis for permission to retain their 
property.^ 

The people discovered him to be a fraud, and rose upon him 
to send him to England for trial. He begged to be tried by 
the colonial assembly, and was tried and convicted on thirteen 
charges. A peremptory order, November 8th, 1691, suspended 
him from all power in Carolina. He slunk back to the Albe- 
marle region, and never came to the public eye again. He died 
in 1694.* 

Philip Ludwell, from Virginia, was governor of both North 
and South Carolina for some time after 1693. In 1693 he pro- 
posed a new form of deed, which the proprietaries considered an 

1 Stephens, 122. D. B. Scott's U. S., 115. 

2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 120, 121. 3 Ibid., 121. 
* Bryant's U. S., II. 367. Stephens, 121. 



1^4 ^ Historv of the United States of America. 

encroachment on their rights of tenure ; and so they removed 
him. 

In 1702, while James Moore was governor, war broke out be- 
tween Enghmd and Spain. The Spaniards in Florida were so near 
and so hostile that Governor Moore determined to attack them. 
He sailed from Charleston with a small fleet, carrying twelve 
hundred armed colonists and friendly Indians. He laid seige to 
the fort at St. Augustine, but failed to take it. The expedition 
was expensive and unsuccessful.^ 

But Governor Moore speedily recovered his reputation as a 
prompt warrior. The Appalachee Indians had become trouble- 
some and actively hostile. Moore invaded their country in 170S 
with a small army, defeated them in several encounters, killed 
numbers, burned their towns and villages, and compelled them to 
sue for peace, and to submit to the English authority. The pro- 
prietors thanked and the people applavided the vigorous governor.^ 

In 1706 a fleet of French and Spanish armed vessels appeared 
before Charleston and made an attack ; but they were easily re- 
pulsed, and retired. Both of the Carolina colonies had now be- 
come so flourishing and so full of people that Indian jealousy 
reached a crisis. 

In 171 1, the Tuscarora and Coree Indians formed a conspiracy 
to destroy the whites. Sixteen hundred warriors entered into the 
plot, which, as was the usage of North American savages, was 
one of profound treachery, secrecy and malignity. Small parties 
were sent out, who, by different roads, entered the white settle- 
ments as friends. The massacre was to begin everywhere the 
same night. On that night the savages entered the houses of 
planters, and asked for provisions. Then, pretending to be dis- 
satisfied \vith the food, they began the w^ork of murder. Men, 
women and children were slain without discrimination and with- 
out mercy. The savages rushed from house to house and slaugh- 
tered the scattered families. In one night one hundred and thirty- 
seven settlers were murdered in and near Roanoke. Bai'on Chris- 
topher De Graflenreid, a Swiss nobleman, was seized at his settle- 
ment on Trent river, together with Lawson, surveyor-general of 
the colony, and a negro assistant. Lawson and the negro were 
put to death -with cruel tortures ; but De Graflenreid escaped and 
was released. He ingeniously made the Indians believe that he 
was king of the Swiss, and that his people should occupy no 
larids without the consent of the Indians.'^ 

1 Scott's U. S., 115, 116. Derrv's U. S.. 56. 

2 Berry's U. S., 56. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 123. 

3 Moore's Hist, of N. C, I. 33, 36. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 105, 307. 



The Carolinas and yohn Locke. \hi 

The condition of the Albemarle colony was deplorable. Their 
counsels were distracted by internal disorders and dissensions, and 
an Indian war, commencing ^vith an appalling massacre, was on 
them. But Governor Hyde realized the danger, and sought to 
meet it by the best means in his power. He appealed to Virginia 
and South Carolina. From Virginia he got no important aid ; 
but Governor Moore sent prompt and decisive help. 

Col. John Barnwell came from South Carolina with a regiment 
of militia and several hundred friendly Yemassee Indians. Hyde 
raised all the forces he could in North Carolina, and sent them to 
meet Barnwell when he emerged from the forests through which 
his long march had been made. 

On the 2Sth January, 1713, a stern battle was fought. The In- 
dians, under their chief, Handcock, had erected strong fortifica- 
tions on the river Neuse ; but on the approach of Barnwell's 
forces they came out and gave battle in the open field. 

A conflict, desperate and bloody, hand to hand, with sword and 
tomahawk, scalping-knife and clubbed musket, ensued. The sav- 
ages were defeated and fled to their works, leaving three hundred 
dead on the field, and one hundred prisoners in the hands of the 
whites. Handcock capitulated, and sin-rendered his fort, promis- 
ing peace ; but in a short time the treacherous murders were re- 
newed.^ 

To add to the distress of the Albemarle colony, yellow fever 
made its appearance. Many died, among whom w^as the gover- 
nor himself, who died September 8th, 17 12. He was succeeded 
by Thomas Pollock, a man of ability and firmness, but unpopular 
by reason of his high church notions and his strict enforcement of 
the navigation laws.^ But the danger was too imminent for delay. 

Again South Carolina came to the help of her sister colony. 
Col. James Moore, with fifty brave whites and a thousand friendly 
Indians, joined the Albemarle troops and advanced to attack 
Handcock, who, with his Indian warriors, held a fort called 
Nahuc, in the county of Greene. 

Colonel Moore stormed the fort at the head of his troops, and 
inflicted on the savages so heavy a loss that in a few days they 
surrendered, eight hundred sti^ong, as prisoners. The Tuscarora 
and Coree spirit was broken. Hopeless of success, they took up 
their march for the north, and rejoined their ancient kinsmen, the 
Iroquois of New York. Thus the Five Nations became the Six 
Nations.^ 

1 Stephens, 107. 2 lud., 107, lOS. 

3 Berry's U. S., 57. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 108. 



1^6 A History of the United States of America. 

In 17 15, South Carolina \vas again involved in a formidable 
Indian war. It was with the Yemassee tribes, who were very 
strong and warlike, and occupied fastnesses in the southwestern 
border of the colony on the Savannah river. 

The immediate cause of ill blood was supposed to be some 
offence given and taken in reference to the Yemassees who, as 
friendly forces, took part with Colonel Barnwell in the defeat of 
the Tuscaroras in January, 1713.^ 

Whatever the cause, the savages were the aggressors, and, as 
usual, with treachery and massacre. On the morning of April 
15, 1 7 15, they attacked Pocotaligo, and murdered one hundred 
whites without warning. 

The war commenced and was fiercely waged on both sides. 
Charles Craven was acting governor, and promptly ordered out 
all white men able to bear arms, and even enrolled some of the 
most faithful of the slaves. 

Colonel ]Mackey, with two hundred and forty-two men came 
up with the Yemassees, five hundred strong, sixteen miles from 
the Combahee river. After a sharp fight, in which the great su- 
periority of the white soldier was manifest, the Indians were 
routed with heavy loss, while Mackey lost only one killed and a 
few wounded. 

But the war continued. The country people fled in towards 
Charlestoti. On one plantation seventy whites and forty negroes 
had thi'own up a breastwork, and for some time defended them- 
selves against several hundred savages ; but, becoming discour- 
aged, they listened to lying proposals of peace, and were taken 
by surprise and nearly all slain." But retribution was at hand. 
Captain Chicken, with a well-armed and brave band of the Goose 
Creek inilitia, encountered the savages, and gave them a defeat so 
disastrous and bloody that they wholly retired, and the northern 
part of the province was made secure. The gallant captain 
maintained his right to take the name of the " game cock '' long 
before it v/as given by Colonel Tarleton to Sumter in the Revo- 
lution.'^ 

But the Yeniassees were still very strong in the southwest. 
Their force was estimated at nine thousand warriors, vvhile the 
muster-roll of South Carolina did not exceed twelve hundi'ed men. 
Yet Governor Craven determined to meet the enemy. His mes- 
sage to the assembly was urgent. He said : " Expedition is the 
life of action ; bring the women and children into our town, and 

1 Steplieofi' Comp. U. S., 123. 2 Derrv's U. S., 65. Stephens, 124, 125. 

3 ]>erry's U. S., 65. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 125. 



The Carolinas a?id yohn Locke. lyy 

all provisions from all exposed plantations. Virginia and New 
England must be solicited for aid." ' 

Arms were obtained from New England. \'irgin'ia sent a hun- 
dred gallant soldiers, thus proving that her previous failure to re- 
spond to appeals for aid was unavoidable. North Carolina sent 
a regiment from Cape Fear, under Col. IMaurice Moore. 

The war was pushed so vigorously that the Yemassees were 
defeated and speedily driven beyond the Savannah. They took 
refuge in Florida, and continued in small parties to infest the 
English colonies ; but there was no longer serious risk of danger. 
In ly i6 the war was considered to be ended. 

And nearly at the same time the proprietary government ex- 
pired by failure of all vital power. Robert Johnson, son of Sir Na- 
thaniel Johnson, was appointed governor in 1717, and was the 
last governor under the proprietors. General Francis Nicholson 
was sent to South Carolina as a sort of peace-maker, and was 
kindly received. But the end had come. The proprietors gave 
up the contest. In 1729, the English Parliament declared the 
charter to be forfeited. Except Carteret, the lords proprietary 
sold out their rights and claims under their patent to the English 
crown, then held by George II. The sum paid was about forty- 
five thousand Spanish milled dollars for North Carolina and the 
same for South Carolina." Henceforth they were separate colo- 
nies, under the control of king, lords and commons, but with 
their vested rights preserved. 

In 1694, the captain of a ship from Madagascar gave to John 
Archdale, the Governor of South Carolina, a bag of rice seed. 
He had seen it growing in oriental lands and thought it would 
make excellent food. The governor divided his little supply 
among his friends. They planted it in the moist lands near the 
coast, and a fine crop was the result. From that time rice has been 
a prime staple of South Carolina.^ 

King Charles desired to introduce the culture of grapes, al- 
monds, olives and the silk-worm in South Carolina, and sent 
over fifty families for the purpose. This well-meant eflort had 
not full success, but it added desirable elements to the popula- 
tion.* 

Cotton had been cultivated in and near Jamestown, Virginia, 
in 163 1, but it was found that the soil and seasons of the more 
southern colonies suited it better. It was not, however, until the 
invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 that this pro- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S. 125. 2 lud., 12C. 

s Swinton's Cond. U. S., 78. ■• Quackenbos' U. S., 120. 



iy8 A History of the United States of America. 

duct started on that career in the Southern States of America 
which led to the dehision expressed in the formula : " Cotton is 
king." 

North and South Carolina both continued to prosper. The in- 
terior of the northern colony was found to be more fertile and 
attractive than the coast. In the period just before the war of 
the Revolution, North Carolina had a population of two hundred 
and sixty thousand and South Carolina of one hundred and eighty 
thousand. Few colonies had grown faster than these. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Georgia and General Oglethorpe. 

WE come now to the last in time and the most southern in 
place of the primitive thirteen colonies, which afterwards 
became the " United States of America," and each one of which 
w'as acknowledged to be a sovereign and independent State by the 
treaty of peace which terminated the Revolutionary war. 

Pennsylvania was settled seventy-four years after Jamestown, 
in Virginia, was begun, and fifty-one years passed between the 
settlement of Pennsylvania and that of Georgia. Thus it ap- 
pears that the actual period covered by the settlements of the 
thirteen original colonies was not less than one hundred and 
twenty-five years. Yet the last colony had the advantage of a 
century and a quarter of growth in Europe in ideas, civilization 
and religion. Her relative growth for the forty-three years from 
her birth to the Revolution was greater than that of any other of 
the " thirteen.'' ^ 

The moral purposes underlving the colonization of Georgia 
were higher than those on which any other colony was founded. 
Her historian, with a love not inexcusable, has said of her: "It 
was the first colony ever founded by charity. New England had 
been settled by Puritans, who fled thither for conscience sake ; 
New York by a company of merchants and adventurers in search 
of gain ; ^Maryland by Papists retiring from Protestant intoler- 
ance ; Virginia by ambitious cavaliers ; Carolina by the scheming 
and visionary Shaftesbury and others for private aims and indi- 
vidual aggrandizement ; but Georgia was planted by the hand of 
benevolence, and reared into being by the adventurous nurturings 
of a disinterested charitv.' 

To this it is only fair to add that Pennsylvania is pretermitted 
by Bishop Stevens. And as she was the next to the last, so was 
she next to the highest in the motives of her origin. But even 
William Penn fell below the broad, philanthropic and thoroughly 
Christian purposes of the founder of Georgia — General James 
Edward Oglethorpe. 

1 Egglesloii's Uousehold U. S., C3. A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 16G-169. 

2 Bisliop Stevens' Hist, of Georgia, I. C8. 

[ 179 ] 



l8o A History of the United States of America. 

He was born December 21, 1688, at Westbrooke Place, near 
London, the country-seat of his father. Sir Theophikxs Oglethorpe. 
After his education at Oxford University he became, at the age 
of twenty-two, an ensign in the British army. He was a fine 
soldier and apt for command. At the age of twenty-six he was 
adjutant-general of the queen's forces. As aide to Prince Eu- 
gene he won high distinction in the campaigns against the Turks, 
and received the plaudits of his commander-in-chief. When 
peace returned in 17 18, he was elected a member of the English 
House of Commons for Hasle-mere ; and such was the confidence 
felt in him that he was continuously returned for thirty-two years. ^ 

He possessed, in strange equilibrium, the highest virtues both of 
the masculine and feminine character. " He was just and gen- 
erous ; and, while slow to forgive an injury, he never forsook a 
friend or forgot a favor. His charities and private benefactions 
were circumscribed only by a prudent regard for his means. 
Honor was his polar star, and he dreaded a stain more than a 
wound. No temptation, no lust of power, place, favor or for- 
tune, could allure him from what he deemed to be the path of 
duty and of rectitude." ^ 

The lavish grant of Charles H. to the Earl of Clarendon and 
others was wide enough to include what is now the State of 
Georgia. But the country below the neighborhood of Beaufort 
and to the Spanish province of Florida had not been occupied by 
permanent settlers. And so, after the purchase of the proprieta- 
ries' rights, the English crown was at liberty to carve out a new 
colony. 

On the 9th of June, 1733, King George W. issued to General 
James Oglethorpe, Lord Percival, and twenty other noblemen 
and gentlemen of England a royal patent, constituting them trus- 
tees, with powers of law-making and government, and conveying 
to them the territory " from the head- waters of the Savannah 
river to its mouth, thence along the coast to the Altamaha, and 
up that river to its head-waters, and thence westerly in direct 
lines from the head- waters of said rivers, respectively, to the 
south seas." ^ A part of this region lying between the Savannah 
and Altamaha had been conveyed in 17 17 by the South Carolina 
proprietaries to Sir Robert Montgomery, under the title of the 
" Margravate of Azilia," and with intent to keep alive something 
of the " Grand Model." But as no settlements had been made in 
it, and as the patent of the proprietaries had been annulled in 
1739, it was included in the king's grant of 1733. 

1 A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 151. - Ibid., 151. s jud., 152. 



Georgia and General Oglethorpe. i8i 

To the territory thus granted the name of " Georgia " was 
given in honor of the king. The trustees adopted a common 
seal bearing the device of a group of silk-worms at their patient 
toils, and having the motto, Nan sibi sed aliis — " not for them- 
selves, but for others." Thus Oglethorpe's character and policy 
were impressed as a seal on his undertaking.' 

He desired to provide a place for comfortable homes for the 
poorer people of Great Britain who might wish to improve their 
condition, and to open an asylum on a large scale for imprisoned 
debtors, on whom the laws of England bore harshly, as he knew^ 
from his experience in Parliament, and to open a land of refuge 
for the persecuted and oppressed of all nations, and especially of 
Europe, where the wars of more than thirty years had left the 
people of the Palatinate in Germany destitute and wretched, and 
where the humble and pious people of the broad valley of Salza, 
between the Noric and Rhetian Alps, had been persecuted with 
whippings, burnings, murders and confiscations by the inhuman 
Duke Leopold of Austria from 1729 to 1733. These Salzburghers 
were descendants from the primitive Vallenses, or Waldenses, of 
the Piedmont valleys, and their only crime was their unconquer- 
able adherence to the doctrines, forms and life of a purely scrip- 
tvu'al Christianity." 

In November, 1732, Oglethorpe sailed from Gravesend in the 
ship Anne., with about one hundred and thirty emigrants. They 
landed, in January, 1733, first at Charleston, where they were cor- 
dially received by the governor and his people. 

At the head of his emigrants, one hundred and sixteen in num- 
ber, and attended by a body of South Carolina troops sent by the 
governor to protect them while they were building, Oglethorpe 
went from Charleston to Beaufort, where he permitted some rest 
and recreation.^ 

With a small party, Oglethorpe ascended the vSavannah river, 
and chose for the site of his settlement the blufl' on which the 
city of Savannah now stands. Half a mile off were the Yama- 
craws, a branch of the Muskogee tribe of Indians. Tomochichi 
was the chief. Pie promptly accepted the overtures of cordial 
amity and alliance tendered by Oglethorpe. Mary ]SIusgrove, the 
half-breed wife of an Indian trader, acted as interpreter. She has 
been called the " Pocahontas of the Georgia colony," but she fell 
far below the Indian princess both in lineage and in friendship 
for the whites. 

' Eggleston's Household U. S., 65. Stephens' Oomp. U. S., 152. 

- Art. Salzburg, Sehaff-Herzog Eneyclop., IV. 2100, 2101. Stephens, 153. 

5 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 152. Derry's U. 8., 67. 



i82 A History of the United States of America. 

The Yamacraw chief presented to Oglethorpe a buffalo robe 
painted on the inside, with the head and feathers of an eagle, 
saying : " The feathers are soft and signify love ; the buffalo skin 
is warm and means protection. Therefore, love and protect our 
little families/' ' 

Oglethorpe laid out the town of Savannah in streets and squares 
on the plan which still exists, and commenced building. 

His faine as a just and humane leader soon peneti-ated the wil- 
derness, and enabled him to make advantageous treaties with the 
lower Muskogees, the Creeks, the Cherokees and the Choctaws, 
on the borders of the Gulf of Mexico. He bought from the na- 
tives at fair prices the lands he needed for his settlements. The 
red men all had great confidence in him, and respected him as a 
second William Penn. 

But the classes of colonists he first brought to Georgia were 
not adapted to success. Broken-down tradesmen and insolvents, 
and people who had become poor because they had not firmness 
and energy enough to struggle with adverse fortunes in the old 
country, were not changed in character by coming to the New 
World. The progress of the colony was at first very slow. 

To this the policy of the trustees is supposed to have contri- 
buted as much as the indiflerent character of the settlers. The 
laws originally promulgated as to the acquisition of lands were 
somewhat narrow. All lands bought or held by the settlers re- 
verted to the grantors if the purchasers died without issue.^ This 
cut the sinews of exertion, for it took av\^ay the healthy stimulus 
of blood relation. The law ^vas changed, and imniediately im- 
provement began. 

Another law foi'bade indiscriminate trade with the natives. 
Such trade had, it is true, in the more northern colonies, led to great 
abuses ; but to forbid it, or even fetter it, discouraged many 
forms of legitimate barter and merchandise. Other laws forbade 
any importation of slaves and any importation or manufacture of 
rum. 

The colonists complained of these last two laws, because they 
deemed slave labor indispensable to the cultivation of rice, cotton 
and indigo in their warm climate, and because the inhibition as 
to rum cut them off from trade with the West India islands.^ 

These complaints finally prevailed, and the restraints were re- 
moved ; and Georgia grew in population and material wealth. 
But it would be of doubtful verity to say that she has been really 

iDerry's U. S., («. Quackenbos' U. S., 140. ^Goodricli's Pict. U. S., 137. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., lol-15C. 



Georgia and General Oglethorpe. 183 

benefited by the withdrawal of these restrictions. The question is 
too complicated in morals and facts to admit of a definite solution. 

Among the settlers who came early to Georgia were fifty fam- 
ilies of the persecuted Salzburghers, who, by invitation of the 
trustees, came over in 1734. Baron Von Reck was their leader, 
with forty -one men, the rest women and children, making a total 
of about eighty souls. General Oglethorpe went down to meet 
them, and invited them to make their own selection of a place of 
residence. They chose a tract of land thirty miles from the sea, 
on " the banks of a river of clear water, the sides high, the coun- 
try of the neighborhood hilly, the valleys of rich cane land, 
intermixed wnth little brooks and springs of water." ^ 

Here they settled, naming their home Ebenezer — " the stone of 
help." And here they grew into a peaceful and prosperous colony, 
chiefly under the leadership of their spiritual guides, Grenau and 
Rev. John Martin Bolsius. 

Other settlers came. Six hundred arrived in various bands — 
generally unused to labor and very helpless and complaining.^ 
In 1734 Oglethorpe went to England and returned, bringing, at 
the expense of the trustees, some two hundred and twenty set- 
tlers. A body of sturdy Scotch Highlanders also came. All 
these immigrants enabled the governor to expand his settlements, 
and to form them around the region at the mouth of the Alta- 
maha and St. Mary's rivers, and at Darien, Frederica and Au- 
gusta.* 

When Oglethorpe returned to Georgia from England, in Feb- 
ruary, 1736, two men accompanied him, afterwards eminent in 
the religious history of the world. They were the brothers John 
and Charles Wesley. They came to preach the gospel to the na- 
tives, and to aid in the moral and religious improvement of the 
colony. They soon met the Lutheran settlement of Salzburghers 
on Ebenezer.; and to the impressions made on his heart and con- 
science by their unobtrusive piety, and their patience under 
previous persecution and sorrow, John Wesley ever thereafter 
attributed his own true conversion to God. Two years after- 
wards, on his return to England, he thus wrote in his journal : 
" It is now two years and nearly four months since I went to 
America to teach the Georgia Indians the nature of Christianity ; 
but what have I learned of myself in the meantime? Why, 
(what of all I least expected) that I, who went to America to con- 
vert others, was never myself, before that time, converted to God." * 

1 A. H. Stephens' U. S.. 153. 154. ^D. B. Scott's U. S., 117. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 154. * Wesley's Journal, in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 156 



184 A History of the United States of America. 

In a few years after their first settlement the products of the 
Salzburghers in raw silk alone brought a return of fifty thousand 
dollars a year. Indigo also became profitable. Orphan schools 
were established immediately after their arrival. All contributed 
to benevolent purposes, and the settlement grew steadily in pros- 
perity.^ 

In 1738, George Whitefield, the most eloquent and eft'ective 
preacher of his day, came to Georgia. He visited Ebenezer, and 
was so deeply impressed by the orphan school that he determined, 
if practicable, to establish others in the colony. He obtained 
funds, by private contributions and otherwise in England, and 
founded an orphanage near Savannah, which, with some modifi- 
cations in its powers and management, still exists.^ Nor can 
there be a doubt that his zeal and success in this form of Christian 
effort have been the moving power of many similar enterprises 
in North America, by which millions of helpless orphans have 
been maintained. 

The Wesleys and Bolsius remained steady in their opposition 
to the introduction of slaves into the colony. But George White- 
field, although he agreed with them when he first came over, 
changed his views, on the ground of his conviction that God had 
some wise end to accomplish in reference to African slavery, and 
that he believed it would terminate to the advantage of the Afri- 
cans.^ For this the pious Bolsius rebuked him sharply, doubtless 
by the true Protestant principle that neither a state nor an indi- 
vidual has a right " to do evil that good may come." The inspired 
apostle has settled that question in the negative by a teaching 
from heaven.* 

- Nevertheless, the side espoused by Whitefield prevailed, and 
the material results of the introduction of the labor of African 
slaves were too plainly enriching to permit the Georgians to rise 
above the moral level of all their sister colonies. 

But, while they grew and prospered, a dark cloud was rising 
south of them. The Spaniards of Florida regarded the settle- 
ments of the Carolinas and of Georgia as unlawful occupations of 
territory belonging to them. They manifested active opposition 
in many forms. 

They sought to stir up dissensions and revolt among the colo- 
nists themselves ; they sent emissaries for the purpose ; they 
sought to excite the Indians to make murderous attacks upon 
the whites ; they enticed away slaves from their owners in 
Georgia, harbored them when they fled to Florida, refused to re- 
• 1 Stephens, 156. 2 n^ia., 157. 3 jjyia., 157. * Romans iii. 8. 



Georgia and General Oglethorpe. 185 

deliver them, and encouraged them by giving them lands in the 
Spanish province/ 

These repeated provocations could have only one tendency — 
viz., to open \var. Oglethorpe saw that war was inevitable, and 
prepared for it. lie was a soldier, and marked with a soldier's 
eye the causes which were sure to bring on a war between Eng- 
land and vSpain. In 1737 he went over to England and raised, 
equipped and disciplined a regiment of six himdrcd men, with 
which he returned to Georgia. He was appointed commander- 
in-chief of all the military forces of Georgia and South Carolina, 
and thenceforth always bore the title of general. 

But before the war was actually declared. General Oglethorpe, 
with far-reaching prudence and courage, undertook and accom- 
plished a semi-peaceful — semi-military journey among all the 
various tribes of Indians in the wilderness of the vast territory 
lying west and south of the present limits of Georgia. He was 
perfectly successful in establishing treaties and relations of peace 
with the Creeks, the Muskogees, the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, 
the Tallapoosas, and other tribes, whose chiefs met him in council 
and smoked with him the calumet of peace.'' 

The difficulty, danger and importance of this iourney, and its 
results, can hardly be overestimated. 

In 17391 "war was declared by England against Spain. Orders 
came to Oglethorpe to invade Florida, and, if practicable, to 
capture St. Augustine. lie received troops from South Caro- 
lina, and, in 1740, at the head of a force of two thousand 
men, embracing some friendly Indians, he invested St. Augus- 
tine. But after a few weeks of close blockade, some Spanish 
galleys succeeded in running the gauntlet and carrying fresh 
supplies to the beleaguered garrison. The besieging army be- 
came enfeebled by disease. General Oglethorpe was compelled 
very reluctantly to raise the siege and return with his forces 
to Savannah.^ 

In 1743, this attack was retaliated by a very formidable land 
and naval force of fifty-six vessels and about seven thousand 
troops, under the Spanish General Don Manuel De Montiano. 
Instead of sailing directly to Savannah, Tvlontiano proceeded to 
the mouth of the Altamaha. Here General Oglethorpe had only 
about eight hundred men on Cumberland Island. He promptly 
abandoned that point and concentrated his forces at St. Simons, 
on which was the town of Frederica. 

1 Derry's U. S., 69. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 157. 

-Georgia Hist. Collec, I. 263. Mr. SpaHing's narrative, Stephens' Comp. U. S., 158, 159. 

5 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 15<). IX B. Scott's U. S., 117. 



1 86 A History of the United States of America. 

On the 22d of June, 1742, the Spanish forces appeared off St. 
Simons. Oglethorpe hastened from Frederica to meet them. 
The disparity of strength was great, and the peril proportionate. 
But his spirit rose with the danger. He wrote to the home 
government : " We are resolved not to suffer defeat ; we will 
rather die like Leonidas and his Spartans, if we can but pro- 
tect Georgia and Carolina and the rest of the Americans from 
desolation." ' 

After a brave resistance, in which the Spaniards lost a number 
in killed and wounded, and the colonials not a man, the fleet suc- 
ceeded in passing up the river. Oglethorpe fell back to Frederica, 
but met the foe near the place and defeated a part of his forces 
by a fierce attack of the Highlanders under Sutherland and 
Mackay. The Spanish leader, Barba, fell mortally wounded and 
w^as captured. 

The enemy retreated to their camp near Fort Simon. Learning 
of dissensions among their commanders, Oglethorpe determined 
to surprise them by a night attack. On the night of the 12th 
July, he moved forward with five bundled men, and was recon- 
noitering their position with a small party, when a French soldier 
in his party treacherously fired his musket and ran into the lines 
of the enemy. 

General Oglethorpe's position was now critical, for he knew 
that the deserter would make known his weakness. He devised 
a stratagem, and it was attended with singular success. 

Returning to Frederica, he wrote a letter to the deserter, ask- 
ing him to urge the Spaniards to an immediate attack, but if he 
could not bring on such attack, then to persuade them to remain 
where they were three days longer, as within that time he expected 
six British war ships and two thousand troops from Carolina. 
He intrusted this letter to a Spanish prisoner, who was released 
on his promise to deliver it to the deserter. But instead of this, 
he delivered it to the Spanish commander-in-chief, as Oglethorpe 
fully expected that he would do. This letter greatly perplexed 
Montiano : he caused the deserter to be seized and put in irons, 
and while he was deliberating what further course to pursue, three 
ships with troops on board, sent by the Governor of South Caro- 
lina, did actually appear off the harbor. In a season of conster- 
nation, the Spaniards burned their fort and fled with precipitation, 
leaving their cannon and militarv stores. This bold and successful 
stratagem saved Georgia and the Carolinas, and added much to 
the military fame of Oglethorpe.^ 

iStephens'Comp. U. S.,160, 2/bW., 160, 161. Berry's U. S, 76, 



Georgia and General Ogletliorpc. 187 

His memory has been reflected on by a modern historian as 
soiled by this incident.' But it was a justifiable stratagem of 
war. It involved no falsehood, but presented a series of facts 
from which the enemy drew a false inference. 

Complaints were publicly made against General Oglethorpe 
in reference to his military conduct of the siege of St. Augustine. 
In 1743 he returned to England, and after the fullest inquiry 
was honorably acquitted of all ground of censure in that matter. 
He never returned to Georgia, but continued to manifest the 
warmest interest in her progress, as well as in all of the North 
American colonies.^ 

In 1744 he was united in marriage to the only daughter of Sir 
Nathan Wright, of Cranham Hall, Essex county. Her father 
had been lord chancellor under William III. and Qiieen Anne. 
She was the only daughter, and a lady of wealth, beauty and 
high accomplishments. In the war of 174S) caused by Charles 
Edward the young pretender, General Oglethorpe was actively 
engaged as major-general under Marshal Wade. In compliment 
to him one of the cavalry companies assigned to his command 
was called the " Georgia Rangers," and rendered brave service. 

On the 33d February, 176^, he was made general of all his 
majesty's forces ; and from that time his name was on the army- 
list as the first and oldest officer in the British military service. 
When the Revolutionary war broke out, in 1775, he was offered 
the supreme command of the English forces in America. His 
answer was : " I know the Americans well ; they can never be 
subdued by arms, but their obedience can be secui'ed by doing 
them justice." ^ 

He was willing to take the command oft'ered on condition that 
he should have complete control over the questions of grievances 
and reconciliation. This did not suit the English ministry with 
Lord North at its head. Sir William Howe was appointed 
instead of Oglethorpe. God was directing for the good of Amer- 
ica and the world. Had this popular and enlightened British 
officer been appointed, it is probable that in the early stages 
of the struggle a reconciliation would have taken place, and 
thus American independence would have been indefinitely post- 
poned. 

Oglethorpe had done his work faithfully in Georgia, and the 
germs of success planted under his care sprang up and produced 
an abundant harvest. The subdivisions, first called districts, were 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 137, 138. "- Art. Oglethorpe, Am. Encyclop., XII. 49G, 497. 

3 McCall's Georgia. Ramsay's Am. Eev., Stephens, 16:2. 



i88 A History of the United States of America. 

ruled by good and wise men. The Indian tribes had been so 
permanently improved by the humanity and good-Avill shown to 
them, that they for a long time remained peaceable. 

By the treaty of Paris of 1763, to which England, France and 
Spain were all parties, all the territory westward of the Altamaha 
river, and along the coast to the mouth of the St. Mary's, and up 
that river to the head-waters of its southernmost branch, thence 
westward to the Mississippi, became the undisputed territory of 
Georgia, A grand council was held, and treaty made from the 
5th to the loth of November, 1763, at Augusta, Georgia, between 
the governors of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
and Georgia on the one side, and the highest representative chiefs 
of the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and Catawbas 
on the other side, by which, for an agreed consideration, these 
tribes surrendered their rights of occupancy to a very large terri- 
tory lying on the coast between the Altamaha and the Savannah 
rivers, and agreed to terms of peace. ^ 

The policy of land tenures, early adopted in Georgia, contrib- 
uted much to her welfare. The trustees were prohibited from 
holding themselves any interest in the lands of the colony, and 
also prohibited from ever granting more than five hundred acres 
to one person. Head rights, or land in moderate quantities, were 
granted to all who would occupy and cultivate them, at no cost 
to the owners save the actual expenses of surveying, fixing limits 
and ascertaining boundaries. '^ 

This enlightened policy, with peace with the natives, and other 
happy auspices, operated so favorably that Georgia grew fast in 
every element of prosperity. Her colonial governors acted up to 
this idea of "head rights." By a treaty with the Cherokees in 
1774, a very large territory was acquired for cultivation ; and 
when Governor Wright caused the land courts to be opened in 
Augusta and Petersburg, more than three thousand applicants for 
land grants appeared in one day ! This liberal land scheme " put 
the crov^^n of industrial glory on her head and the rock of con- 
scious independence beneath her feet." * 

In 1752 the trustees had surrendered the charter to the Crown, 
and Georgia became a royal province ; but her land policy -was 
continued. In July, 1776, the population of Georgia was at least 
fifty thousand ; and as only forty-three years had passed since her 
first colonization, it follows that she had grown faster than any 
other colony. 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 165. ^Ihid., 167. 

3 Quoted by A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 169. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
Early Indian Wars. 

IT now becomes necessary that we shall give special attention 
to the early wars waged between the aborigines and the white 
settlers in North America. These wars -were peculiar in this, 
that they seldom resulted in conquest, peace, and the subjection 
or absorption of the conc[uered nation by the conqueror, as former 
wars between superior and inferior races had done. These Amer- 
ican wars tended always to extermination of the savages ; and 
this work is going on still, whenever w^ar is resumed. 

Has this result been the fault of the Christian settlers who 
came to America, and of the communities which they established? 
To a limited extent it has ; but these limits are small. We do 
not claim that the colonists were always blameless. 

But those wars have in nearly all cases been the result of the 
unwillingness of the Indians (arising from native depravity, fos- 
tered and strengthened by long continuance in the special sins of 
malice, revenge, falsehood, fraud, cruelty, implacability, malignity, 
pride and selfishness) to adopt the spirit and habits of the civil- 
ized and Christian life. 

No serious believer in revealed Christianity can doubt that the 
Divine plan for the salvation of the world is that the gospel of 
Christ "beginning at Jerusalem" shall be proclaimed, and shall 
spread from people to people and from nation to nation, until all 
shall be evangelized. 

If, in this grand work, any people shall refuse to accept the 
teachings of Christianity in spirit and matter, and shall pertina- 
ciouslv and finallj" oppose themselves to it, their extermination is 
certain. Christians are never authorized to act merely under the 
spirit of revenge or retaliation. But Christians are solemnly 
bound to defend their liberties, their homes, their wives and chil- 
dren ; and if, in order to do this, it becomes necessary to destroy 
savages who, after full opportunity to accept Christianity and 
live Christian lives, have refused to do so, and have waged cruel, 
murderous, relentless war against women and children, this de- 
struction becomes as lawful and necessary as the extermination of 
wild beasts, such as tigers, wolves and venomous serpents. 

[ 189 ] 



190 A History of the United States of America. 

It is not the will nor the plan of Divine power, wisdom and 
goodness that the fairest, richest, grandest and most healthful 
parts of the earth shall be held by a few savages, to the exclusion 
of millions of the human race bringing with them the best insti- 
tutions of Christianity, science, art, culture and industry. 

In the exact measure and extent in which the Indians of North 
America have accepted the religion of Christ, fi"eely offered to and 
urged on them from the beginning of discovery and colonization, 
in that measure and extent have they been preserved and made 
happy and prosperous. 

As standing witnesses of this truth, we have the Cherokees, 
Choctaws, and other Christianized Indians of Western America. 
Samson Occum was a native Indian of the Mohican tribe, born 
at the Indian settlement on the river Thames between Norwich 
and New London, in the year 1723. He became a Christian 
ininister, and though not perfectly sanctified, yet he so lived and 
repented and believed and preached as to bring many others to 
Christ. He wrote a hymn on the necessity of the new life from 
heaven, which has been the means of stimulating thousands of 
souls to seek it.^ Therefore, Christ is as perfectly adapted, to the 
salvation of Indians as of others, and as freely offered to them as 
to others. 

Nor can it be said with truth that the devout men who com- 
posed a part of every band of colonists that came early to North 
America felt no interest in the spiritual life of the natives, or neg- 
lected any means in their power for promoting it. Wildly con- 
stituted as were the chief elements of the early Virginia settlers, 
yet they had among them such men as Rev. Alexander Whitaker, 
of the Anglican church, and others like him, who worked earnestly 
for the salvation of the Indians. 

The hardy and self-denying labors of the Jesuit fathers who 
came \vith the early French colonists have passed into history. 
By day and night, in winter and summer, amid storm and calm, 
in forest and field, on the land, the lakes, the rivers, undeterred 
by hardships, persecutions and savage cruelties, they patiently 
preached to the red men the love of Christ and the virtue of his 
atonement, and they esteemed it a sufficient reward that many of 
these sons of the forest, with their wives and children, received 
into their hearts and exhibited in their lives the immortal power 
of the life and death of the incarnate Son of God. 
iSprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, III. 192-195. The hymn closes with these words: 
" The sinner, by his justice slain, '' 

Now, by his grace, is born a^ain, 
And sings redeeming love." 



Early Indian Wars. 191 

Systematic efforts were also made by the more earnest Chris- 
tians of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies to evangel- 
ize the Indians. The family of the Mayhews worked among the 
red men of Martha's Vineyard for many years, and Experience 
Mayhew had six congregations of natives, translated suitable por- 
tions of the Holy Scriptures into their language, wrote the lives 
of thirty Indians, all of whom were preachers, and spent sixty- 
three years of his ministry chiefly among them.^ 

But of all the New England apostles to the Indians, John Eliot 
was most eminent. He was born in England in 1604, and had 
been an usher in a grammar school under Rev. Thomas Hooker, 
the founder of Connecticut, from whom he imbibed much of the 
evangelistic spirit. He came to Boston in 1631, and settled the 
next year in Roxbury, where he lived nearly sixty years, the rest 
of his life. 

He became deeply interested in the salvation of the Indians, 
whom he believed to be descendants from the ten lost tribes of 
Israel.^ 

His first work was to learn their language, to which he devoted 
many years. He then gave all his leisure time to a translation of 
the Bible into the Algonquin tongue. This work still exists, but 
is supposed never to have been very useful as a spiritual message 
to the red men because of their almost numberless dialects. It is 
believed. that no living man now could read this translation with 
intelligent apprehension of the meaning of the words. The long- 
est word in the work is here reproduced : Watappcsittukgusson- 
nookivehtunkquoh^ which, rendered into English, means " kneeling 
down to him.'" 

After mastering their language, Mr. Eliot was indefatigable in 
his labors for the welfare of the Indians, praying with them, tell- 
ing them of Christ and his life and death for sinners, discourag- 
ing the use of intoxicating drinks among them, instructing them 
in the devout and happy observance of the holy Sabbath day, and 
teaching them the Christian virtues. He furnished the men with 
spades, shovels, plows and crow-bars, and the women with 
spinning-wheels, and urged them to peaceful industry. These 
good words and works wrought their effect, and soon consider- 
able numbers of " pi^aying Indians " were gathered in his neigh- 
borhood.* 

But the numbers hopefully renewed were very small. The 
savages in general w^ere strongly averse to the doctrines and pre- 

1 Art. Mavhew, SchaflF-Herzog Encyclop. of Rel., 11. Goodrich's Pict. Hist. U. S., 99. 

2 Goodrich's U. S., 99. ^ ppof. George F. Holmes' School Hist. U. S., 46. 
♦Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 99, 100. Eggleston's Household U. S., 82. 



1^2 A History of the United States of America. 

cepts of Christianity, which forbade the dispositions and practices 
regarded by them as highest and most praiseworthy. Very soon 
the " praying Indians " were looked on with dislike and distrust 
by both red men and whites.^ 

As the white settlements increased and their numbers grew, 
savage jealousy and hatred became more manifest. In 1637 came 
the first open war. It was with the Pequot Indians of Connec- 
ticut. 

They were the most powerful and warlike of the New Eng- 
land tribes. They, as usual, first manifested their hatred by secret 
murders and outrages. Finding that the whites sternly avenged 
these wrongs, they sent messengers to enlist the Narragansetts 
into an alliance for war. We have seen how Roger Williams 
successfully exerted himself to prevent this league. 

Thus the Pequots were left to maintain the war without the 
assistance of other tribes ; but they were numerous and fierce. 
Their chiefs were Sassacus and Mononotto. They had their for- 
tified village on the Mystic river, and continued daily their mur- 
ders and depredations. In April they waylaid the people at 
Wethersfield as they were going to the fields to labor, killed six 
men, three women and twenty cows, and carried two young 
women into captivity.^ 

The General Court at Hartford, May i, 1637, resolved to pros- 
ecute the war, and voted to raise ninety men — forty-two from 
Hartford, thirty from Windsor and eighteen from Wethersfield. 
Massachusetts resolved to send two hundred and Plymouth forty 
men to aid Connecticut in what was felt to be a common danger. 
But in the approaching battle, only the troops from Connecticut, 
aided by nearly five hundred friendly Indians — Mohicans, under 
Uncas, and Narragansetts, under Mian-tonionoh — took part.^ 

Captain John Mason commanded — a brave and good soldier, 
trained in European wars. He had learned Indian warfare, and 
knew its methods. Even before the march, an incident occurred, 
showing that, whether friendly or hostile to whites, Indians were 
savages. Uncas and his Mohicans, in scouting, fell in with forty 
Pequots, routed them, killed seven, and took one prisoner. He 
had been a perfidious miscreant, a spy, who, professing friend- 
ship, had been present at several murders of whites, and kept 
Sassacus informed of every avenue and means of attack. The 
Mohicans executed him according to their ancestral forms. They 
kindled a large fire, then tore the victim limb from limb, barba- 

1 Thalheiraer's Eclec. U. S., 60, Gl. 2 c. B. Tavlor's Centen. U. S., 44 

3 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 44-50. 



Early Indian Wars. 193 

rously cutting the yet quivering flesh to pieces, handing the 
limbs and fragments, half cooked, around, so that each might eat 
a part, singing and dancing all the time with furious gestures and 
tumult. The bones and such parts of the captive as were not 
eaten were thrown into the flames and burned to ashes.* 

These were the usages of what were called " friendly Indians," 
and especially of the tribe afterwards immortalized in fiction by 
the genius of an American author ! '^ 

When the small force under Captain Mason drew near to the 
Pequot fortifications the Indians fell to the rear, and evidently 
shrank from the fierce struggle that was at hand. Their savage 
leaders openly declared that they were afraid to encounter the 
formidable Pequots.'* But Mason and his resolute men pressed 
on. Rev. Mr. Stone, of Hartford, had accompanied them as 
chaplain, and by his prayers and encouraging words stimulated 
them to fight for wives and children, firesides and altars. 

They rested at night after their ^vearying march to reach the 
swamp between two hills, where the Pequots were in their in- 
trenched village and camp. 

Before the dawn of the next day the assault commenced. Cap- 
tain Mason pressed to the northeastern entrance ; Captain Un- 
derbill to the western. When they came near, a dog barked ; an 
Indian, in a loud voice, cried out, " O-wanux! Oivanux / ^^ — "Eng- 
lishmen ! Englishmen ! " The Pequots rallied, but the whites 
poured upon them, firing their muskets, and, entering their lines 
sword in hand, routed them with such slaughter that they broke 
and fled to their wigwams and other places of shelter. But they 
were not yet conquered, and continued the contest with so much 
obstinacy that the result was doubtful. Then Mason reached a 
stern, but unavoidable, resolve. He cried out : " We must burn 
them." ' 

He rushed into a wigwam, where a Pequot brave saw him and 
was drawing his bow to its utmost tension to send an arrow 
through Mason's heart, when Sergeant Davis, by a timely stroke 
of his sword, severed the bow-string and struck down the archer.^ 
Seizing a burning brand, Captain Mason set fire to the dry mat- 
ting of the wigwam. The flames leaped up instantly, and, spread- 
ing from hut to hut, could not be checked. The battle continued, 
but the Pequots were dismayed, and were killed in hundreds. 
This scene in the wilds of the American forests was a reproduc- 
tion in miniature of what war had done in the Old World. A 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 45. - J. Fenimore Cooper's " Last of the Mohicans." 

3 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 47-49. < Ibid., 51. Goodrich's Plct. U. S., 83. 

5 Taylor's Cent. U. S., 54. 

13 



194 ^ History of the United States of Atnerica. 

well-known New England historian says : " Deep volumes of 
smoke rolled up to heaven mingled with the dying shrieks of 
mothers and infants, while the aged and infirm were consuming 
in the flames." ^ 

The result w^as no longer doubtful. The Mohicans and Nari'a- 
gansetts now rushed in with savage outcries and took part in the 
frightful work so well suited to their modes of warfare. 

The Pequot power was annihilated in this one campaign. 
They lost seventy wigwams and not leSs than six hundred war- 
riors, besides the many women, children, aged and helpless, who 
perished in the flames. The Massachusetts forces arrived and 
pressed on the fierce work. Some of the men and women were 
taken as captives and sold into slavery among the New England 
colonies.^ Massachusetts sent some as slaves to the West India 
islands. The result need hardly be told. The Indian can stand 
torture, but he cannot live in slavery. All who were enslaved 
perished. 

A sad remnant of sixty or seventy, under Sassacus and Mon- 
onotto, took up their dismal pilgrimage towards the Hudson 
river. Already they were yielding to the inexorable destiny of 
their race, so pathetically depicted by a gifted American jurist : 
" Everywhere at the approach of the white man they fade away. 
We hear the rustling of their footsteps, like that of the withered 
leaves of autumn, and they are gone forever ; they pass mourn- 
fully by us, and they return no more." ^ 

Sassacus and most of his followers were slain by the Mohawks, 
who sent his scalp to Connecticut. The wife and children of 
Mononotto had been captured by the New England troops. She 
had been very kind to fe-male captives taken from the whites. 
She behaved with modesty and dignity. Governor Winthrop 
gave orders for her protection, and the family were at last re- 
united. 

This stern and terrible blow struck by the colonists awed the 
savages ; and peace was, in substance, preserved for forty years. 
But it could not be permanent while Indians remained and their 
nature was unchanged. 

The good chief Massasoit, of the Wampanoags, had kept up 
his friendly relations with the Plymouth colonists. But after his 
death his son and successor in authority, Philip of Pokanoket, 
who became chief sachem on the death of his older brother, 
Alexander, and who is generally known as King Philip, assumed 

1 Goodrich's U. S., early edition. 
2Taylor'sCent. U. S., 50. Goodricli's Pict. U. S., 85. 

2 Story's Diminution of the Indian Tribes. 



Early Indian Wars. 195 

hostile relations to the whites, and secretly conspired for their 
destruction. 

He was specially unfriendly to the "praying Indians," whom 
he regarded as traitors to their savage traditions and unworthy of 
trust/ He has been represented as a man without eloquence or 
courage ; ^ but it is certain that he exercised a prevalent influence 
over all the tribes whom he governed or visited, and that he 
planned his war in the form best adapted to ruin the whites. 

The outbreak was in 1675. Sassamon, a converted Indian, in- 
formed the Massachusetts and Plymouth authorities of Philip's 
preparations for war. In a short time thereafter this " praying 
Indian " was murdered. His murderers were discovered, seized, 
tried, convicted and executed. This was soon followed by the 
murder of nine white men by the Indians. Philip is said to have 
wept when he heard that this white blood had been shed.^ If he 
did, it was probably because he dreaded the premature explosion 
thus brought on. 

The war that followed was the true type of Indian warfare. 
Philip never ventured to meet the whites in open battle unless he 
was surprised. His policy was secret movements upon unpro- 
tected towns or houses ; the night approach and assault ; the ap- 
palling war-whoop ; the surrounding of a few men and helpless 
women and children by an overwhelming force of savages in 
war-painf and with bows, arrows, clubs, tomahawks and such 
fire-arms as they had been able to buy or steal ; the setting of fire 
to the houses, and the indiscriminate murder of all the hapless in- 
mates. Such was King Philip's war, and it was carried on with 
a stern persistence and ferocity which carried consternation and 
horror into the bravest hearts of New England. 

The first attack was on Swanzey, in the Plymouth colony, on 
the 24th of June, 1675. The people were going home from 
church on a day of fasting and prayer, \vhen the savages fell on 
them and killed ten of their number. Plymouth colonists pre- 
pared for war, and IMassachusetts sent forces to help them. They 
attacked Philip, killed six of his wai'riors, and compelled him to 
flee to a swamp near the present site of Tiverton. Here he de- 
fended himself, and by sudden sallies and ambuscades gained 
some advantages. 

Philip, fearing that he would be surrounded and starved, es- 
caped to the Nipmucks, a tribe in Worcester county. The colo- 
nists sent embassadors and troops to make a treaty with these 

1 Eigleston's Household U. S., 82. "- A. S. Barnes & Co.'s U. S. (note), 58. 

3 Art. King Philip, New Am. Eneyclop., XIII. 215. MeCabe's U. S., in Stephens, 127, 128. 



196 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

Nipmucks, but they were led into ambush, and sixteen of their 
number killed and wounded. The rest fled to Brookfield. The 
Indians pursued, and burned all the houses except that which the 
whites occupied. They surrounded that, and poured through 
every aperture a discharge of arrows and musket-balls for two 
days. They then prepared to burn it by shooting arrows on fire, 
and by thrusting against it a cart loaded with flaming tow ; but a 
heavy shower of rain put out the flames, and the approach of 
white troops put the savages to flight.' 

The habitual scenes of those days have been thus described : 
"The laborer in the field, the reapers as they went forth to har- 
vest, men as they went to milk, the shepherd boy among the sheep, 
were shot down by skulking foes, whose approach was invisible. 
Who can tell the heavy hours of the woman of that dav.^ The 
mother, if left alone in the house, feared the tomahawk for herself 
and children. On the sudden attack, the husband would fly with 
one child, the wife with another, and perhaps only one escape. The 
village cavalcade making its way to meeting on Sundays, in files, 
on horseback — the farmer holding the bridle in one hand and a 
child in the other, his wife seated on a pillow behind him — it may 
be with a child in her lap, as was the custom in those days — could 
not proceed safely ; but, at the moment when least expected, bul- 
lets would whiz amongst them, discharged with fatal aim from 
an ambuscade by the wayside." "The Indians hung upon the 
skirts of the English villages like the lightning upon the edge of 
the clouds." ^ 

King Philip w5s plotting everywhere, and succeeded in draw- 
ing to his support nearly all the tribes of New England. Unex- 
pected and desolating attacks were inade on nearly all the towns 
and isolated families. Deerfield, in Massachusetts, was stealthily 
approached, and in the confusion and bloodshed fire was applied, 
and nearly all of the buildings were destroyed. Sunday, the 
Christian Sabbath, was the day generally preferred by the sav- 
ages for these assaults.* 

Hadley, in Connecticut, was approached by a strong force of 
Indians while the whites were at worship in their church. The 
men hastily rallied, and, putting their women and children in 
sheltered places, advanced upon the foe. The Indians resorted to 
their usual strategy of fighting behind trees, fences, and in am- 
buscades, and, as they were more numerous than the whites, the 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 110. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 80. McCabe, In Stephens' U. S., 129, 
130. 

s Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 110, 111. Bancroft's U. S., II. 103. 
8 McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 130. 



Early Indian Wars, 197 

battle was doubtful. At this moment a mysterious leader — a 
stranger to nearly all who saw him — a man of noble presence 
and flowing white beard — took command of the colonists, rallied 
them, threw them into commanding positions, and by his voice 
and his example so inspirited them that they drove the savages 
from their hiding-places, slew many of them, wounded and cap- 
tured more, and put the whole to flight. The leader then van- 
ished as mysteriously as he had come. This was Colonel Gofte, 
one of the regicide members of the English Parliament, who had 
voted the death of Charles I., and upon whose head a price had 
been Hxed. In this age of skepticism attempts have been made 
to discredit this incident of history ;^ but it is authenticated by 
an array of evidence suflicient to induce belief.^ 

In October, 1675, Philip returned to Mount Hope, but found 
his home in ruins. He then took refuge among the Narragan- 
setts, who sheltered him and aided his schemes of war, notwith- 
standing their treaty with the whites. The colonists, justly ap- 
prehending that this strong tribe in their midst would soon be 
won over by Philip to active and murderous war, determined to 
commence hostilities. 

A military force, under Colonel Josiah Winslow, was collected, 
and moved upon the Narragansetts in December, 1675. They 
were three thousand strong, and had built a fort of palisades in a 
swamp near the present site of Kingston, Rhode Island. It was 
almost inaccessible, having but one narrow entrance by a line of 
fallen trees.' An Indian guided the colonists. A desperate fight of 
two hours enabled the whites to force an entrance into the savage 
stronghold. The wigwams were set on fire, and all were soon 
in flames. The savages were totally defeated and driven into 
the swamp, where many perished beneath the sluggish waters. 
Others wandered through the frozen woods without shelter, dig- 
ging for nuts and acorns under the snow. The power of this 
strong tribe was hopelessly broken. They lost a thousand slain, 
and almost as many wounded and prisoners. The English loss 
was also heavy, amounting to six captains and two hundred and 
fifty men killed and wounded.^ 

Canonchet, the Narragansett chief, survived. He was uncon- 
quered. He said : " We will fight to the last man rather than 
become servants to the English." He was captured near Black- 
stone in April, 1676, and was oftered his life if he would induce 

1 Ex. : Note in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 57, 58. 

2 Stephens, 130. McCabe's U. S. Bancroft, II. 101. Goodrich, 111, 112. Quackenbos, 111, 

3 McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 130. 

4 Compare Goodrich, 112. Stephens, 131. Quackenbos, 111, 112. Bancroft, II. 101, 105. 



198 A History of the United States of Ajnerica. 

the Indians to make peace. He scornfully refused, and when 
sentenced to death said : " I like it well ; I shall die rather than 
lower myself.'" Horrible indeed was a war in which such a 
prisoner was put to death in cold blood. It was extermination 
for one side or the other. 

King Philip fled to the Mohawks, in the New York province, 
and sought to induce them to take up arms against the whites. 
Failing in his purpose, he returned to his lurking-places in New 
England, and by his malign influence roused his savage allies to 
ferocious raids. Hardly a town escaped. Rhode Island and 
Plymouth colonies were scourged with fire and tomahawk. Even 
the aged and loving Roger Williams was obliged to take up arms. 
Lancaster, ISIedford, Weymouth, Groton, Springfield, Sudbury 
and Marlborough, in Massachusetts, and Providence and War- 
wick, in Rhode Island, were assaulted and destroyed, in whole 
or in part, and other settlements suffered severely.'' 

Nor w^ere the savages always unsuccessful in combat. Captain 
Lathrop, with eighty young men — " the flower of Essex county " — 
was guarding some teams loaded with grain from Deerfield to 
Hadley. Passing thi-ough a thick wood, they stopped to gather 
grapes. Suddenly hundreds of Indians were on them. Seventy 
young soldiers and twenty teamsters were slain. Hearing the 
guns, troops came from Deerfield to their assistance, and arrived 
in time to kill or wound one hundred and fifty of the savages and 
put the rest to flight, with the loss of only two whites. This 
battle-ground was afterwards known as " Bloody Brook." ^ 

In the spring of 1676, Captains Wadsworth and Pierce, each 
with fifty men, and the latter with twenty friendly natives, were 
suddenly beset by hostile Indians, and none escaped with life. 
Men captured by the savages were almost always put to death 
with the torture of fire. In the quaint words of Cotton Mather, 
the red men "roasted their prisoners out of the world."* 

But the end was coming. The tribes began to quarrel among 
themselves, and to fall away from Philip. In June the Nipmucks 
submitted. The tribes on the Connecticut refused to shelter 
Philip any longer. In proud scorn of danger, he returned to 
Mount Hope to die. One of his people urged submission. Philip 
struck him dead with his own hand. Captain Church marched 
with troops to the fastnesses about Mount Hope, and succeeded 
in capturing the wife and little son of the king. Then that 

1 McCabe's U. S. Bancroft, II. 105, 106. 

2 Goodrich, 113. Stephens, 131, \7l. 

^Everett's Artdre=s at Bloody Brook, 37. Bancroft, II. 104. Goodrich, 111. 
*Quackenbos' U. S., 112, 113. 



Early Indian Wars. ig^ 

proud heart which had borne unmoved the reproaches of his ene- 
inies and of his own people gave way. He was heard to cry out 
in despair : " My heart breaks ! I am ready to die ! " 

Captain Church quickly closed all avenues of escape and ad- 
vanced on him. He was seen making a final eflort to break 
the armed lines. A colonist soldier took aim at him, but his gun 
missed fire. An Indian fired, and the bullet pierced King Philip's 
heart, and he fell dead. Church's men uttered a shout of tri- 
umph. The body of this unconquerable Indian sachem was 
quartered and treated with unworthy indignities. His head w^as 
sent to Plymouth ; one of his hands was given to the Indian who 
slew him.^ 

The young son "of Philip, nine years of age, the rightful 
king of the ancient tribe of the Wampanoags, and the grand- 
son of Massasoit, who had been the early and faithful friend 
and protector of the Plymouth colonists, was transported to the 
island of Bermuda and sold as a slave.^ Nothing in all the 
unhappv and inconsistent history of the Puritans and their de- 
scendants on the subject of slavery has left a deeper stain than 
this event. 

With the death of Philip the war ended. A few fitful cruel- 
ties on the borders of Maine occurred ; but the spirit of the New 
England savages v^^as broken. They fell asunder. Of the Nar- 
ragansetts scarcely a hundred men were left alive. The work of 
extermination was begun. 

But though New England conquered, her loss was heavy. She 
contained at that time about one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
sand inhabitants, of whom probably twenty-five thousand were 
able to bear arms. She lost more than six hundred soldiers and un- 
counted numbers of non-combatants, chiefly women and children. 
The war had endured barely two years, and yet in that time six 
hundred dwelling-houses and twenty villages and dawning settle- 
ments had been destroyed. The disbursements and losses amounted 
in value to half a million of dollars.' Aloreover, a heavy debt 
had been contracted, which the mother country might, wnth per- 
fect equity, have been expected to pay ; but New England never 
asked this, and paid it all herself.* 

Heavy as were these losses, they ^vere more than compensated 
by the gains. The savages never by themselves rose again to 
disturb the peace of New England. 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 114. 

-Goodrich, 113, Bancroft, II. 108, 109. Quackenbos' U. S., 113. Deny, 62. 

3 Bancroft, It. 109. Goodricli's Pict. U. S., 113. 

*Taylor'sCenten. U. S., 88. Stephens, 132, 133. 



200 A History of the United States of America. 

An incident following the Pequot war will further illustrate 
the stern depravity of the best tribes of the Indians. The Mo- 
hicans were lasting friends of the people of Connecticut, and it 
is said not a drop of the blood of any colonists was shed on her 
soil during all the horrors of King Philip's war.' But at the 
close of the strife between the Narragansetts and Mohicans, 
Miantonomoh, the chief w^ho had provoked the war by attacking 
the Mohicans, was taken prisoner. Uncas, the Mohican sachem, 
claimed him as his rightful captive. His fate was referred to the 
" Commissioners of the United Colonies " — three English gentle- 
men — for decision. They decided to surrender the captive to 
Uncas, who carried him beyond the borders of Connecticut, 
struck him down with his tomahawk, carved pieces of the yet 
living flesh from hfs shoulder, and ate them greedily, declaring 
that the flesh of his enemy was the sweetest of morsels ! '^ The 
conversion or destruction of such men before the advancing step 
of Christian civilization was inevitable ; and conversion was rare. 

We have purposely dwelt at some length on these wars — the 
Pequot war, the King Philip war, and similar wars in New York, 
Virginia and the Carolinas — because they vividly illustrate the 
unchanging character and disposition of the North American 
Indian, and give the key to the mystery of his fate. 

These wars, with some few like struggles to be hereafter noted, 
were the only wars that could be truly designated as " Indian 
wars." The wars afterwards known as " King William's war," 
" Qjieen Anne's war" and "King George's war" did not begin 
with warlike uprisings of the savages. They began in Europe ; 
and the Indians only participated because they were seduced into 
alliances with white belligerents. But their natures and fero- 
cious usages continued unchanged ; and, therefore, extermination 
went on. 

1 Bancroft, II. 109. " Holmes' U. S., 50. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Bigotry and Witchcraft. 

FROM a passage of history exhibiting the depravity and ma- 
lignity that may be attained by the unrenewed spirit of man, 
we now come to a passage ahnost equally sad and equally in- 
structive, because it tends to show what the renewed, but imper- 
fectly sanctified, man may do of superstition, cruelty and wicked- 
ness, under the influence of false science and false interpretation 
of Holy Scripture. 

We have seen what horrors were enacted in the Old World 
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by reason of the false 
religious belief of both the Roman and the Protestant churches 
that ivitchcraft was a crime of which a human being might be 
actually guilty, and that it consisted in holding supernatural com- 
munion with fallen and evil spirits, and exercising powers for 
evil by such spirits imparted to their chosen agents.' 

Upon the hypothesis that such a crime was possible, and inight 
be committed during the ages subsequent to the times of mira- 
cles, and to those seasons in the world's history when exti'aordi- 
nary exertions of evil spiritual powers sought to oppose the work 
of redemption by the Son of God, we need not wonder that 
vsntchcraft was held to be a crime specially heinous, and that the 
death penalty should have been denounced against it by the civil 
governments of nations calling themselves Christian. 

But these episodes in history are inexpressibly sad ; and are 
only important and interesting as admonishing us how depraved 
man is, how imperfectly sanctified even in his best estate on 
earth, how prone to pride of opinion and bigotry, how dimly il- 
lumined by the reflection of his intellect upon the Word of God, 
how dependent on true science for true scriptural interpretation, 
and how certain to go astray when governed by any influence less 
potent than the law^ of love given by Christ himself. 

The original constitutions of the Plymouth and Alassachusetts 
Bay colonies permitted them to establish a rigid union betv^een 
church and state. No man could be a governor or law-maker, 

1 Art. Witchcraft, Schaff-Herzog Eucyclop. of Rel., III. 2542. 
[ 20I ] 



202 A History of the United States of Amci'ica. 

or even a voter, M^ho was not a communing member of the 
church.^ ^ 

The complete overthrow of these constitutions by Charles II. 
and James II., through the instrumentality of Sir Edmund An- 
dros, for a time left these colonies under a rule, civil and reli- 
gious, limited only by the will of a sovereign inoved by the Ro- 
man faith. He sought to introduce the fonr)S of diocesan episco- 
pacy, to which the great body of the people were strongly averse. 

When James II. fled from London and abdicated the throne, 
the people of Massachusetts regarded with deep interest the ques- 
tion, what kind of a charter William and Mary, the new sovereigns, 
would grant them. A considerable nimiber, led and disciplined 
by the Puritan ministers, desired a return to the principles and 
practices of the old charter.^ But this was by no means a univer- 
sal, and could hardly be called a popular, sentiment, if the entire 
people were considered. King Williain himself was very doubt- 
ful whether a system which had produced so much of social and 
religious intolerance ought to be restored. He did not finally 
consent to the restoration of the church power as paramount over 
the state in civil affiiirs.^ The charter granted reserved to the 
Crown or the governor the appointment of officers. The bound- 
aries of the colony were, indeed, greatly enlarged by being ex- 
tended to the St. Lawrence river, but an exposed fi'ontier was 
thus given, of which the guardianship and defence proved very 
expensive and harassing to Massachusetts.* 

Meanwhile the spirit of modern speculation and scientific in- 
quiry was making progress among her people. The question of 
malign spiritual influence working supernaturally in wizards and 
witches was considered, and many clear minds were beginning to 
reject the old ideas ; but the ministers of religion generally and 
their moi"e ignorant followers cherished the belief in witchcraft. 
The names of " Sadducees " and " infidels " were freely bestowed 
on the more liberal thinkers. This brought on ecclesiastical war- 
fare, and hastened on the crisis of superstition and persecution, 
in which bigotry and partisanship had as much share as false re- 
ligious notions. 

Among the clergymen of the Massachusetts colony, none were 
more eminent in talent and one-sided learning than the three 
Mathers — Richard, Increase and Cotton — father, son and grand- 
son, who lived in this world between the years 1596 and 172S. 
The rude epitaph which marked the grave of the first mav be 

1 Holmes' U. S., 45. Bancroft. Thalheimer. -'Bancroft, III. 71, 72, 80. 

» Quackenbos' U. S., 134. < Bancroft, III. 81. 



Bigotry and IVitc/icraJt. 203 

considered as fairly expressing the relative estimate of the com- 
mon people concerning them : ^ 

" Under this stone lies Richard Mather, 
Who had a son greater than his father, 
And, eke, a grandson greater than either." 

Of the three, Increase was the superior in every quality that 
makes the really great man — vigorous intellect, sound judgment, 
trained imagination, enlightened conscience, and will determined 
by the highest motives. He never looked with favor on the per- 
secutions against alleged witchcraft, and did what he could to 
discourage their violence.' The writers of history who have at- 
tributed to him the composition of works adapted to promote 
these persecutions, and of active exertions against supjoosed 
witches, have done him signal injustice.^ 

But his son, Cotton jMather, must bear a large part of the 
odium attaching to these persecutions. He had a bright and ver- 
satile genius, and was considered a very effective preacher. He 
had also a great amount of learning of the sort that runs always 
in the channel of bigotry and religious traditionalism — the sort 
most definitely condemned by the omniscient Son of God. Cot- 
ton Mather was the type of the religious partisan of all ages — so 
absorbed in self-esteem and conceit that he was blind to all truth 
which conflicted with his own religious notions. 

It was not to be reasonably expected that the divines and com- 
mon people of Massachusetts should be able at once to rise above 
the religious beliefs and practices of Europe on the subject of 
witchcraft prior to the rulings and sound words of Chief-Justice 
Holt, which caused the first reaction in favor of truth, good sense 
and love. 

There is evidence that the early settlers of New England be- 
lieved the Indians to be worshipers of the devil, and that their 
medicine-men were wizards. As early as 1645, suspicions of 
witchcraft were indulged, and at Springfield, on the Connec- 
ticut river, several persons were charged with this crime, and, 
among others, two of the minister's children.^ In 1650 a poor 
forlorn creature named Mary Oliver, suspected of being a witch, 
and probably weary of a life embittered by such a fame, confessed 
that she was guilty, but she zvas not pict to death!' Already the 
revolting tendency of this delusion began to show itself, under 

1 Art. Mather, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 2S5. 2 Amer. Encyclop., XI. 285. 

3 Ex. : Hutchinson's Hist, of Mass. McCabe's TJ. S., 217, etc. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 
140-1-12. 

<Gov. Hutchinson's Hist, of Mass. McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 138, 139. 
6 Hutchinson's Mass. Stephens, 139. 



204 A History of the United States of America. 

which death -was visited, not on those who confessed, but on those 
who denied the guilt imputed to them. I 

Between 1650 and 1662, inclusive, four persons — Margaret 
Jones at Charlestown, two women at Dorchester, and Mrs. Hib- 
bins, the widow of an assistant minister at Boston — were hanged 
for alleged witchcraft. Another young woman, named Anne 
Cole, of Hartford, Connecticut, confessed to criminal intimacy 
with a " demon," and after a protracted examination by the 
authorities, civil and religious, she and two other women were 
condemned and executed.^ 

But between that time and 1685 a lull in the witchcraft delu- 
sion occurred. Several persons were suspected ; and appalling 
phenomena, such as throwing of bricks and stones by invisible 
hands, kindling of mysterious fires, and engendering of pining 
diseases, were attributed to the accused, who were in some cases 
young boys and girls. But, upon investigation, the evidence was 
deeined insufficient to convict them of witchcraft. 

In 1688, the last year of the power of Andros, events took 
place which were the prolific sources of the coming " Salem delu- 
sion." Cotton Mather had published, in 1685, his book entitled 
" Memorable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possessions," 
relating cases which had occurred in various parts of New Eng- 
land, and giving renewed impetus to superstitions which, but for 
him, would probably have died away never again to be revived." 

The belief in witchcraft awoke refreshed. In 1688 a girl of 
thirteen years, the daughter of John Goodwin, in or near Boston, 
charged the laundress of the family with having stolen linen 
sheets and clothing. Mrs. Glover, the mother of the laundress, a 
friendless Irish emigrant, almost ignorant of English, but with 
a true mother's heart, repelled the charge. Then, immediately 
seeking revenge, Goodwin's daughter feigned that she was be- 
witched. The infection spread, of course. Three others of the 
family, the youngest a boy less than five years old, all said they 
were under witches' influence, and posed accordingly. They 
feigned to be deaf, then dumb, then blind, then all three ; they 
barked like dogs and purred like cats ; yet they ate w^ell and slept 
well. Cotton Mather undertook to pray near one of them, and, 
behold ! the child lost her hearing till the prayer was over. Then 
all the four ministers of Boston and one of Charlestown assembled 
in Goodwin's house and spent a day in prayer and fasting ! The 
youngest child professed to be " delivered." But if one was thus 
saved from possession by a witch, then there must have been a 

1 Hutchinson's Mass. Stephens, 139. 2 Art. Mather, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 285. 



Bigotry and Witchcraft. 20=; 

witch. Goodwin accused the mother of his washwoman ; and, 
though he had no evidence, yet when this poor bewildered woman 
was pressed with questions and threats she made strange, unin- 
telligible answers, which were taken for confessions. She some- 
times fell into her native Irish dialect. Hearsay testimony was 
admitted to the effect that, six years before, she had been seen to 
come down her own chimney. She could not repeat the Lord's 
prayer in English, but she could say the " Pater-noster " fluently. 
Upon such evidence these ministers of a loving Saviour had in- 
fluence enough to obtain the condemnation of this poor woman 
as a witch, and she was publicly hanged.^ 

Yet, the girl who had started this false and hideous prosecution 
gave no evidence of remorse. She continued to feign a bewitched 
condition. Cotton Mather took her to his house that he might 
study all the phenomena of witchcraft for the benefit of coming 
generations. She easily imposed on him, because he desired to 
" believe a lie."^ The evil spirit would permit her to read in 
Qiiaker books or Popish books, or the Book of Common Prayer 
of the Anglican church ; but a prayer by himself, or a passage 
read by him from the Bible, would throw her into convulsions. 
By reading Holy Scripture in various languages this minister sat- 
isfied himself that devils are skilled in languages, and under- 
stand Latin, Greek and Hebrew ! But he fell " upon one inferior 
Indian language which the demons did not seem so well to 
understand." ^ 

His overweening vanity was greatly pleased by the artful 
statement of the girl that demons could not enter Jiis chamber, 
and that his person was shielded against all attacks of evil spirits. 

But there were then in Boston liberal and enlightened minds, 
who refused to believe either in Cotton Mather or in the young 
female liar on whom he experimented. Therefore, he began to 
write, and to thunder from the pulpit against them. He wrote : 
"There are multitudes of Sadducees in our day. A devil, in the 
apprehension of these mighty acute philosophers, is no more than 
a quality or a distemper. We shall come to have no Christ but 
a light within, and no heaven but a frame of mind. Men count 
it wisdom to credit nothing but what they see and feel. They 
never saw any witches ; therefore, there are none.'''' The min- 
isters of Boston and Charlestown united in deploring the pro- 
gress of sound opinions on the subject. They said : " How much 
this fond opinion has gotten ground, is awfully observable." And 

1 Bancroft, III. 75, 76. McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 140. ^2 Thess. ii. 11. 

3 Bancroft, III. 76. < Bancroft, III. 77. 



2o6 A History of the United States of America. 

Cotton Mather, instead of proclaiming the love and mercy of 
Christ and the curative power of the gospel, shouted from the 
pulpit : " Witchcraft is the most nefandous high treason against 
the Majesty on high. It is a capital crime. A witch is not to be 
endured in heaven or on earth."' 

And soon another minister of gi'eat eminence in the mother 
country gave his name to help on this dismal superstition. Cot- 
ton Mather's book, to which allusion has been made, was endorsed 
by New England ministers as an answer to atheism, and a demon- 
stration that " there is both a God and a devil, and witchcraft." 
The book crossed the Atlantic ; Richard Baxter, of Kiddermin- 
ster, read it, and caused it to be republished in England with his 
own recommendation that it was " strong enough to convince all 
but a very obdurate Sadducee."^ 

And immediately afterwards another minister took the field in 
a murderous attack upon supposed witches. Samuel Parris was 
minister in Danvers, now a part of Salem. He had long been 
involved in painful alienations with some of his people. In 
February, 1692, his daughter, nine years old, and his niece, less 
than twelve, began to exhibit strange irregularities of conduct. 
In the family was an Indian female servant named Tituba, whose 
husband stated to Parris that she had practiced some wild incan- 
tations, such as were known only among the Indians. Parris 
resorted to the scourge, and under the agony of the lash this poor 
creature confessed herself to be a witch. Immediately the min- 
isters of the neighborhood assembled at the afflicted house for a 
day of fasting and prayer. Tituba, having confessed, was spared. 
Sarah Goode, a poor woman " of a melancholic tempei-ament," 
was first accused. Parris questioned his daughter and niece, and 
took down all the names of persons to whom they attributed 
witchcraft. It was noted that those who had been most unfavor- 
able to him were among the arrested. Martha Corv, who steadily 
denied the presence of witchcraft, was committed to prison. 
Rebecca Nurse, a woman of pure life, but an object of the special 
hatred of Parris, " resisted the company of accusers, and was 
committed."^ 

Parris made w'itchcraft the subject of his prayers in his church, 
and preached on the text : " Have not I chosen you twelve, and 
one of you is a devil? " Sarah Cloyce rose up and left the meet- 
ing. She, too, was promptly accused and sent to prison. 

1 Bancroft, III. 77. McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 140, 141. 

-Bancroft, III. 78. Art. Baxter, Amer. Encyclop., II. 758, which erroneously attributes 
to Increase Mather the work " Memorable Providences,"' &c. 
3 Bancroft, III. 86. Stephens, 143. 



Bigotry and Witchcrajt. 207 

Examinations and commitnients multiplied day by day. The 
deputy-governor and five other magistrates went to Salem to hold 
a court of inquiry. Parris made all the accusations, and, in fact, 
acted as public prosecutor when Sarah Cloyce was examined. 
John, the husband of Tituba, was introduced by Parris as a wit- 
ness. Sarah Cloyce impeached him as " a grievous liar." But 
the niece of Parris testified that Sarah Cloyce had cari'ied her to 
" the witches' sacrament." vStruck with horror at this false 
charge, the accused sank down in a fainting fit. Her emotion 
was considered a proof of guilt. She, Rebecca Nurse and Eliza- 
beth Procter were committed for trial. Edward Bishop, a farmer 
of strong .common sense, cured an Indian servant of a fit of be- 
witchment by a mild flogging, and expressed the opinion that, by 
similar treatment, he could cure the whole company of the 
afflicted. For his unbelief, in which his wife shared, both were 
soon in prison, Mary Easty, of Topsfield, a woman of singular 
gentleness and force of character, deeply pious, yet unaffected by 
superstition, was torn from her children and sent to jail. Deliv- 
erance Hobbs owned everything charged against her, and was 
unharmed. " The gallovv^s was to be set up, not for those v\^ho 
professed themselves witches, but for those who rebuked the 
delusion." ' 

It is worthy of note that Simon Bradstreet, the governor, who 
was the choice of the people of Massachusetts, considered the evi- 
dence of witchcraft insufficient, and would not have permitted the 
delusion to assume fatal forms ; '^ but Increase Mather had gone to 
England, and had influence enough to induce King William to 
appoint William Phipps governor, and to authorize Increase him- 
self to appoint other officers. By him, through the persuasions 
of his son, Cotton Mather, one William Stoughton was appointed 
chief-justice of the colony.^ He had been a partisan of Andros, 
and was certainly not the choice of the people of Massachusetts. 
He was a fit instrument in the hands of Cotton Mather, Samuel 
Parris, and their brother ministers to prepare the scenes that fol- 
lowed. 

He came down to Salem, and, with his associates, opened his 
court in June, 1693. He instructed the juries rigidly according 
to the rulings of Sir Matthew Hale, and the doctrines taught in 
Cotton Mather's book on witchcraft. Conviction followed con- 
viction, and the death sentence was pronounced. In the case of 
Martha Carrier, her own children testified against her. Her two 
sons refused to perjure themselves until they had been bound with 

1 Bancroft, III. S7. 2 lUd., S7-S9. ^ jim., 83, 89. 



2o8 A History of the United States of America. 

cords and pressed so that the blood began to ooze out. The con- 
fession of one daughter, seven years old, is still preserved. One 
old man, named Jacobs, was convicted partly on the testimony of 
his granddaughter Margaret. She repented, and with deep re- 
morse wrote : " Through the magistrates' threatenings and my 
own vile heart, I have confessed things contrary to my conscience 
and knowledge." She stated the whole truth before the magis- 
trates. They refused to believe her, committed her for trial, and 
sent her grandfather to the gallows ! ' 

Giles Cory, an old man of more than eighty years, and of 
indomitable will, when set to the bar refused to plead, and con- 
tinued to refuse. English common law, nearly obsolete in the 
mother countiy, was set upon him.^ The horrid sentence was 
pronounced, and he was pressed to death by weights laid on his 
body ! This horror has never been repeated in America. 

George Burroughs, a minister whom Samuel Parris hated as a 
rival in Salem, and who had opposed from the beginning him 
and his proceedings, steadily denied the reality of witchcraft. 
Of course, he was arrested and brought to the bar of Stoughton, 
On his trial the witnesses, supposed to be bewitched, pretended 
to be dumb. Stoughton asked : " Who hinders these witnesses 
from giving their testimony? " " I suppose, the devil," answered 
Burroughs. The chief-justice retorted : " How comes the devil 
so loth to have any testimony borne against you?" This retort 
was considered as an imanswerable suggestion of the prisoner's 
guilt. Besides, proofs were given of almost preternatural mus- 
cular strength in Burroughs. He was convicted, and Cotton 
Mather has left on record his opinion that this evidence was 
" enough."^ 

On the 19th of August, 1692, five persons were hanged. George 
Burroughs was among them. On the ladder he cleared himself 
by an earnest speech, and repeated the Lord's Prayer with so 
much accuracy and feeling that tears flowed down the faces of 
many present. But Cotton Mather appeared on horseback among 
the crowd and addressed the people, seeking to pick flaws in 
the ordination of Burroughs, and to deny that he was a minister, 
insisting on his guilt, and suggesting that the devil could some- 
times assume the appearance of an angel of light. And so he 
talked and acted until his brother minister was hanged before his 
eyes ! When we look at this Puritan clergyman we no longer 
wonder at such men as Sprenger and Torquemada. 

1 Bancroft, III. 92. 2 Blackstone's Com., Edit. 183C, Book IV., p. 265, 266. 

^Bancroft, III. 87, 91. 



Bigotry and Witchcraft. 209 

On the 33d of September eight other persons were led out for 
execution. Of these, Samuel Wardwell had confessed, and was 
safe ; but, being ashamed and penitent because of his false con- 
fession, he retracted and boldly spake the truth. Therefore, he 
was hanged, not for witchcraft, but for denying witchcraft.^ 
When the eight bodies were sv^^inging from the ropes, Noyes, the 
minister of Salem, pointed to them and said : " There hang eight 
firebrands of hell." 

A reaction was inevitable. The people of Massachusetts had 
no sympathy with these proceedings. They were the work of 
the clergy, and of the few officers and people whom they were 
able to influence. A feeling of horror began generally to prevail 
over all surviving superstition. Cotton Mather fought against 
the I'eaction, and between September and October, 1693, pro- 
duced his narrative, entitled " The Wonders of the Invisible 
World," to uphold the tottering firmness of his associates. For 
this book he received the approbation of the president of Har- 
vard College, the praises of the governor, and the gratitude of 
Chief-Justice Stoughton.^ 

In October, 1693, the General Assembly of the colony was con- 
vened under King William's charter. The people of Andover, 
headed by their minister, appeared before the assembly, and pre- 
sented a strong remonstrance against the "witchcraft" delusion 
and persecutions. They said truly: "We know not who can 
think himself safe, if the accusations of children and others un- 
der a diabolical influence shall be received against persons of good 
fame."* The assembly did not directly deny witchcraft, but they 
abolished the special tribunal over which Stoughton had pre- 
sided, and established a fair court by public law. Grand juries 
began to act independently. Indictments for witchcraft were 
ignored ; prosecutions were dismissed ; prisoners were released. 
One final trial, that of Sarah Daston, a woman of eighty, who 
had enjoyed for years the fame of being a witch, took place at 
Salem. The evidence was stronger than on any previous trial ; 
but the jury, rising above the fogs of the former superstition, 
brought in a verdict of " not guilty," and Sarah Daston was dis- 
charged. 

Overwhelmed v\^ith confusion and defeat, Cotton Mather sought 
to produce belief in supernatural events in his own parish in 
Boston. If his statements could be believed, miracles had re- 

1 McCabe's U. S. Stephens, 144, 145. Bancroft, III. 92, 93. Quackenbos' U. S., 138, 139. 
Holmes' U. S., 61. 

" Mather's Cases of Conscience, Bancroft, III. 95. 
8 Remonstrance in Bancroft, III. 95. 

H 



2IO A History of the United States of America. 

turned and his prayers had healed diseases. But just then ap- 
peared a cool, calm, searching pamphlet by Robert Calef, a mer- 
chant of Boston, who, though not highly cultured, had a mind of 
the keenest analytic power. He exposed and sharply censured 
the witchcraft proceedings and Cotton Mather's subsequent vaga- 
ries. In vain did the baffled minister denounce the author as " a 
malignant, calumnious and reproachful man," and " a coal from 
hell." Truth prevailed, and Cotton Mather's prestige was gone 
never to return. His diary proves that his mortification was in- 
tense, and that he sometimes " had temptations to atheism and to 
the abandonment of all religion as a delusion." The people of 
Salem drove away Parris ; and Noyes regained favor only by 
humbly asking forgiveness and consecrating the remainder of his 
life to deeds of mercy. ^ 

The duty of history is to record sadly, but fully, this noted pas- 
sage in the life of the Massachusetts colony. It has been asserted 
that " there were people tried in almost every colony for witch- 
craft," * but no sufficient evidence bears up so wide a statement. 
One single case occurred in Pennsylvania, near the borders of 
Delaware, in which the Scandinavian emigrants had brought 
some of their native superstitions from their forests. A turbu- 
lent woman was tried as a witch. The Qiuikers on the jury out- 
numbered the Swedes. William Penn presided, and a fair, full 
canvass of all the grounds of accusation and of the evidence took 
place. The verdict was in these words : " The prisoner is guilty 
of the common fame of being a witch, but not guilty as she 
stands indicted." This w^as, in substance, an acquittal. The 
friends of the woman gave bond that she would keep the peace. ^ 
Thus ended trials for witchcraft in the woodland of Penn. 

About the year 170^, one Grace Sherwood was tried for witch- 
craft in the county of Princess Anne, in the Virginia colony ; but 
the indictment was so broad that a conviction for defrauding by 
pretending witchcraft was possible under it, and the punishment 
inflicted was not death, but ducking.^ No other case is autben- 
ticated. 

And when we compare the Mas'sachusetts delusion and its re- 
sults with the hundreds of thousands of capital punishments in 
Europe for alleged witchcraft, we are entitled to cause of rejoic- 
ing that before the black vapor of this superstition reached Amer- 
ica it had lost most of its mephitic gases. Many were indeed sus- 
pected in the colony, and at one time not less than one hundred 

iBentley, in Bancroft, III. 97. 98. 2 Egeleston's Household U. S., 111. 

3 Hazard's Register, I. 10, lOS, 289. Bancroft, II. 391. 
■* Record in Howe's Hist. Collections, 436-438. 



Bigotry and Witchcraft. 21 1 

and fifty were in prison awaiting trial. The estimate most reli- 
able is that two hundred were accused, one hundred and fifty im- 
prisoned, twenty-eight convicted, nineteen hanged and one pressed 
to death. ^ But small as these numbers were, compared with what 
had gone on in the Old World, yet the Massachusetts cases viv- 
idly presented the most revolting elements of superstition and 
persecution. 

It is a curious fact that this passage in the history of the United 
.States has been found so melancholy and distasteful that some 
chroniclers who have undertaken to deal with that history have 
omitted entirely all definite narrative of its facts and of the spe- 
cial influences which gave character to it.^ But this cannot be 
done without a loss which history refuses to endure. 

From the time of this movement within her, Massachusetts was 
never what she had been before it. A change came over her 
innermost spirit. The Puritan domination was gone, never to re- 
turn. Religion presented itself in a new light. The unhallowed 
union between church and state was broken. It was felt to be 
unsafe to trust to traditional dogmas upheld by ministers who 
refused to correct old interpretations of .Scripture by the facts de- 
monstrated by true science. The light coming from the highest 
exercise of the human intellect or reason was more sedulously 
sought for, and every form of religious belief was held up in that 
light and examined, and rejected if it could not be comprehended. 
The result has been the wide adoption of Socinian views of Chris- 
tianity, involving the rejection of the doctrines of the divinity of 
the Sou of God, of the total native depravity of man, of the vi- 
carious atonement of Christ, of the personality of the Holy Spirit, 
and of the actual existence of Satan, the great spirit of evil. 

But while many of her brightest minds have been led astray, 
the great body of the people of Massachusetts have continued 
faithful to the centi-al truths of Christianity, and have shown by 
their lives that Christ is the God incarnate, their Redeemer and 
Leader ; and that while his faith is love, and can never contra- 
vene the law of love, it may teach truths which are above reason, 
though never contrary to reason, and which are to be humbly ac- 
cepted and believed, because he has revealed them in his Word ; 
for " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." ^ 

^Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 101. ^Ex. : Horace E. Scuddor's Hist, of U. S. 

3 Revelation xix. 10. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
Thk Germs of Revolution. 

WE are now brought face to face with an episode in tlie life of 
one of the colonies which is instructive because of its pro- 
phetic character. It is generally called " Bacon's Rebellion," but 
not with strict propriety. That it involved an uprising against 
the ruling powers and a resistance to theni, carried on with force 
of arms, and attended by their temporary overthrow, is true ; 
and it is also true that it was promptly ended, and was followed 
by the execution of many persons as rebels. It was premature 
and rash, and finally quenched in blood. But it was something 
higher than rebellion : it was inchoate revolution. 

The wide disparity and contrariety of views taken of this ej^i- 
sode by writers of history is worthy of our notice. Some have 
held it to be of so small importance that thev have pretermitted 
it entirely, and not mentioned the name of Nathaniel Bacon in 
works called histories of the United States ;^ others have treated 
the movement as simply a conflict between the aristocratic and 
democratic elements in Virginia society ;^ others have degraded 
it into a mere insurrection, incited by an ambitious young leader, 
and attended by much of outrage on the part of him and his fol- 
lowers f others have recognized in it a struggle against wrong 
and oppression, but have failed to see in it the germ from which 
afterwards sprang nearly every important principle on ^^^hich the 
North American colonies founded their successful war of inde- 
pendence. 

In the great Declaration adopted by them in 1776, just one 
hundred years after the movements under Bacon, we find embed- 
ded not less than Jive principles as among the most weighty and 
potent that justified the overthrow of the English rule, all five of 
which were in active movement to produce the uprising of the 
Virginia people in 1676. 

These five principles were : 

I. The right to civil and religious liberty: "life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness ; " 

1 Ex. : Taylor's Centen. History of U. S. 2 Ex. ; Swinton's Cond. U. S. 

3 Ex. : Beverley, Keith, Campbell, Marshall, Chalmers, even Goodrich. 

[ 212 ] 



The Germs of Revolution. 2,13 

3. The right to throw ofl' a government which had " cut oft' 
their trade from all parts of the world ; " 

^. Which had " imposed taxes on them without their consent ; " 

4. Which had " taken away their charters, abolished their most 
valuable laws, and altered tundamentally the powers of their 
government ; " 

i^. Which had " excited domestic insurrections among them, 
and had endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of their frontiers 
the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an 
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."' 

History deals with facts, not with conjectures. Notwithstand- 
ing the loyalty of the people of Virginia to the Stuart dynasty 
and the kingly government in England, it is certain that during 
the rule of the commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, this 
colony had enjoved a season of peace, freedom and prosperity, 
with which nothing in their past experience could be compared.^ 

Their assemblies had been regularly elected by the people ; had 
made salutary laws ; had chosen every important officer of the 
government, and when necessary had displaced him. Their trade 
had been undisturbed by oppressive restrictions and had greatly 
increased ; their population had so rapidly grown that in 1660 it 
was estimated at thirty thousand souls.^ 

But the historical statements that the great body of the Virginia 
people rejoiced at the restoration of Charles II. are true. During 
the period of about twenty years between the definite beginnings 
of open resistance to Charles I. and the restoration in 1660, a 
large number of royalists took refuge in the Virginia colony. 
They became permanent residents, and exercised a considerable 
influence on the opinions and customs of the colonists. 

If ever a king ought to have been grateful to a part of his sub- 
jects who had shown steady love to him and zeal for his cause, 
Charles II. ought to have so felt towards Virginia. But he was 
incapable of any real gratitude or generosity. Light, superficial, 
selfish, and thoroughly immoral and unprincipled, he had none of 
the qualities of a monarch willing and able to promote the real 
happiness of his people. 

As to self-government and true freedom of body and soul, 
neither Charles nor Sir William Berkeley, his subservient gov- 
ernor in the colony, had any desire to promote them. 

The laws passed by the colonial asseinblies inspired by Berkeley, 
both before his retirement in 1649 and after his re-assumption of 

1 American Dec. of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776. 
2('nmpare Gordon's Amer., I. 53. Marshall's Colon., I. 69. 
3 lUd. 



2^4 ^ History of the United States of America. 

his office in 1660 by invitation of the assembly, were destructive 
of all religious freedom. 

Strict conformity to the creed and rubric of the Church of Eng- 
land was required ; tithes were inexorably imposed ; ministers' 
persons w^ere invested with an outward recognition of sanctity 
looking much like superstition ; members of the Roman church 
were forbidden to hold any office, and their priests were to be 
banished from the country ; the oath of supremacy to the king as 
head of the church, w^as in all cases to be tendered ; dissenting 
preachers were strictly forbidden to exercise their office, and the 
governor and council were empowered to compel " non-conform- 
ists to depart the colony with all convenience." ^ 

No wisdom or moderation was learned from the sombre and 
bloody teachings of the English revolution. In 1660 the followers 
of George Fox and William Penn began to appear in small num- 
bers in the Virginia colony, and the assembly, with Governor 
Berkeley in active co-operation, passed a stern law against these 
"Friends" or "Quakers."' 

The preamble describes these earnest believers in Christ and 
his faith as " an unreasonable and turbulent sort of people," 
who taught and published " lies, miracles, false visions, prophe- 
cies and doctrines, to the great disturbance of religion and order." 
The statute then forbids, under heavy penalty, any master or 
commander of a vessel to bring any of this hated sect into the 
colony ; requires that all Qiuikers, upon detection, should be im- 
prisoned vs^ithout bail until they took an oath to leave the coun- 
try and gave security that they would never return ; and enacts 
that any Qiiaker returning should be punished as a despiser of 
the laws, and forced again to depart, and in case he came a third 
time he was to be treated as 2^ felon I" 

Thus this law of the Virginia colony, by not using the words 
" a felon without benefit of clergy," stopped one step short of the 
Massachusetts statute, and did not denounce the death penalty 
against the Quaker who stubbornly persisted in returning. 

But it was bad enough — worse than death in paralyzing and 
quenching all freedom of the soul. It further enacted, that all 
persons were forbidden to give countenance to the Quakers, all 
officers were to note and execute the laws against them, and that 
the circulation of their books and pamphlets should be unlawful 
under severe penalties. __ 

These laws were not dead letters. Many oppressions were 
enacted under them. In 1663 John Porter, a burgess-elect from 

1 Hening's Statutea, I. 240, 241, 243, 268, 269, 277. Burk's Uist. of Va., II. 66, 67. 
2 Hening, I. 533, Art. VI. =* Hening, I. 533, VI. 



The Germs of Revolution. 215 

lower Norfolk county, was charged with being " loving to the 
Quakers, and attending their meetings." He frankly confessed 
that he admired thein, and revered the mildness of their doctrines" 
and the purity of their lives. The assembly tendered him the 
oaths of supremacy and allegiance. He declined to take them ; 
whereupon he was formally expelled from the assembly.^ 

In view of such laws and such results in a colony then holding 
thirty thousand people, many of wdiom had no sympathy what- 
ever w^ith the teachings and forms of the Anglican church, we 
can perceive that one just cause of revolution was in most ener- 
getic life in Virginia. The people were getting serious and 
earnest, and were no longer composed of only two classes — viz., 
aristocratic cavaliers, who worshiped everything pertaining to 
English royalty, and democratic common people, who cared little 
for religion, either in substance or form. 

Being a devout lover of privileged order, Sir William Berkeley 
did not desire that the principles of liberty, civil or religious, 
should make progress among the colonists. We have, therefore, 
in fully authenticated form, his declaration of his own private and 
official thanksgiving in 167 1, in answer to an inquiry addressed 
to him by the English council. His vi^ords w^ere as follows : 

" I thank God there are no free schools nor printing in Vir- 
ginia, and I hope we shall not have, these hundred years ; for 
learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the 
world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best 
government. God keep us from both." ^ 

Ignorance in the people is the condition required by absolutism 
and tyranny in government. Berkeley was cultured and highly 
educated himself; yet he prayed against free schools and news- 
papers and printing in Virginia ! 

The assembly was a very different body from that elected dur- 
ing the commonwealth. It came to be composed in controlling 
numbers of royalists and aristocrats, whose sympathies and policy 
were those of the governor and the king. Of the assembly of 
1654 only two members were re-elected at the restoration. Of 
the assembly of Alarch, 1660, which was the last in which the 
influence of the commonwealth continued, only eight were re- 
elected, and of these only five retained their places. New men, 
unfavorable to freedom, soon brought despotic measures.' 

The most important of these was the usurpation by the assem- 
bly of power to prolong its own existence from two years to an 

iBurk's Va., 11. 132. Hening, II. 19?. Rev. Dr. Hawks' Eccles. Hist, of Va., 71. 

2 Inquiries to Gov. of Va., Hening, II 517. Bancroft, II. 192. Campbell's Va., 257, 258. 

» Hening, I. 386, 526 ; II. 107, 250. Bancroft, II. 196, 197. 



3i6 A History of the United States of America. 

indefinite term. The old law, salutary as it was, did not suit the 
royalists. It was silently, but utterly, abi'ogated and repealed.^ 
The same assembly continued to sit at its pleasure from 1663 for 
nearly fourteen years. The meetings of the people were no 
longer for election of burgesses, but for the almost hopeless pur- 
pose of presenting " grievances " to the adjourned assembly. 

Another form of outrage on popular rights soon followed. The 
burgesses fixed their own wages at two hundred and fifty pounds 
of tobacco (about nine dollars) per diem. Each county -was re- 
quired to raise the sum needed to pay its own members, who, in- 
stead of representing them, contravened all their wishes and 
interests. The members of the council were exempted from all 
levies. Berkeley's salary and perquisites were gradually increased 
until he received a sum larger than the whole annual expenditure 
of Connecticut.^ Yet he was not satisfied, and was constantly 
asking for more. All these enormous expenses were paid by 
a permanent imposition of taxes on exported tobacco, the chief 
article of colonial produce. 

Very soon after Charles II. ascended the throne the Parliament 
of England, with his assent, passed a " navigation law " more 
oppressive to the American colonies than any yet enacted. No 
commodities were to be imported into or exported from any Eng- 
lish settlements in Asia, Africa or America, except in vessels built 
in England, or in her colonies, and navigated by crews of w^hich 
the master and three- fourths of the mariners should be English 
subjects ; and this was under penalty of forfeiture of ship and 
cargo. No persons other than natural-born subjects, or such as had 
been naturalized, were permitted to be merchants or factors in 
any British colonies upon pain of forfeiture of their goods and 
merchandise ; no sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, or 
woods for dyeing, were to be exported from the colonies to any 
country except England.^ 

By subsequent laws these enumerated articles (as they were 
styled) were gradually extended until the list embraced every 
product of colonial industry. In 1663 another law was enacted 
forbidding that any European article should be imported into the 
colonies unless shipped in England., and in vessels built and 
manned as above stated. And finally, in 1672, the cap-stone was 
laid on this column of injustice and oppression by a law^ which 
took away the free trade among themselves theretofore enjoyed 
by the colonies, and imposed on those erwimerated articles, when 

iHening, II. 43. Bancroft, II. 205. Quackenbos' U. S., 115. 

2 Bancroft, II. 203. 

8 12 Car., II., Cap. XVIII. Robertson's Amer., I. 422. Grahame, 1. 107. 



The Germs of Revolution. 217 

carried from colony to colony, the same tax as was imposed when 
carried to England.* 

A more complete system of commercial oppression could not 
have been devised. A tax " without their consent " met the 
colonists at every outlet. Whether they imjDorted or exjDorted, 
bought or sold, traded with the harsh mother country or traded 
among themselves, they were taxed. Naturally, it might have 
been expected that taxes on tobacco would fall finally on the 
consumer ; but this was not so. Consumers would not pay a 
price high enough to bear all these burdens. The result was that 
prices were so low that when all the duties in the port of ship- 
ment and the port of sale, and all freights, brokerages and other 
expenses were paid, the poor Virginia planter could hardly real- 
ize from his crop enough to clothe his family.'^ And these " nav- 
igation laws " did tend powerfully to " cut off the trade of the 
colonies from all parts of the world," except the selfish mother 
country. 

Sir William Berkeley, in one of his many visits to the court of 
England, was specially commissioned by the Virginia assembly 
to seek more benign legislation. But he did nothing ; nor is there 
any evidence that he made any earnest attempt to influence the 
Stuart government in favor of the colonies. He basked for a 
time in the sunshine of royalty, and obtained some special privi- 
leges for himself, and then returned to Jamestown.'' 

These multiplied oppressions produced deep and widely-spread 
discontent. As early as 1663 a plan for uprising, which has since 
been styled " the Oliverian Plot," was concocted among settlers, 
most of whom had served under Cromwell, and from him had 
imbibed a cordial hatred of kings, a strong aversion to the An- 
glican church, and a love of freedom. This plan was secretly 
and skillfully organized, and would have been formidable had it 
not been revealed by one of the conspirators — a soldier named 
Berkenhead — the evening before the day fixed for the intended 
blow. 

The governor acted promptly. He issued his orders Septem- 
ber 13th. An ample force of militia assembled at the place of 
rendezvous before the time appointed by the insurgents, and ar- 
rested and disarmed them as fast as they came in. Most of the 
conspirators took the alarm, scattered and escaped ; but four of 
the worst were arrested, tried, condemned, and speedily hanged.* 

1 15 Car., II., VII. 25 Car., II., VII. Robertson, I. 422. 
- Grahaine's Colon. Hist., I. 107. Burk's Va., II. 133. 
sHening, II. 7, 17. Bancroft, II. 198. 
< Beverley, 58. Keith, 151. Oldmixon, I. 379. 



3i8 A History of the United States of America. 

In 1669 Charles II. completed his acts of perfidy and ingrati- 
tude to Virginia. He perfected the lesson taught by inspiration 
two thousand five hundred years before he lived : " Put not your 
trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in w^hom there is no help." ^ 

By letters patent, regularly executed and issued, he gave away 
the whole of Virginia — her land and water, her fields and forests, 
her mountains, swamps, harbors and creeks — for the full period 
of thirty -one years, unto two of his favorites — Thomas, Lord Cul- 
pepper, and Henry, Earl of Arlington, and to their executors, ad- 
ministrators and assigns.^ 

The first-named of these was a man of good sense, but exceed- 
ingly subtle and covetous. The other is best known as one of 
the notorious band who formed the " Cabal," and gave a new 
word to the English language. He was smooth, polite, well- 
bred, but loved low pleasure, and studiously forgot his huge debts 
as thoroughly as did his royal master. 

This grant was one of the grossest acts of violation of char- 
tered rights perpetrated by English rulers against the colonies. 
Upon the faith of previous charters forty thousand people in Vir- 
ginia now^ held lands, most of them reclaimed from the w^ilder- 
ness of forest and swamp and river by their industry. Now all 
this was deliberately conveyed away from them ; and what bur- 
dens in the shape of yearly and quit-rents, services, manor duties, 
tithes upon advowsons, market customs, and similar exactions 
they might be called upon to endure, was a question frightfully 
pregnant and ominous of evil. 

Finally came renewed danger from the Indians — those " mer- 
ciless savages " spoken of in the Declaration of Independence 
adopted a century afterwards. That this danger should be ac- 
tually increased and intensified by the conduct of the governor 
and his associates, was a cause of opposition to his government 
so potent and just that it immediately led to the actual move- 
ment. 

Sir William Berkeley had received from the royal powers in 
England some licenses and privileges of trade with the Indians 
which would be very profitable to him personally so long as peace 
was maintained with the natives, but v^hich would be cut off* and 
rendered valueless in case of w^ar.' This gave him a motive ad- 
verse to the real safety of the outlying settlements. 

It is certain that he had promised to send a force against In- 
dians on the upper streams of the York and James rivers who 

1 Psalm cxlvi. 2 gge the Patent in Hening, II. 569-578. 

3T. M.'s account of Bacon's Rebellion, in Force's Hist. Tracts, 1. 11. Bancroft, II. 216. 
Deny, 59. Amer. Encyclop., II. 472. Eggleston's Household U. S., 153, 154, 



The Gerois of Revolution. 219 

had shown active hostility ; but he had wholly failed to comply 
with his promise. An armed force, under Sir Henry Chichely, 
ready to march against the savages, was suddenly disbanded 
without cause assigned. It is true that Berkeley's rebuke of the 
conduct of a company under Captain John Washington (great- 
grandfather of George Washington), who had marched against 
the vSusquehannoes, and had put to death several embassadors sent 
to them by that warlike tribe, was a just rebuke according to the 
laws of nations.' But his vv^hole course of conduct as to the sav- 
ages made the people suspect that lower and more selfish motives 
than respect for public tranquillity or for international law im- 
pelled him. 

In 1674 Berkeley had sent Captain Henry Batte, with a brave 
band of fourteen Englishmen and as many Indians, to penetrate 
and explore the region now covered by Southwestern Virginia. 
Setting out from Appomattox, in seven days they reached the 
foot of the mountains, and soon came to other ridges and sum- 
mits which towered in majesty above them. These ranges vs^ere 
often so rugged that, in penetrating through their gaps, the ex- 
plorers could only advance three miles a day ; yet, from time to 
time, they came upon level plains and green savannas refreshing 
to behold. Flocks of turkeys and herds of deer, elk and buflalo 
v^'ere often seen, and these were so tame that they suffered the 
party to come very near to them, and seemed to regard them with 
curiosity rather than alarm. Wild fruits, including grapes of 
enormous size, were found in abundance. After some progress 
doAvn a stream their Indian guides refused to go any further, de- 
claring that a little in front lived powerful tribes of savages, vs^ho 
made salt, and were so terrible and v^^arlike that strangers w^ho 
came upon them w^ere never known to return.^ 

Sir William Berkeley received Batte's report on his return with 
inuch interest, stimulated, probably, by his hopes of profit from 
trade with the tribes of this region ; but stirring events now 
came upon him. 

1 Burweir.s account, Mass. Hist. CoUec, XI. 27. Cotton, 3. Bancroft, II. 215, 216. 

2 The original account is in Beverley's Hist, of Va., 62, 63. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

N A T H A N I K L B A C O N . 

THE Indian tribes in Tidewater Virginia had been so thor- 
oughly subdued or exterminated that they gave little trouble. 
But as early as 1656, during the republican ascendency, several 
fierce tribes, known as the Rechahecrians, at least seven hundred 
strong in warriors, poured down from the mountains and threat- 
ened to establish themselves in strongholds near the falls ot 
James river. These savages were eminent in valor, subtlety, and 
hatred of the whites. The assembly promptly determined to dis- 
lodge them. Col. Edward Hill was sent against them with a 
force of one hundred whites and several hundred friendly Indians 
from the remnants of the tribes on the York and Pamunkey 
rivers, led by Totopotomoi, a brave chief of the Pamunkey tribe. 

A desperate combat ensued, as to which it has been asserted that 
" the Virginians suffered a bitter defeat in a battle with the In- 
dians at the place where Richmond now stands. The brook at 
this place got the name of Bloody Run." ^ 

This statement is overdrawn and inaccurate. It is true that 
the original evidences concerning this battle are obsciu'e ; but w^e 
have enough to show that mismanagement, and probably w^ant of 
courage, on the part of Colonel Hill, lost the day. He was after- 
wards cashiered and fined for misconduct, though the fine was not 
enforced." The friendly Indians suftered heavily, and among the 
slain was the heroic chief Totopotomoi, who had been a constant 
friend to the whites. The battle-field was considerably west of 
" Bloody Run," which got its name from a subsequent combat.* 

The Rechahecrians were encouraged by this partial success, 
and continued to infest the neighborhood of the James river falls, 
drav^^ing to their support such scattered savages as they could in- 
fluence. From time to time, up to the year 1674, they continued 
acts of hostility. Frightful murders were committed. Prisoners 
were captured and put to death with revolting tortures.* 

1 Eggleston's Household U. S., 81. = Henlng, I. 423, 42-1. Burk, II. 106, 107. 

sBurk, II. 176. Howe's Hist. Collec, 75, S04. Charles Dickens' Amcr. Notes, 56. 
* " Indian Proceedings," p. 7 — a valuable tract presented by Hon. \Vm. Burwell to Mass. 
Hist. Soc'y. r. Force's Pub., Vol. I. 

[ 220 ] 



N^athaniel Bacon. 221 

These outrages became intolerable ; and yet Berkeley took no 
measures for stopping them. The people of Virginia, long op- 
pressed by unjust taxation, religious tyranny, and the menace of 
the king's grant to Culpepper and Arlington, were now subjected 
to merciless raids by savages on their frontiers, and were not only 
unprotected by the governing power, but actuallv found that 
power in league with the Indians for purposes of selfisli gain. It 
seemed time for the people to move. They needed only a leader. 
They found one in Nathaniel Bacon. 

He was probably a native of the county of ,Suftolk, in Eng- 
land, and was born in 1646, of excellent parentage. He was ed- 
ucated at Cambridge, and afterwards was a student of law in 
the Inns of the Temple, in London.' He had a wealthy uncle in 
Virginia, whose name he bore, and who, being childless, intended 
to make him owner of his estate. 

He came to the colony in 1673. Young, handsome and accom- 
plished, he attracted immediate attention, and was soon a promi- 
nent member of the provincial council. He quickly discovered 
the grievances under which the people suffered, and espoused 
their cause with his whole heart. He was an orator by nature 
and training, and in the public assemblages used his gifts of lan- 
guage so effectually that the common people saw the kingly and 
colonial government in its true light, and idolized their young 
leader. 

The Indian outrages, and the indifference and neglect of the 
ruling powers in reference to them, ffred his soul with special in- 
dignation. On his own lands, in the county of Henrico, near to 
the suburbs of the city of Richmond, long known by the title of 
" Bacon Quarter Branch," his overseer and a favorite servant had 
been treacherously murdered by the savages.^ 

The men of the country, without call of the apathetic rulers, 
spontaneously assembled in numbers. Each man felt that his 
home might be the next scene of assault and murder. All eyes 
turned to Nathaniel Bacon. He met them and delivered an ad- 
dress, in which he passed before their eyes in powerful review 
the oppressions under which they suff'ered.' 

They observed all proper forms of law. They elected Bacon 
their commander, and applied to Sir William Berkeley to com- 
mission him as such. The governor hesitated and delayed, in the 
very face of hourly danger from Indian tomahawks. Bacon did 

1 Art. Bacon, American Encyelopsedia, II. 472. Allen's American Biog. Campbell, 215. 
Burk. II. 159. 

- Bacon's Rebellion, in Force, 10. Bancroft, 11. 21.«. 
8 Beverley, 68. Oldmixou, I. 384. P. Force, 4, 5, 10, 11. 



222 



A History of the United States of America. 



not hesitate, and no generous soul can blame him. He marched 
by rapid movements upon the savages at the heads of the low^er 
rivers, fell upon them, and routed them everyw^here, with heavy 
loss to them in killed and prisoners.' 

But behind him was the real foe of the people. Berkeley, pro- 
fessing to be greatly incensed, on the 39th of May issued a pro- 
clamation declaring Bacon and his followers to be rebels, and, 
raising an armed force, set out to pursue them towards the falls. 
But while in march, Berkeley received intelligence of an alarm- 
ing spirit of insurrection in Jamestown itself, and immediately 
hurried back. Everywhere the people were roused against the 
government. 

The governor and council became alarmed, and issued orders 
directing that certain forts, which had become specially obnox- 
ious because used in enforcing the hated navigation laws, should 
be dismantled, and that writs should be issued for a new^ election 
of burgesses to the General Assembly.^ 

The people breathed more freely. No attention was paid to 
the illiberal law restricting suffrage to free-holders. All freemen 
voted. Many of the burgesses returned were only freemen. Bacon 
was elected from Henrico. The usurpations of years seemed to 
be overthrown. 

The action of this assembly was salutary and important. 
Its laws are generally known in history by the title of " Bacon's 
Laws." Church monopolies were destroyed ; vestrymen were 
limited to three years of tenure, and were made responsible to 
the free voters of each parish ; just levies of county taxes were 
required ; the exorbitant salaries and perquisites of governor^ 
council and assemblymen were greatly curtailed ; the sale of 
spirituous liquors in the country was forbidden ; two unworthy 
magistrates were disgraced and disfranchised ; general indemnity 
as to supposed past offences was enacted ; the restrictions on the 
right of suffrage imposed by the " Long Assembly " of Berkeley 
were removed ; all freemen were to vote ; a return to elections 
once in two years was secured. Only one of their laws is subject 
to criticism. It evidentlv emerged from the just indignation felt 
concerning the Indian outrages. It provided that Indian captives 
taken in war should be made slaves during life. It did not re- 
main long in force ; and when we bear in mind that war author- 
izes death to the foe in battle, that exchanges of prisoners were 
almost unrecognized by savage customs, and that death by horri- 

1 Burk. II. 160. " Our Late Troubles," Force, p. 4. 

^Breviare et Conclusum, Append., in Burk, II. 250: text, I. 165. 



Nathaniel Bacon. iT.'if 

ble tortures was generally the mode in which Indians disposed of 
white prisoners, we cannot say that the law of the Virginia 
assembly was unjustifiable.^ 

So wise and healthful were the laws of this free assembly that, 
though they were afterwards repealed by special instructions 
from King Charles II., yet subsequent legislatures found it neces- 
sary to revive them, and nearly all were re-enacted under different 
titles? 

But though Berkeley and his coadjutors were compelled to yield 
for a time to popular demands, he cherished a vindictive purpose 
against Nathaniel Bacon. As this young leader of the people 
was coming down the river to Jamestown in a small sloop, -with- 
out thought of hostility, he was brought under the guns of an 
armed English ship, arrested by the high sheriff^, and carried a 
prisoner into the city. Fortunately for him, the free assembly 
was about to convene. Everywhere Bacon was esteemed and 
loved. Conferences and negotiations were held. An agreement 
was reached, under which it was provided that Bacon should be 
released and restored to his place in the council, and that a com- 
mission should issue to him from the governor, appointing him 
commander of the forces against the Indians. This last-named 
proviso -was a cofiditioti frecedent, without which Bacon would 
not have given his parole or accepted release. 

Such being the agreement on the part of Berkeley and his 
party, the uncle of Bacon presented to him a written paper, which 
he solemnlv .adopted on the i^th of June, 1676, in the presence of 
the council. By it he acknowledged himself to have been guilty 
of many imprudences and "unwarrantable practices"; begged 
pardon of the governor for his offences ; promised allegiance and 
true faith to the government in future, and expressed his willing- 
ness to pledge his whole estate for his subsequent good conduct.^ 
Soon afterwards the free assembly convened, of which Bacon was 
a member. 

But troubles came hastening on. The Indian outrages con- 
tinued, and grew worse and worse. Berkeley, with signal bad 
faith, positively refused the promised commission to Nathaniel 
Bacon. This was the crisis, and the efficient cause of all the 
subsequent disorder and war. Those chroniclers who have re- 
presented Bacon as having broken his parole and violated good 
faith have either been blinded by partiality to Berkeley and the 

1 Hening, II. 346. Gregory v. Baugh, IV. Randolph, 621-633. 

2 Honing, II. 341-365. Preface to II., f), and p. 3'Jl in note. 

3 Bacon's Proceedings, Force 11, 12. "Our Late Troubles," by Mrs. Ann Cotton, Force 4, 5. 
Breviare et Conclusum, Burk, Append., II. 251. Beverley, 70. Keith, 159. 



324 -A History of the United States of America. 

English rule, or have misunderstood the facts of those portentous 
days. 

Justly indignant at the governor's breach of faith, and warned 
by his uncle that stringent measures against his personal freedom 
might be employed, Bacon secretly left Jamestown. In great 
alarm, the governor issued warrants for his arrest ; but they were 
vain. Four hundred armed men were soon under the command 
of Bacon. He led them to Jamestown, and, drawing them up in 
military order on the green in front of the state-house, demanded 
from the governor and council a fulfillment of their pledge. 

Berkeley, with all his faults, was not a coward. He had the 
spirit of the cavalier. Advancing towards the insurgents, he 
bared his breast to their presented muskets, and cried aloud : 
" Here ! shoot me — a fair mark — shoot ! " Bacon answered with 
perfect composure and dignity : " No, may it please your honor, 
we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor of any other man's. 
We have come for a commission to save our lives from the Indians, 
which you have so often promised ; and now we will have it 
before we go." ^ 

The council and assembly united in in-ging Berkeley to grant 
the commission. He issued it accordingly. Bacon instantly led 
his armed force away to prosecute vigorously the Indian war. 
But when relieved from immediate pressure, Berkeley and his 
council, with the pretence that the commission had been forced 
from them, declared Bacon a rebel, and prepared for hostilities 
against him. 

Berkeley went to Gloucester, a county fertile in soil, abundant 
in wealth, and having a large population, many of whom vs^ere 
royalists in principle. Here he liaised the king's standard, and 
called on the planters and their tenants to rally and make v\^ar on 
Bacon. Great was his disappointment to find that his call excited 
no enthusiasm. The leading men of Gloucester sent him a tem- 
perate and manly reply, saying that they regarded Bacon as their 
brother and the friend of their homes ; that he was leading an 
army against the savages, who threatened murder to their wives 
and children ; that they could not consent to bear arms against 
one thus endangering his life for their safety ; but that, should he 
engage in any treasonable designs, the governor might depend 
upon their aid.^ 

Intelligence of these measures against him were borne to Ba- 
con in his cainp by Drummond and Lawrence, two steady pa- 

iT.M.'s account, Force, 15. Bancroft, II. 221, Robertson's Amer., 424. Grahame, 1. 120. 
Beverley, 71. Keith, 150. 

2 Bacon's Proceedings^ Force, 13, 14. Our Late Troubles, Ihid., 5. 



Nathaniel Bacon. '225 

triots, and afterwards martyrs to their love of freedom. Roused 
to righteous anger, he turned his forces and marched rapidly upon 
the faithless governor and his council. Berkeley, being unable 
to raise a force adequate to meet him, v\^as compelled to retreat, 
and with a few adherents crossed Chesapeake Bav, and took 
refuge in the eastern county of Accomac' 

Bacon had advanced to " the Middle Plantation," afterwards 
known as Williamsburg, when he heard of the flight of his en- 
emy. He summoned the gentlemen of the country to a free con- 
ference. The difficulties were serious. The assembly had dis- 
solved. There was no organized government. But brave men 
find a way. The flight of the governor and his council was con- 
sidered an abdication — in curious prophecy of the events which 
dethroned King James II. Moreover, Berkeley had been ap- 
pointed for ten years, and his term had expired. Bacon and four 
members of the council who sympathized with him issued writs 
for a new assembly. The utmost joy and enthusiasm jDi-evailed. 
Sarah Drummond, wife of the patriot, said : "The child that is 
unborn will have cause to rejoice for the good that will come by 
the rising of the country."^ 

A written manifesto, dated 3d of August, 1676, and signed by 
all the colonists present, set forth the condition of the countiy, 
the outrages of the Indians, and the conduct of Sir William 
Berkeley, and pledged all to join with Bacon against the savages 
and his white foes, and to oppose any troops that Berkeley might 
obtain from England to subdue them, " until his majesty should 
be informed of the true state of the case " by delegates sent by 
Bacon in behalf the people.^ 

Having re-established the powers of government and secured 
his rear. Bacon marched with his forces against the Indians. He 
destroyed the towns of the hostile tribes of the Pamunkey, Mat- 
taponi and Chickahominy, and then advanced directly on the 
main body of the savages, who occupied fortifications defended 
and palisaded in the strongest manner known to the red man. 
These works were near the present site of Richmond, on both 
sides of the stream afterwards known as " Bloody Run." Bacon 
saw the difficulty and danger, but hesitated not a moment to as- 
sault the works. The palisades were torn down ; the crest of the 
ridge was gained ; the Indian warriors were met hand to hand, 
and in the fierce encounter it is said that streams of blood ran 
down the hill, and, mingling with the waters of the rivulet, gave 

iBurk, II. 171. Robertson, 424. Force, 19. 

2 Bonds, etc.. Gen. Ct., Richmond, Va. Bancroft, II. 224. 

3 Manifesto in Beverley, 73, 74. Burk, II. 173, 175. 

15 



226 A History of the United States of America. 

to it the dismal name which it has never lost. The savages were 
fatally routed ; many were slain ; more were made prisoners. 
The blow was decisive ; the Indian power was broken, and in 
Eastern Virginia we hear of them no more.' 

But events had occurred which indicated that Bacon's struggle 
for Virginia's freedom was not ended. Sir William Berkeley had 
been coldly received by the people of Accomac. Unexpected 
success had restored his hopes for a time. Giles Bland and Capt. 
Carver, two zealous adherents of Bacon, had formed a plan for a 
descent upon Accomac and the capture of Berkeley and his coun- 
cilmen. Two armed vessels w^ere in their sei"vice. But treachery 
revealed their plan. One Capt. Larrimore had commanded one 
of the vessels. He hastened to Berkeley and informed him of the 
plan, and offered to head an expedition to defeat it. Bland and 
Carver were incautious, and their crews fell into a drunken de- 
bauch. Twenty-six men, heavily armed, embarked in two boats, 
and in the stillness of night came upon the vessels, boarded them, 
and made prisoners of the crews, who were incapable of resist- 
ance. Bland and Carver were carried on shoi-e and put in irons. 
Berkeley's spirits rose. Revenge had sway. Four days after the 
capture Carver was executed on a gibbet. Bland was detained 
in custody, but his death was near at hand.^ 

Collecting in haste all his naval and military force, Berkeley 
sailed to Jamestown with one large arined ship, seventeen sloops, 
and six hundred men. He landed on the 7th of September. He 
first offered solemn thanks to God, and then issued new procla- 
mations against the " rebels," whom he supposed to be utterly 
overthi'own. But his triumph soon ended. 

Bacon promptly advanced on Jamestown with all his forces. 
While e7z route he caused to be brought into his camp the wives 
of several leading royalists who had been left in their country 
homes ; but they were treated with courtesy and honor. The 
statements of some writers to the contrary are without founda- 
tion.' One of the ladies was permitted to pass into Jamestown, 
and, as expected, she informed the royalists of the presence of 
the others in Bacon's camp.* Having sounded a note of defiance 
from his trumpets and fii'ed a volley, Bacon availed himself of a 
moonlight night in autumn to cut a trench and throw up a breast- 
work of felled trees, earth and brushwood. For fear of injuring 
the women, not a shot was fired from either the ships or the town. 

1 T. M.. in Force, 11. Burk, II. 176. Campbell, 78, 79. 

^Bacon's Proceedings, 20. T. M.'s account, 22, 23. Burk, Append., 221. 

3 Ex, : Marshall's Amer. Colon., 162. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 115. 

4 Holmes' U. S., note 56. 



Nathaniel Bacon. 237 

Early the next morning vSir William Berkeley led out a force 
of nearly eight hundred men, and attacked Bacon in his intrench- 
ments. The result was prompt and decisive. The royalists were 
broken and routed on every point ; many were left dead on the 
field ; their drum was captured by the victors. The leaders es- 
caped captivity only by instant flight. 

Bacon followed up his success with skill and vigor. Planting 
heavy cannon upon a commanding ridge, he turned them against 
Berkeley's fleet. The first shot was enough to prove that the 
ships would be sunk if they remained at their anchorage. With 
deep disappointment the governor withdrew his shattered troops 
and all his vessels, and sailed down the river. 

Bacon and his followers took possession of Jamestown. They 
found neither foes nor friends. It was deserted. They com- 
mitted no piHage. But what was to be done with the town.'' To 
remain in it with insufficient forces would be to invite a siege and 
capture from royalist reinforcements already hastening from En^g- 
land at the call of the governor. To leave it to be again occupied 
by Berkeley would be dangerous. A determination, stern indeed, 
yet wise and necessary, was reached. Jamestown was destroyed 
by fire. Bacon approved, and his faithful officers, Drummond 
and Lawrence, with their own hands set fire to their own houses. 
The ancient and only city of Virginia was wrapped in flames.^ 

Slowly retiring, Bacon learned that a force of nearly one thou- 
sand men, under Col. Brent, was advancing against him through 
the upper counties. He summoned his small army around his 
person, and asked if they were ready to meet the new foe. 
Shouts and cries, the rattling of drums, and the clash of steel, 
attested their enthusiasm. But Brent's men were already deeply 
infected with the spirit of freedom, and, having learned with joy 
of Bacon's successes, they refused to march against him, and re- 
turned to their homes. Brent was a royalist, but he could not 
resist the tide which was fast sweeping away in Virginia every 
trace of kingly rule. 

The young leader had done his work. A new assembly had 
been summoned ; the power of free elections by freemen had 
been vindicated. The army was disbanded, but ready to reas- 
semble at a moment's warning to fight again for liberty. But 
Virginia was not yet ready for independence. Her sister colo- 
nies were not yet prepared to unite with her. A century of ex- 
perience was yet to pass, and its very opening brought to men's 
eyes the most revolting scenes of tyranny and revenge. 
1 T. M.'s account, in Force, 21. Bancroft, II. 228. Burk, II. 190. 



238 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

Bacon had received into his system the germs of fatal disease 
in the trenches of Jamestown. As the season advanced he grew 
worse and worse, worn down by continued fever ; and on the first 
day of October, at the residence of Mr. Pate, in the county of 
Gloucester, he died.^ 

His life had been the inspiration of the premature insurgent 
movement for freedom ; his death was its destruction. No com- 
petent leader now directed the patriots. As their fortunes de- 
clined, the hopes of Berkeley and his followers revived. Major 
Robert Beverley, an active member of the council, with an effi- 
cient force, sailed up the rivers and scoured the country.^ Among 
his first captives was Thomas Hansford, a heroic young Virgin- 
ian, who had been in the front ranks of the insurgents. With 
cruel haste he was hurried from the place of trial to the gibbet. 
He did not give way. He asked only that he might be shot as a 
soldier. The answer returned was that he died not as a soldier, 
but as a rebel. He met an ignominious death like a brave inan." 

As fast as captives of note were brought in they were passed 
through hurried trials and executed. Capt. Wilford had received 
a -wound in one of his eyes, which deprived him of its sight. 
When captured, and when allusion was made to his wound, he 
said, with bitterness, that the loss of his eye was of small impor- 
tance, as he doubted not the governor would find him a guide to 
the gallows. His words were soon fulfilled. When Capt. Chiese- 
man was brought in, his wife accompanied him, and, kneeling be- 
fore Governor Berkeley, declared that she had urged her husband 
to rebellion, and implored that if one must die it might be herself. 
In the presence of her husband, Berkeley applied to her a dis- 
honoring epithet, and ordered her husband's execution by the 
gibbet. But malice was disappointed in this case. Before the 
time appointed for his execution, Chieseman died in prison.* 

When William Drummond was captured, Berkeley's malignant 
joy passed the bounds of decency. Coming from his ship to the 
shore, he saluted the defenceless captive with a Ionv bend of the 
body, and addressed him with mock politeness : " Mr. Drum- 
mond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any 
man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half 
an hour ! " A court-martial sat on the case at the house of John 
Bray. The brave patriot was condemned, and as soon as a 
gibbet could be prepared he was executed. Berkeley's hatred 

1 Richmond Euquirer 1st, 6th, 8th and 12th September, 1804. T. M.'s account, in Force, 
I. 29. 

2 Ingram's Proceedings, Force, 31-33. Bancroft, II. 230. 

8 Bancroft, II. 230. ■'Ingram's Proceedings, Force, 33, 34. 



JSfathaniel Bacon. 



229 



burned beyond the grave. He pursued the wife of Drummond 
with fines and confiscations, and would willingly have brought 
her also to a traitor's death. But even Charles, the reigning 
king, was moved in her favor. His protection was extended, 
and she was restored to the possessions which the governor's 
persecutions had taken from her.' 

How far Berkeley would have gone in his work of death if he 
had not been contravened, we cannot tell. Daily additions were 
made to his prisoners. But news of the rebellion (so called) 
having been carried to the king, he had issued a commission 
appointing Herbert Jeffries lieutenant-governor, and uniting him 
with Sir John Berry and Francis Morrison as commissioners to 
inquire and act as to the state of the colony. A regiment of 
regular troops accompanied them. They arrived January 39th, 
1677. 

Although armed with full powers, the commissioners had re- 
ceived instructions to use all proper means for restoring peace ; 
and a royal proclamation offered pardon to all who would sub- 
mit, except Bacon, who was now beyond their reach. ^ 

But Berkeley continued to thirst for blood. Already eleven 
victims had been hurriedly tried by martial law and executed. 
The commissioners strenuously objected to the continuance of mar- 
tial law, and the vindictive governor was obliged to yield. But 
he had already provided for this contingency, so as to continue 
his bloody work. A court of oyer and terminer, without appeal, 
v^^as set up, and in this the juries were all free-holders and bigoted 
royalists. Convictions went on, followed speedily by executions 
on the gallows. Some historians have, either ignorantly or de- 
signedly, sought to minimize the cruelty of Berkeley and his ad- 
herents by stating that " no man suffered capitally," * and that 
"no person was put to death by martial law except din-ing the 
subsistence of the rebellion."* But, in fact, a number of trials 
and capital executions under martial law occurred in January, 
1677, four months after the death of Bacon.^ And the pi-etended 
trials by jury were wrought out under influences worse than mar- 
tial law itself. 

When Giles Bland was convicted, March 8th, 1677, he pleaded 
a special pardon from the king, which the commissioners had 
brought over, but which Berkeley had taken into his own posses- 
sion and unlawfully suppressed, with the fixed resolve that this 

IT. M., in Force, 23. Bancroft, II. 231. Hening, II. 546. Proclamation of Charles, 
Burk, Append., II. 264, October, 1677. 

2 True and Faithful Account by John Berry and Francis Morrison, Burk, Append., II, 254. 
'Dr. Robertson's America, I. 425. < Grahame's Colon. Hist., 1. 126. 

* The records are in Heniug, II. 645-547. 



330 A History of the United States of America. 

man should die.^ And so Bland, with the calmness of conscious 
innocence, met his fate. His name descended to a patriot family. 

Lawrence had caused Bacon's body to be interred in a secret 
spot, and the coffin was pressed down by massive stones. Berke- 
ley's vindictive search for it was vain. Lawrence also escaped 
the gibbet, having been drowned in a swollen branch which he 
attempted to cross while fleeing from his pursuers. 

It was now time to stop the governor's judicial murders. His 
own warmest friends were horrified by his virulence. When a 
burgess from Northampton county returned home he declared to a 
colleague that " he believed the governor would have hanged half 
the country if they had let him alone." Even King Charles H., 
with all his levity and hypocrisy, was shocked when he heard of 
the executions. We have authentic evidence that the king was 
heard to say that " that old fool had hanged more men in that 
naked country than he had done for the murder of his father." '^ 

The General Assembly intervened, and implored the governor 
to shed no more blood, for none could tell where or when it would 
terminate. More than twenty victims had already been executed. 

Berkeley was compelled to heed the assembly's action ; for 
they had proved themselves a ready instrument against the rebels, 
having passed acts of attainder against the dead and confiscations 
upon the living ; having pronounced Bacon a traitor, and re- 
pealed his laws ; and having even gone so far in subserviency as 
to enact that any one speaking mutinously or contemptuously 
concerning the governor should either receive thirty stripes upon 
his person or pay eight hvmdred pounds of tobacco.^ Reluc- 
tantly this English cavalier and colonial governor desisted from 
his pursuit of vengeance. 

He sailed from the colony in April. The public emotions were 
of joy, and found vent in discharges of cannon and displays of 
fireworks. 

A deep humiliation awaited him in England. We have two 
accounts, apparently conflicting, as to his treatment by his mon- 
arch. One is that Charles refused to receive him at court, and 
that when the old cavalier heard of the remark the king had 
made concerning his course in Virginia his heart was so deeply 
mortified and depressed that he never recovered. A chronicler, 
very favorable in spirit to royalty, has given his testimony that 
Berkeley " died of a broken heart." * But others purporting to 

IT. M.'s account, in Force, 24. 

2 Ihid. Bancroft, II. 232. in substance. 

SHening, 11. 385. Bancroft, II. 232. 

* George Chalmers' Revolt of Amer. Colonies, I. 164. 



Nathaniel Bacon. 231 

write history have told us that King Charles approved of Berke- 
ley's course in the colony, and that during the last sickness of the 
former governor the king sent often to make kind inquiries as to 
his health ! ^ Both of these seemingly inconsistent statements 
may have an element of truth ; for Charles II. was a consummate 
hypocrite, and could not afford to alienate finally a courtier as 
faithful to him as Sir William Berkeley. 

Thus ended the movement called, by misnomer, " Bacon's Re- 
bellion." Upon the departure of Berkeley, Sir Herbert Jeffries 
became governor, and all parties sought to heal the wounds and 
calm the troubled spirits of the unhappy colony. But the imme- 
diate effects were depressing. The only city of Virginia had 
been burned to the ground. Availing himself of the insurrec- 
tion as a pretext, King Charles refused to grant a favorable char- 
ter, which was said to have been prepared, and gave a miserable 
substitute, which imparted no privileges, guaranteed no liberties, 
removed no burdens, redressed no wrongs. 

Jamestown had contained only eighteen dwellings, with the 
state-house, the time-honored church, and a few storehouses. The 
seat of government was transferred to Williamsburg in 1700. 
' The people continued to live on their plantations, generally 
near some beautiful river or bold stream, which turned their mills 
and brought to them the produce of foreign climes. The houses 
were generally of wood, and few had second stories. The more 
wealthy planters often had as many as seventy horses and three 
hundred sheep. The laws were simjDle. Education was not gen- 
erally diffused ; schools and colleges could hardly be said to exist 
as means of general culture, although William and Mary College 
received a royal charter in 1691. The affluent sent their sons to 
England for education ; the medium classes and the poor gave 
to their children such knowledge of books as they had them- 
selves, or as " the old field schoolmaster" could impart, and this 
was generally sufficient for the proper discharge of the duties 
of life. 

From the time of the movement under Bacon we note a change 
in the cavalier spirit. Many still continued to love and reverence 
the mother country ; but the eyes of all vs^ere opened to the evils 
and oppressions of her rule. The result was that, in the next 
century, men like the Washingtons, the Marshalls, the Lees, the 
Pendletons, the Wythes, the Randolphs, the Jeffersons and the 
Henrys, with all their loyalty and admiration of the English in- 
stitutions, were ready to learn that they did not suit America, 
1 Beverley, 77. Keith, 162. 



232 A Histo7y of the United States of America. 

and that independence was what the colonies really needed and 
ought to demand. 

The revolution of 16S8, which drove the Stuart dynasty from 
the throne and placed William and Mary there, was the begin- 
ning of a signally prosperous period to Virginia. The grant to 
Culpepper and Arlington was deprived of all power to do harm. 
Even Culpepper himself learned while he was governor to be 
moderate in his demands. The governors Lord Howard of Ef- 
fingham, Nicholson, Andros, Nott, Spotswood, Drysdale, Carter, 
Gooch, Dinwiddie, even Dunmore to some extent, governed for 
the good of the colony, and for the gradual development of the 
great material resources of Virginia in mines, field and forest. 

The Indians in the eastern part of the colony had received the 
death-blow of their power at the hands of Bacon and his army ; 
but west of the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains they 
continued to be a source of alarm and horror to the families which 
were constantly pressing in for settlement of that fertile and 
lovely region. IMilitary movements against them were frequent. 

Finally, in 1774, during the governorship of Dunmore, a mil- 
itary force of about two thousand riflemen from the counties of 
Berkeley, Hampshire, Frederick, Shenandoah, Augusta and Bot- 
etourt, commanded by a brave and experienced officer, Gen. An- 
drew Lewis, met a formidable Indian army near Point Pleasant, 
on the tributary waters of the Ohio river. The battle was joined 
October loth, and was one of the bloodiest and most sternly con- 
tested of all the Indian conflicts. 

The savages were commanded by Cornstalk, a gigantic warrior 
of tried courage and skill. He was often seen gliding from tree 
to tree, manoeuvring his men and encouraging them by his sten- 
torian cry : " Be strong ! be strong ! " -which rose above the din 
of the conflict.^ 

The battle was fought in border vv^arfare style, behind trees, 
and with stratagems and devices for gaining every advantage. 
Early in the strife, Col. Charles Lewis, a brother of the general, 
was mortally wounded, and with difficulty saved from falling into 
savage hands. Colonel Fleming, while animating his men, was 
three times shot, yet continued in the fight. Colonel Field was 
mortally wounded. The battle lasted from the early morning until 
sunset, with hardly an intermission. At last the skill and valor of 
the whites prevailed even over Indian subtlety. Holding out their 
hats from behind the trees, the riflemen would tempt the savages 
to fire. The hat would drop, and when the warrior rushed for- 
\ Doddridge, 154. Withers' Border Warfare, 129. Kercheval, 152. 



Nathaniel Bacon. 233 

ward to scalp his fancied prey a rifle bullet would bring him 
down. The Indians began to give way. The whites pressed 
them with ceaseless vigor, and finally drove them from the battle- 
field with heavy loss. The victory was complete ; but it was 
dearly bouo-ht. Two field officers were killed, a third desperately 
wounded. ^ More than half the captains and subaltern officers 
and one hundred and forty privates were slam or wounded. ihe 
savages, however, had received a crushing blow. They sullenly 
retired into more western fastnesses. 

' In 1776, when independence was declared, Virginia contained 
about five hundred and seventy-five thousand people, of whom 
about two hundred and twenty thousand were slaves.' 

1 Kercheval, 153. Burk, III. 394. Doadride;e, 154. 
2Comp. Swiuton, 36, with U. S. Census of 1/90. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

New France in America. 

THE modern nations of Europe, even if they neglected the pre- 
cepts of Christianity in their treatment of their colonies, might 
have learned from pagan antiquity a more equitable colonial sys- 
tem than that practiced by themselves. 

The colonies sent out from Asia Minor, Egypt, Carthage, Greece 
and Rome, and which gradually occupied the fairest cities and 
lands bordering on the Bosphorus, the v'Egean, the Mediterranean 
and the North seas, were encouraged and protected by their mo- 
thers, and were not subjected to the ceaseless oppression of navi- 
gation laws, colonial imposts, internal taxes and religious tyranny. 
When the colony was assailed by " barbarians " the mother helped 
her ; and when the mother was involved in war she did what she 
could to avert its horrors from her infant colonies.^ 

But after the discovery and settlement of the West Indies and of 
the great American continent, Spain, France and England, while 
often at war with each other, all agreed in one colonial system ; 
and that was in laying injurious restrictions upon the industry, 
trade, commerce and manufactures of their colonies, in forcing on 
them all the slavery of their own social and religious forms, and 
in treating them as mere sources of supply and development for 
the selfish wants of the mother country.^ 

One of the most grievous burdens borne by the American col- 
onies of all these European nations was the part they were inev- 
itably forced to take in the wars of the mother country — wars 
which, in most cases, originated from causes set in motion in the 
Old World, and in which the colonies had no interest and no con- 
trol. 

We are now to review^ briefly some of these wars. No calm 
and accurate student will fail to see that the contest of arms gen- 
erally called " King William's war," which was waged from 1689 
to 1697; that called "Queen Anne's war," from 1707 to 1713; 

1 Plinv, Hist. Kat., III. 3, 4 ; IV. 35. Whittaker's Hist, of Manchester, 1. 1, c. 3. Aul. Gel. 
Noctes Atticte, XVI. 13. Spauheim, in Usu. Numlsmat., XIII. Gibbons' Dec. and Fall, I. 
43, Mi!m;in's edit. 

2 Read Bancroft, III. 109-119. 

[ 234 ] 



New France in America. 235 

and that called "King George's war," from 1744 to 1748, all origi- 
nated from causes essentially European, and not in anywise start- 
ing from America. And yet the colonies were involved in the 
bloody sweep of these wars, and suffered from them in losses of 
pi^operty, lives and progress, and in forms of cruelty and torture 
of which the mother country had no experience. 

We have noted that France had not been sluggish in the work 
of discovery in North America ; that as early as 1^03 her fishing 
smacks had visited the banks of Newfoundland ; that in 1506 the 
French navigator Denys had explored and made a chart of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence and the adjoining coast ; that Verrazani, 
in the service of France, had in 1^34 exj^lored the coast of North 
America from the neighborhood of what is now Wilmington, in 
North Carolina, to Nova Scotia, and had bestowed the name of 
"New France" upon all this region ; that De Alonts, accompanied 
by Samuel De Champlain, had made a permanent settlement at 
Port Royal in 160:; (two vears before the settlement of James- 
town) ; and that in 1608 Champlain had established a trading- 
post on the St. Lawrence river, which he called Qiiebec, and from 
which sprang the great city of that name.^ 

In 1637, during the reign of King James L, the folly of the 
Duke of Buckingham, acting upon the pride and jealousy of the 
French minister of state, Richelieu, had involved England and 
France in a war unworthy of two great nations. 

England had no success except in America. Port Royal, a 
small trading station, fell into her hands. Encouraged by this, 
Sir David Kirke and his two brothers, Louis and Thomas, as- 
cended the St. Lawrence in 1628 and summoned Qiiebec to sur- 
render ; the garrison was weak, but Champlain replied defiantly, 
and the assailants withdrew. Yet Richelieu sent no supplies, 
and the garrison was reduced to the verge of starvation. In 1629 
Kirke appeared again with his squadron, and the defenders of 
Qiiebec welcomed him as a deliverer and promptly surrendered. 
Thus England became the conqueror of the great rocky plateau 
"• Stadacona " and of the infant Quebec, when the town consisted 
of a few wretched hovels tenanted by about one hundred half- 
starved men.^ Not a port in North America remained in the 
hands of the French. This was one hundred and thirty years 
before Qiiebec made the name of General Wolfe immortal. 

In May, 1629, peace was made between France and England. 
Quebec, Cape Breton and the undefined Acadia — in short, all that 
was properly claimed as New France — came back to the old mon- 

1 Chapter V. - Memoires, Hazard, I. 285, 287. Bancroft, I. 334. 



'J 



6 A Histo7'y of the United States of America. 



archy. Canada and the adjoining regions were again open to, 
French colonization. 

But France, though active and vigorous as a discoverer and ex- 
plorer, was indifferent and indolent as a colonizer. Her people 
were genial and excitable, enjoying intensely the healthful air,^ 
clear and rapid rivers, and game-crowded forests of America, 
but very little disposed to settle down to the drudgery of felling 
the trees and cultivating the lands, or even of building up and 
inhabiting the towns. Another cause which made French colon- 
ization slow and inefficient in this region was found in the relent- 
less and deadly hostility of the savages known as the " Five 
Nations," consisting of the tribes of the Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and known by the general 
name of Iroquois. Champlain had three times made war upon 
them, and had been defeated and driven back with wounds and 
shame to himself and death to many of his followers.' 

These formidable warriors never forgot nor forgave these pro- 
vocations. They looked on the French as their enemies. Occa- 
sionally some semblance of a treaty of peace was attempted ; but 
soon the semblance passed away, and the old hatred broke out 
afresh. The pleasant and versatile Frenchmen were signally suc- 
cessful in making other Indians their friends, but never perma- 
nently conciliated the Iroquois. 

The English colonists were more fortunate. It is true the 
Oneida, the Onondaga and Cayuga warriors had left some bloody 
traces of their raids as far as the mouth of the Susquehanna, the 
eastern counties of Maryland, and the highlands of Virginia. 
This induced the Governor of Virginia, Lord Howard, of Effing- 
ham, and Governor Dongan, of New York, to invite a meeting 
of the embassadors of all five of the tribes at Albany in July, 
1684.^ Here the two governors met them, and here Cadianne, 
the Mohawk orator, made speeches replete with savage eloquence 
and sagacity. The result was a treaty of peace with all the tribes, 
by which the English colonies were not only saved from their at- 
tacks, but were able to rely on them as allies in wars with the 
French and the savages uniting with them. 

De la Barre, the Governor of Canada, was greatly chagrined 
by this treaty. He determined to strike a heavy blow at the Iro- 
quois, and for this purpose, in 1684, led a force of six hundred 
French soldiers, four hundred Indian allies, four hundred carriers, 
and three hundred extra troops for a garrison, against the Indian 
fortification near the outlet of the present Rideau canal. But the 

1 Bancroft, II. 417. 2 Colden, in Bancroft, II. 419. Stephens' Comp. U. S., pp. 110, IIL 



New France in America. 337 

poisonous August exhalations from the swamps of Ontario utterly 
disabled his army. He was obliged to ask terms of peace from 
the warriors he had expected to exterminate. He was listened to 
wnth haughty disdain by Garangula, of the .Senecas, who well 
knew his impotence, and replied to his threats with savage satire. 
De la Barre accepted humiliating terms, and leaving his red allies 
at the mercy of their enemies, hastily returned to Canada.^ 

All these influences were imfavorable to the advance of French 
colonization. But for the presence of a powerful religious ele- 
ment, it is doubtful whether France would ever have become 
strong enough in North America to justify a serious struggle 
with force of arms. 

Champlain was himself devout according to the faith of the 
Roman church, and to him has been attributed the high senti- 
ment that " the salvation of a soul is worth more than the con- 
quest of an empire."^ He admired the simplicity and voluntary 
poverty of the Franciscan monks, and brought over Le Caron, 
Viel and Sagard, priests of this order, who labored assiduously 
among the natives. Le Caron, on foot or paddling a bark canoe, 
had passed to the north into the hunting grounds of the Wyan- 
dots, and gone among the Mohawks in what is now New York, 
and penetrated westward, receiving food and shelter from the red 
men, until he had reached the rivers that run into Lake Huron."* 

But these earnest brothers were soon outstripped in zeal and 
self-sacrilicing labors by men from another society of the Roman 
church. Ignatius Loyola had completed the organization of 
"the Society of Jesus" just about the time when John Calvin's 
" Institutes " were published to the world. Whatever errors in 
the tract of ages may have become crystallized in the creed and 
forms of the Roman church, she has retained the foundation rock 
of truth in the Nicene Creed. And she has retained millions of 
zealous adherents. To encourage and strengthen these is the 
cherished object of the Jesuits, whose vows are poverty, chastity, 
absolute obedience, and a constant readiness to go on missions 
against heresy and heathenism. " Immediately on the institution 
of their society their missionaries, kindling with a heroism that 
defied every danger and endured every toil, made their way to the 
ends of the earth ; they raised the emblem of man's salvation on 
the Moluccas, in Japan, in India, in Thibet, in Cochin China, and 
in China ; they penetrated Ethiopia and reached the Abyssinians ; 
they planted missions among the Caftres ; in California ; on the 

1 La Hontan, in Bancroft, II. 421. Stephens' Comp. U. S., Ill, 112. 
2Le Jeune, Brieve Relation, 1632. Bancroft, III. 119. 
8 Sagard's Hist, du Canada. Bancroft, III. 118 (1616). 



238 A History of the United States oj" America. 

banks of the Maraiihon ; in the plains of Paraguay ; they invited 
the wildest of barbarians to the civilization of Christianity." ^ 

A succession of these Jesuit fathers came from France to North 
America. Brebeuf, Daniel, Lallemand, and others of like spirit 
penetrated the wilderness, making their patient and toilsome way 
to the tribe of the Hurons on the great lake of that name. No 
difficulties stopped them, no dangers deten-ed them. Their souls 
were filled with one purpose — the salvation of the souls of the 
Indians. These brave, untiring labors made a profound impression 
on the red man ; nor have -we a right to doubt that many genuine 
renewals and conversions took place. 

But the greater number of the savages remained unchanged. 
Wars were incessant between the tribes ; and the Jesuit mission- 
aries encountered, with unflinching courage, all their horrors. In 
September, 1641, Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues, two heroic 
Jesuits, set out in a bark canoe from the land of the Hurons and 
penetrated deeply into territory now within the bounds of the 
United States. Raymbault, wasted by consumption, returned in 
the summer of the next year, and died at Quebec in October. 
Jogues, with a converted Huron chief, the faithful Ahasistari, fell 
into the hands of the Mohawks, who were at war with the Hurons. 

They were led in triumph from village to village between the 
St. Lawrence and the Mohawk rivers. Everywhere they endured 
the running of the gauntlet and other horrible intlictions of sav- 
age cruelty. Their courage did not fail ; and at one village, an ear 
of Indian corn having been thrown to him, Jogues joyfully used 
a few drops of water, which he found clinging to it, to baptize 
two captive savages who had professed Christianity.^ 

Three Huron chiefs were condemned to the flames, among them 
the brave Ahasistari, who met his fate with composed resignation. 
Jogues expected the same fate, but his life was spared. He was 
kept in captivity, but permitted sometimes to walk in the forests 
of lofty trees near the present site of Albany. Here he cut with 
his knife on several of the trees the figure of a cross and the name 
of Jesus. Sometimes he lifted up his voice in a solitary chant. 
His presence became known to some Dutch traders who came 
occasionally to traffic with the Indians, and they humanely ran- 
somed him froin captivity, and enabled him to return to France. 
A similar series of persecutions and sufferings awaited Father 
Bressani, another Jesuit missionarv, who was in like manner res- 
cued by the Dutch traders.^ 

1 Bancroft's U. S., III. 120. 121. 2 Creuxius, 346. Bancroft, III. 133. 

8 Jogues, Letter from Albany. Creuxius, o'Jb. Bancroft, III. 134. 



Neiv France in America. 339 

For many years these and other equally fearless missionaries 
carried forward the explorings and temporai-y colonizings of 
France in America. The Franciscan Viel had his frail bark 
dashed to pieces in shooting a rapid on his way from the Hurons, 
and was drowned. Father Anne de Noue, in the depth of win- 
ter, left Qiiebec for the mouth of the Sorel, to minister spirit- 
ually to the small garrison there. He lost his w^ay and perished 
in the snows of Canada. Peculiar dangers beset the priests. They 
sedulously sought opportunities to baptize the infant Indian chil- 
dren. Often the savage fathers believed this to be a mystical en- 
chantment practiced on the child, and slew the ministrant Jesuit 
soon after the act.^ 

In the winter of 1645-46 a half-concocted treaty of peace ex- 
isted, and Algonquins, Wyandots and Iroquois joined each other 
in the chase. The wilderness seemed tranquil, but danger lurked 
within. In May, 1646, the undaunted Father Jogues, commis- 
sioned as envoy, ventured among the Mohawks and Onondagas, 
and carried back a favorable report. He knew their dialects ; and 
the French authorities, being very anxious to establish a perma- 
nent alliance with the Five Nations, offered to send him to them 
with ample powers. He accepted the ofler, but, with prophetic 
farewell, he said : '■'■Ibo, scd non redibo " — " I will go, but I shall 
not return." Hardly had he reached the strongholds of the jMo' 
hawks before he was seized as a prisoner. The savages, having 
had a blighted harvest, believed that, as an enchanter, he had 
wrought the harm. A death festival was going on, and as he en- 
tered the cabin of the ceremonial, he received his death-blow. 
His head was hung on the palisades, and his body was thrown 
into the Mohawk river.'' 

This was the signal for war between the Iroquois and Hurons. 
On the morning of July 4, 1648, the village of St. Joseph was 
attacked by the Mohawks when all the Huron braves were absent 
on the chase, and none but women, children and old men left. 
Father Anthony Daniel heard the cries, and hastened to the spot 
only in time to behold the butchery of his converts. He baptized 
many in the moment of death. Mid the flaming wigwams the 
furious Mohawks rushed to the chapel. Daniel serenely met 
them, and for a few seconds awe and astonishment kept them 
from violence. But, quickly, Indian brutality resumed its sway. 
A shower of arrows pierced him, and amid war-whoops and 
threatened tortures, and while offering pravers and mercy for his 
enemies, he died.* 

1 Bancroft, III. 137. 2 Jesuit Relation, 1647, in Bancroft, III. 137, 138. 

3 Relation, 1648, 8-17. Bancroft, III. 138, 139. 



340 A History of the United States of America. 

Within less than a year, in the dead of the Canadian winter, a 
thousand Iroquois fell upon the village of St. Ignatius. Hardly 
one of its four hundred inhabitants escaped. The Huron town 
of St. Louis was attacked, and its group of Indian cabins became 
a slaughter-house. Two indomitable missionaries, Jean de Bre- 
beuf and Gabriel Lallemand, were captured. They exulted in 
martyrdom. Lallemand was delicate in body. He was stripped, 
and wrapped from head to foot with bark filled with resin. Bre- 
beuf was set on a scaffold, and amid the encouraging words of 
his Huron converts, and the frantic cries of their enemies, he was 
cut and gashed and mutilated with knives, in mouth and lip and 
nose, and a hot iron was thrust into his throat. When he and 
his fellow martyr were brought together, Lallemand said in the 
words of Scripture : "We are made a spectacle unto the world, 
and to angels and to men." The pine bark was set on fire, and 
boiling water was poured on the heads of the martyrs. Brebeuf 
was scalped while yet alive, and died after a torture of three 
hours. The weaker victiin died after seventeen hours of inde- 
scribable sufferings. If the Inquisition, sanctioned by the Roman 
church in her persecuting days, had brought permanent disgrace 
upon her name, the tortures inflicted on her Jesuit missionaries, 
and borne with Christ-like resignation, may furnish evidence that 
her errors were the result of centuries of evil tradition, and not 
the result of the Christianity she professed. 

A thoughtful historian has noted the sequel : " It may be asked 
if these massacres quenched enthusiasm. I answer, that the 
Jesuits never receded one foot ; but, as in a brave army new 
troops press forward to fill the places of the fallen, there were 
never wanting heroism and enterprise in behalf of the cross and 
French dominion." ^ 

Gradually the wilderness was penetrated, and the regions lying 
west and south of the great lakes were explored. In August, 
1654, two young fur-traders, smitten with the love of adventure, 
joined a band of the Ottawas, and in their little boats of bark 
ventured on a voyage of fifteen hundred miles. In two years they 
returned, accompanied by fifty canoes, paddled by five hundred 
strong arms. The people of St. Louis, in Canada, welcomed 
them with a salute of cannon, and heard with enthusiasm of vast 
plains, lakes and rivers, and of the powerful Sioux Indians who 
dwelt far west and south of Lake Superior.^ 

The narratives and appeals of the Jesuit explorers, and of other 

private adventurers, at length roused the government of France 

1 Bancroft, III. 141. 

- Jesuit Kelation, 1C5C, c. xiv. Bancroft, III. 115, 116. 



New France in America. 241 

to action. In February, 1663, Colbert, the able minister of Louis 
XIV., began measures for the armed occupation and extension of 
New France. In 1665 a royal regiment was sent over. Tracy, 
old but energetic, was appointed viceroy ; Courcelles, a veteran 
soldier, governor ; and Talon, a man of business and integrity, 
intendant of the colony. Wider discoveries soon followed, in 
which three missionaries — Claude Alloiiez, Claude Dablon and 
Jacques Marquette — were specially active. The discovery of the 
great Mississippi river by De Soto, in 1541, was known; but 
more than a hundred years passed before this " father of waters " 
was descended in almost his whole navigable length. Talon, the 
intendant, when about to return from Canada to France, signal- 
ized his useful power by encouraging this great enterprise.' 

Marquette associated with himself and a few skilled boatmen 
Joliet, of Quebec, who was the special envoy of the government. 
The Potawatomies, over whom Marquette had gained influence, 
heard with wonder of his proposed voyage and sought to dis- 
suade him. They said: "Those distant nations never spare the 
strangers ; their wars fill their borders with bands of warriors ; 
the great river abounds in monsters which devour both men and 
canoes ; the excessive heats bring death." But Marquette was 
not to be dissuaded. He said : " I will gladly lay down my life 
to save souls." And his Indian converts joined him in prayer for 
success. 

On the loth of June, 1673, Marquette, Joliet his associate, with 
five Frenchmen and two Algonquin guides, lifted their two canoes 
and bore them across the narrow portage that divides the Fox 
river from the Wisconsin. For seven days they made their way 
down the Wisconsin between broad prairies and gentle hill-side 
slopes, hearing no sounds but occasionall}- their own voices or the 
ripple of the canoes or the lowing of buffaloes. On the seventh 
day they entered the great Mississippi, and the two canoes, 
" raising their happy sails under new skies and to unknown 
breezes, floated down the calm magnificence of the ocean stream 
over the broad, clear sand-bars, the resort of innumerable water- 
fowl ; gliding past islets that swelled from the bosom of the 
stream with their tufts of massive thickets, and between the wide 
plains of Illinois and Iowa, all garlanded with majestic forests or 
checkered by island groves and the open vastness of the prairie." ^ 

In July they passed " the most beautiful confluence of rivers in 
the world — where the swifter Missouri rushes like a conqueror 

1 Marquette, in Thevenot and Hennepin. Bancroft, III. 156. 
2 Bancroft's U. S., III. 157. 

16 



242 A History of the United States oj America. 

into the calmer Mississippi, dragging it, as it were, hastily to the 
sea." Within less than two hundred miles they passed the mouth 
of the Ohio, then and long afterwards called the Wabash. On 
its banks were the peaceful Shawnee Indians, who had already 
felt the bloody hands of the Iroquois. 

As they passed down, the canes on the banks appeared, grow- 
ing so thickly that the buffalo could not break through them ; the 
insects became almost intolerable ; the prairies faded out of view ; 
forests of whitewood, huge in girth and majestic in height, came 
to the water's edge. And here they found the Chickasaw Indians 
with fire-arms, furnishing proof that they had traded with white 
men. 

Only once were they threatened with savage hostility ; but 
when the mysterious peace-pipe was held aloft the natives ceased 
their war-whoops, and, throwing their bows and quivers into the 
canoes, received the voyagers with primitive hospitality. 

They went down the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ar- 
kansas, to a climate so mild that winter has rains instead of frosts 
and snows. Having satisfied themselves that the great river went 
not to the ocean east of Florida, nor yet to the Gulf of California, 
on the Pacific coast, they set out on their return voyage.^ 

Near the thirty-eighth north parallel they entered tlie river Il- 
linois, and discovered a country with fertile prairies covered -with 
stags and buffaloes, and with lovely rivulets abounding in wild 
duck, swans and wild turkeys. The Indians there entreated Mar- 
quette to reside among them ; but he hastened on. Joliet re- 
turned to Quebec, and his report quickened the zeal of Colbert 
for New France. Marquette labored quietly in preaching salva- 
tion to the Miamis, near the present site of Chicago. Two years 
afterwards, in 1675, he entered a little river in Michigan, and, 
erecting an altar, solemnized the rites of his church. He asked 
to be left alone for half an hour, and when his comrades returned 
his soul had left the body. He died on the banks of a stream 
which still bears his name.^ 

His example of patient toil and exploration was not lost. Ro- 
bert Cavalier De la Salle, a Frenchman of good family, had re- 
nounced a competent inheritance and joined the society of Jesuits, 
though he did not assume priestly duties. He came to Canada, 
and was for some time a fur-trader. Encouraged by Talon and 
Courcelles, he explored Lake Ontario and ascended to Lake Erie, 
spending on his way days in the neighborhood of the mighty 

1 Marquette Map. Compare Charlevoix, III. 312, 397. 
2 Charlevoix, III. 313, 314. 



New France in America. 243 

cataract of Niagara. Returning to France, and aided by Count 
Frontenac, he obtained the rank of a noble, and a grant which 
covered a large domain and secured almost exclusive traffic with 
the Five Nations.^ 

Encouraged and aided by the high powers in France, he entered 
upon a plan for the navigation of the Mississippi to its mouth, 
and for securing to his king all the adjoining tei'ritory. In com- 
pany with the Franciscan father, Louis Hennepin, in the winter 
of 1679, he penetrated what is now the State of Illinois by its 
rivers. In 1680, Hennepin, accompanied by Du Gay and Alichael 
D'Accault as oarsmen, followed the Illinois river to the Missis- 
sippi, and then ascended the great river to its falls, where he en- 
graved the cross and the arms of France on a tree near the largest 
cataract. They returned by way of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers 
to the French mission at Green Bay.^ 

After some delays. La Salle, in a capacious barge, with a few 
companions and guides, made his way down the Mississippi to its 
mouth. His voyage was early in 16S2, and before the end of that 
year its result was known in France ; and Louis XIV., now in 
the proudest period of his long reign, gladly encouraged his minis- 
ters in measures for securing for his monarchy and glory a western 
empire of vast extent and riches which seemed open to his grasp. 

But the brave La Salle did not reap the fruits of his own 
enterprise. Intent on colonizing the new country to which the 
name of Louisiana had been given, he came, early in 1684, with 
four ships and two hundred and eighty persons, one hundred of 
whom were soldiers, to take possession. He was delayed by dis- 
asters, and kept for precious months at St. Domingo and in other 
places. On the loth day of January, 1685, they were near the 
mouth of the Mississippi ; but even La Salle thought not so, and 
they sailed by. Perceiving his error soon, he urged return, but 
his naval commander, Beaujeu, refused ; and so they came to 
the Bay of Matagorda, in what is now Texas. The store-ship 
was wrecked by the carelessness of the pilot. Misfortunes fol- 
lowed in pitiless succession. A settlement was made, and the 
arms of France were carved on the stately forest trees of Texas. 
Thus was a title acquired which was never relinquished or pub- 
licly conveyed, except in the cession of Louisiana to the LTnited 
States.* 

La Salle was a giant in force of will. He resolved to make 
his way on foot to his friends in Canada, and return to the help 

1 Bancroft, III. 162. 2 Hennepin's New Discoveries, 173, 184. 

8 Joutel, 92. Bancroft, III. 1G3-171. 



244 ^ History of the United States of America. 

of the almost extinct colony. He set out in January, 16S7, with 
sixteen men. In March they had reached a branch of Trinity 
river, beyond the basin of the Colorado. Here a conspiracy 
among the men, headed by Duhaut and L'Archeveque, came to a 
crisis. They first murdered young Moranget, the nephew of La 
Salle, and then shot down the heroic leader himself, leaving his 
remains, without burial, to be devoured by wild beasts.' 

But France did not relinquish her claim to the great region in 
North America penetrated by her missionaries and explorers, 
though never permanently settled by her colonists. Along the 
lines of discovery her officers and agents had caused to be depos- 
ited in many safe places brass plates engraved with the name 
and arms of France, and claiming the country in that name.^ 

Thus, when James H. was driven from the throne of England, 
and William of Orange and Mary his wife were recognized as 
king and queen. North America was claimed, in all its important 
parts, by the three great monarchies, England, France and Spain. 
England held the Atlantic seacoast from Acadia to Florida, and 
her colonies claimed the interior as far at least as the Mississippi ; 
France held a few cities and fortified posts in Canada, and claimed 
Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Acadia, a part of Maine, and an un- 
defined region of immense extent stretching from the northern 
lakes down the Mississippi, and including Louisiana and Texas ; 
Spain held Florida, Mexico and its dependencies, and asserted 
some claim to Louisiana, Texas and the Californias. A Divine 
Power was preparing the destinies of the United States. 

1 Joutcl, 120, 137, 148. Bancroft, III. 173. 2 Eggleston's Household U. S., 117. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 
King William's War. 

LOUIS XIV. of France espoused the cause of the dethroned 
King James II. of England, and, declaring war, prepared to 
support his pretensions by force of arms. But, happily for the 
cause of human freedom and progress, the expectation of the 
arrogant monarch of France that his war in behalf of what he 
claimed to be " a legitimate succession " would bring to his side as 
allies the other leading monarchs of Europe, was disappointed. 

Austria had been already invaded and encroached upon by 
Louis, and therefore took sides with England. Holland was, of 
course, with William and Alary. Even the Spanish Netherlands 
had suffered so much by France under Louis that they were ar- 
rayed against him. And so Spain, the most unreserved of all 
upholders of the Roman church, took sides wnth Protestant Eng- 
land in this war. France found herself alone in the attempt of 
her despotic sovereign to prevent the English people from reform- 
ing their own government.^ 

The causes of the war were wholly of European origin ; and 
yet the English colonies in North America were so deeply inter- 
ested in the questions and results involved that they were soon 
actively in the struggle. 

In America there was great apparent disparity in the strength 
of the belligerents. The entire French population did not exceed 
eleven thousand three hundred persons, barely a tenth part of the 
population of New England and New York with the colonies 
adjacent, and not one-twentieth part of English North America.^ 
But the French adult males were almost all hardy soldiers, trained 
in woodland craft. They had also controlling influence with 
numerous warlike Indian tribes ; but to ofl'set this the " Five 
Nations " were strongly hostile to them. 

As soon as war was declared the French government reap- 
pointed the veteran Count Frontenac Governor of New France, 
and directed him to recover Fludson's Bay, to protect Acadia, 
and to make a descent from Canada on the English colonies. So 
1 Bancroft, III. 174-176. s French census of 1688. Bancroft, III. 177. 

[ 245 1 



246 A History of the United States of America. 

hopeful were they of subduing New York that De Callieres was, 
in advance, appointed governor of that province, and was di- 
rected, after conquering it, to permit the English members of the 
Roman church to remain, but to banish the Protestants into Penn- 
sylvania and New England.' 

But Frontenac, on reaching the St. Lawrence, found that the 
Iroquois had already taken up the hatchet and scalping-knife 
against France. On the 35th of August, 16S9, these formidable 
warriors, fifteen hundred strong, reached La Chine, on the Isle of 
Montreal, at daybreak, and, finding all asleep, set fire to the houses, 
and in less than an hour massacred two hundred people in modes 
too horrible for description. After a sharp contest they captured 
Montreal itself, making many prisoners, and becoming masters of 
the fort and of the whole island. The last act of the retiring 
governor, Denonville, was to order Fort Frontenac, on Lake On- 
tario, to be evacuated and razed to the ground. From the Three 
Rivers to Mackinaw, not a French town and hardly a trading- 
post remained. 

Frontenac used every means ni his power to urge to active hos- 
tility the Indian tribes who were imder his influence. Unhap- 
pily, they had only too much cause to hate the English whites. 
Thirteen years before this war, at Cocheco, in what is now the 
State of Maine, three hundred and fifty unsuspecting natives had 
been captured and shipped to Boston, where they were sold as 
slaves.'' This deed was remembered, and, war now openly exist- 
ing, the tribe of the Abenakis of Penacook sought for vengeance. 

Richard Waldron was eighty years old — a brave man — a trader 
and a magistrate, who had often pronounced harsh, though pro- 
bably just, judgments against Indian delinquents. Two squaws 
went to his house, June 37th, 1689, and asked shelter. They were 
permitted to lodge on the floor. In dead of night they unbarred 
the doors and admitted the savages. The brave old man, shout- 
ing, " What now ? what now ? " seized his sword and defended 
himself until stunned by a blow. The Indians set him upright 
in a chair on his own table and mocked him with the words : 
" Now, judge Indians again." Some who owed him money 
gashed his breast with their knives, each debtor, in making his 
gash, exclaiming : " That crosses out my account." Faint and 
reeling from loss of blood, Waldron fell and died. Twenty- 
three whites were killed and twenty-nine led captives into the 
wilderness.^ The settlements on the Penobscot and St. Johns 

1 Bancroft, III. 179. 2 Quackenbos' U. S., 135. Bancroft, III. 180. 

3 Bancroft, III. 180, 181. Giles, in Drake, 1877. Quackenbos, 135. 



King William s War. 247 

were overcome, and the Abenakis recovered all their old hunting- 
grounds. 

New England commissioners, in September, 1689, visited the 
Mohawks at Albany and sought an alliance ; but in vain. These 
Indians answered : " We have burned Montreal ; we are allies of 
the English, but we will not take u^^ arms against the Abenakis." 

Frontenac made strenuous efforts to win the Iroquois to friend- 
ship, or at least to neutrality. Knowing Indian nature well, he 
concluded that a strong impression favorable to France would be 
made on the " Five Nations " if he could pass them and strike a 
heavy blow upon the English settlements. 

In January, 1690, a body of Frenchmen and Indians, one hun- 
dred and ten strong, led by De Mantet, St. Helene and D'lber- 
ville, set out from Montreal, and waded for twenty-two days 
through snows and morasses, forests and rivers, to attack the 
town of Schenectady, in New York. The townspeople were 
resting in perfect sense of security, having, it is said, moulded 
snow sentries and set them up at the gates. Just before mid- 
night the war-w^hoop was raised, the houses were fired, and in- 
discriminate massacre began. Some of the people, half-clad, fled 
through the wintry snows to Albany. Sixty were murdered, 
among whom were seventeen children and ten Africans. War 
showed itself in its true horrors in the wilds of the New World.^ 
But the New York settlers had some revenge. A party from 
Albany, with Mohawks as allies, overtook the French and In- 
dians retreating from Schenectady, routed them, and killed and 
captured twenty-five. 

A marauding party, led by Hertel — half French, half Indian — 
who had fifty-two followers, of whom three were his sons and 
two his nephews, in March, 1690, fell suddenly on the settle- 
ment at Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua river. 

A bloody contest followed, but the few defenders were over- 
come. Houses, barns and cattle in their stalls were burned. Fifty- 
four prisoners were carried away, chiefly w^omen and children. 
They were compelled to bear on their shoulders the spoils from 
their own houses. Robert Rogers refused his burden, and was 
slowly burned to death by heaps of leaves kindled round him. 
Mary Furguson, a girl of fifteen, w^ept from fatigue and suffering, 
and was first scalped and then put to death. Mehetabel Goodwin 
lingered apart in the snow, seeking to lull her crying infant. 
Furious at her delay, a savage dashed the head of the child 
against a tree and hung its body among the branches. Mary 

I Stephens' Comp. U. S., 113. Bancroft, III. 182. Goodrich, 123. 



248 A History of the United States of America, 

Plaisted's child was drowned, so that, eased of her burden, she 
might walk the faster.^ 

Such facts history publicly retains only to show what Indian 
nature, let loose by war, was capable of; how inevitable was 
their extermination, and how deep is the shame resting on French- 
men, Spaniards and Englishmen, who, knowing the war usages of 
these savages, nevertheless co-operated with them as allies. 

Roused by these barbarous outrages, the English colonies re- 
solved that, if possible, Canada and her dependencies should be 
wrested from the hands of the French. For this purpose, union 
was indispensable. The first American " Congress " assembled in 
New York in May, 1690. Massachusetts was the leader in this 
movement. Delegates attended by letters of invitation from her 
general court, addressed to the separate colonies as far south as 
Maryland.^ At that congress a joint military and naval move- 
ment against Canada was planned. 

The attack was to be in several parts. Sir William Phipps 
sailed with a force to Port Royal, which soon surrendered. 
Acadia was conquered. New England was mistress of the coast 
to the eastern extremity of Nova Scotia. 

The expedition of imited New York and New England troops 
which advanced against Montreal as far as Lake Champlain 
failed and retreated because of estrangements among the leaders. 
Leislcr, the man who had assumed the governorship of New 
York, charged Governor Winthrop with want of co-operation. 
The New England troops openly laid the blame of failure upon 
Leisler's son-in-law, ISIilbourne, who, as commissary, had failed 
in furnishing needed supplies.'^ 

A third force sent out by Massachusetts, and commanded by 
Governor Phipps, consisted of thirty-four vessels and two thou- 
sand troops, chiefly citizen-soldiers. They sounded their way up 
the St. Lawrence, intent on the capture of Qiiebec. But the in- 
defatigable Frontenac had learned of their approach through an 
Abenaki scout, who hurried for twelve days through the woods 
to warn him. Frontenac reached Qiiebec the 14th of October, 
1690. The men were all put under arms ; the fortifications were 
strengthened. On the i6th the INIassachusetts fleet appeared, and 
cast anchor near Beauport, in the stream. But it was too late. 
The flag of truce demanding a surrender was dismissed with a 
scofRng refusal. The almost impregnable ramparts were manned 
with more trained soldiers than the fleet carried. The hoped-for 

iBancroft.III. 182, 183. Goodrich, 123. 
SBancroft, II [. 183. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 98. 
8 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 113. Bancroft, III. 184. 



King William'' s War. 349 

diversion on Montreal had failed. Phipps retired with his fleet. 
A storm scattered them, and one bearing sixty men was wrecked 
on Anticosti. France rejoiced in the easily-won triumph.' 

Thus the exhausting and expensive expeditions of the colonies 
to conquer Canada had been fruitless. The joint attacks of 
French and savages continued to shock the distant settlements. 
In January, 1693, a considerable body, coming in snow-shoes 
from the east, burst on the town of York and carried away all its 
people, offering no terms but captivity or death. 

A single French ship-of-war, anchoring in the harbor of Port 
Royal, re-established the dominion of their country in Acadia.'' 

The government of England resolved on the conquest of 
Canada, and sent a fleet for the purpose in 1693. But, after 
suffering a repulse at Martinicj^ue, the fleet sailed for Boston, 
scourged by yellow-fever, which destroyed two-thirds of the 
mariners and soldiers on board. Offensive operations against 
Canada were, of course, impossible. 

The Indian barbarities continued, and it is the sad duty of his- 
tory to state that the French, and especially the Jesuit leaders 
among them, encouraged and urged on these cruelties. The peo- 
ple of Alaine had made peace with the Abenakis (who belonged 
to the Lenni Lenape family of Indians), but in a short time, solely 
through the inffuence of the Jesuits, they were in ihe field again, 
and under A'illieu, the French commander on the Penobscot, they 
attacked the village of Oyster River, in New Hampshire, and 
killed or carried into captivity ninety-four of its inhabitants. 
The chiefs of the Canadian tribe of Micmacs presented to Fron- 
tenac many scalps of English victims killed on the Piscataqua, 
and he received them graciously.^ The Jesuit missionaries Thury 
and Bigot were specially enthusiastic in urging the savages to 
barbarous war upon the English, and one of the Jesuit historians 
extols these counsels and eulogizes the daring excesses of Taxus, 
the bravest of the Abenakis ! * Thus we learn how feebly, at any 
time, depraved man has realized the love born of faith in Christ. 

One of the episodes of these Indian attacks deserves special 

notice, because it teaches to what resolution and courage the 

human soul was trained by these dangers. In March, 1697, a 

prowling band of savages approached the home of Mr. Dustin, 

near Haverhill, thirty-two miles north of Boston. His wife, 

Hannah Dustin, had an infant seven days old. Warned in time, 

the husband and father rode hastily to the house, and finding it 

1 Cotton Mather. Hutchinson. Charlevoix. Bancroft, III. 185, 

2 Bancroft, III. 18G. s/fi'rf.. 187. 

iClerque. Charlevoix, in Bancroft, III., 1S7, 188,. 



350 A Histo7'y of the United States of America. 

impossible to remove the wife and babe, started the other chil- 
dren, seven in number, before him. He intended to save at least 
one by the fleetness of his horse. But his heart could not make 
a selection. The savages pressed on behind, but cautiously, as is 
their habit. Keeping between them and his fleeing children, he 
turned in his saddle from time to time and brought his rifle to 
deadly aim. The Indians feared to expose themselves, and gave 
up the pursuit. The father had the joy of seeing his seven chil- 
dren in a place of safety/ 

But meantime the savages set fire to his house, and carried 
ofl* Hannah Dustin, with her infant, her nurse, and a boy from 
Worcester named Samuel Leonardson. Hardly had they entered 
the forest before an Indian snatched fhe babe from the mother 
and dashed its brains out against a tree. But the remaining cap- 
tives bore up with wonderful resolution on their weary march. 
They were led to an island in the Merrimac, just above Concord. 
They were informed that in April they would be conducted to an 
Indian settlement still further in the wilderness, where they would 
have the torture of the gauntlet. They planned an escape. The 
bov Leonardson, Avho seems to have acquired influence with his 
Indian master, asked him : " Where would you strike with a 
tomahawk to kill instantly?" The savage instructed him, and 
he gave the lesson to the two women. 

At night the captives rose. Each arm was nerved by the des- 
perate exigency. There wei'e twelve sleepers — ten warriors, a 
squaw, and a child. At one blow each man was killed ; the 
squaw, though stunned and wounded, was not killed ; the child 
was spared. Hannah Dustin secured the gun, scalping-knife and 
tomahawk of the murderer of her child, and being determined to 
have evidence of her deed of daring, scalped the victims and 
bore away the scalps. In a bark canoe the three resolute avengers 
descended the Merrimac and safely reached the ^vhite settlements. 
Their escape filled the minds of the people with wonder and 
triumph. The general court of Massachusetts voted them a re- 
ward in money, and a granite monument erected on the spot in 
Boscawen, New Hampshire, commemorates their deed.^ The 
tomahawk used by Hannah Dustin is in a museum in the State, 
and the knife used by her was presented in 1S90 by Charles 
Dustin, her great-great-grandson, to a military post of United 
States veterans.^ 

1 Centennial U. S., bv C. B. Taylor, 94, 95. Bancroft, III. 188. 

SDerry's U. S., 74, 75. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 77-78. Centen. U. S., Taylor, 94-96. 
Bancroft, III. IRS, 189. 

» Haverhill Gazette, Washington Post, Dec. 1, 1890, 



King W'illiaju s War 251 

The special efforts of the French were directed to the Iroquois. 
Finding it impossible to make them friends, they summoned 
savage allies in February, 1693, and sought to exterminate the 
Mohawks. The attack was at first successful, for the leading 
chiefs were absent at a war-dance. But this warlike tribe quickly 
rallied, and gave the invaders a bloody reception. The French 
Governor of Montreal had ordered that no quarter should be given 
except to women and children. But the savage allies of the 
French insisted on mercy to the captive warriors. As they were 
retreating with their prisoners, Peter Schuyler, of Albany, who 
had already made terrible attacks on the French in Canada, raised 
two hundred Mohawks, and, pursuing the invaders, slew many of 
them and set free the captives. Therefore, the French historian 
savs the mercy of these Indians was "inexcusable."* 

In 1697, France made a final movement on a wide scale with a 
powerful fleet and a large military force, intending to devastate 
the coast of New England and to conquer New York. But, for- 
tunately for the English colonies, the storms of nature fought with 
them against the French. The fleet was scattered and could not 
co-operate with the land forces, and the whole movement came to 
naught.' 

In September, 1697, the war between England and France was 
ended by the peace of Ryswick. The terms of the treaty were a 
victory for free principles ; for the English revolution of 16S8 
was recognized, and Louis XIV., with James II. still at his court, 
acknowledged William III. as the sovereign of England. 

But in America no gains of territory were made for the colo- 
nies. France retained all of Hudson's Bay, and all the places of 
which she was possessed at the beginning of the war. Her claim 
to the western half of Newfoundland, part of Maine, all of Can- 
ada and the valley of the Mississippi, and Louisiana, including 
the unsettled region as far as Mobile, remained. On the east, 
England claimed to the St. Ci'oix, and France to the Kennebec. 
Boundaries remained undefined.^ Future war was in the womb 
of the treaty itself. 

The colonies south of Pennsylvania had hardly felt " King Wil- 
liam's war" otherwise than in some interruptions to their trade ; 
but New England and New York had suffered heavily in lives 
and losses of property. Moreover, Massachusetts had added to 
her debts by an emission of bills of credit. Yet, in discipline and 
experience great advances had been made. Two necessities had 

1 Bancroft, III. ISO. Taylor's Centen. U. S.. 91. 

2 Bancroft, 111. 191. Goodrich's U. S., 124. ^ Bancroft, III, 192. 



252 A History of the United States of America. 

become apparent : one, the restriction and, if practicable, the ex- 
tinction of the French possessions on the north and west ; the 
other, the amity or the extermination of the Indian tribes within 
their bounds or on their frontiers. This necessity was intensified 
and complicated by the presence of the French. 

Immediately after the peace of Ryswick, the Earl of Bellamont, 
an Irish peer of sound heart and in sympathy with freedom, -was 
appointed p^overnor of all the northern colonies, except Connec- 
ticut and Rhode Island. He arrived in New York in April, 1698. 
One significant event soon followed. The wrongs perpetrated by 
aristocrats on Leisler and Milbourne were partially redressed by 
an appropriation from the New York assembly of money for the 
families of those unjustly executed men.^ 

Pirates had for years lurked in the West Indies and infested the 
coasts of North America. There was some reason to believe that 
Fletcher of New York had connived at their movements and pro- 
bably shared in their nefarious gains. 

In Lynnhaven Bay, in Virginia, a pirate ship, with consummate 
audacity, had seized several merchantmen in full view of a small 
vessel bound up James river. Fortunately, the Shorajn, a fifth- 
rate English man-of-war, was in the waters of Virginia, and her 
captain. Passenger, was paying his respects to the governor, Sir 
Francis Nicholson, at the time the news of the pirate came to 
them. Both hastened aboard the Shoram and sailed towards the 
Capes. At day-break they were alongside the pirate. A despe- 
rate conflict ensued. The ships were nearly equal in size, and the 
outlaws fought for ten hours with the resolution of despair ; but 
at last they were compelled to strike their colors and uncondi- 
tionally surrender.^ 

The Earl of Bellamont was not so successful against the pirat- 
ical movements. The king and the admiralty of England had 
commissioned one Captain William Kidd to make special naval 
war on the pirates ; but, as no suitable ship was furnished to him, 
Bellamont and others associated with him procured an armed ship, 
manned her with a crew, and put Kidd in command, doubtless 
hoping for large money returns from his captures of freebooting 
ships. Instead of doing his appointed work, Kidd, on reaching 
the high seas, turned pirate himself, and led his crew into crime 
with him. For three years he infested the Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans. He is said to have taken immense booty and to have 
buried his treasures somewhere on the coasts of New York or New 
England, and seventy thousand dollars have been actually found. 

1 Bancroft, III. 59. = Beverley, 94, 9.3. Ilening, III. 176, 177. 



King William'' s War. 353 

He burned his vessel and appeared publicly in Boston. He was 
recognized, seized, sent to England, tried and executed as a pirate. 
Suspicions of complicity were openly expressed as to those who 
had furnished him his ship ; but these suspicions were unfounded.^ 

These piracies continued on the American coast. In 17 17, Colo- 
nel Rhett, of South Carolina, pursued the outlaw vSteed Bonnet into 
Cape Fear river, and after a sharp fight captui-ed him and thirty 
of his men. They were tried and hanged in Charleston. Gov- 
ernor Johnson, of the same State, attacked a pirate vessel under 
Richard Worley, who, with his men, fought until all were dead 
except the pirate chief and one man. These, desperately wounded, 
were taken and hanged. In 17 iS, Lieutenant Maynard sailed from 
Virginia, and in Ocracoke inlet came up with the pirate ship of 
John Theach, generally called " Blackbeard." A hand-to-hand 
fight resulted in the death or wounding of all the outlaws ; and 
Maynard sailed back with Blackbeard's head hanging at his bow- 
sprit.'' All who were captured were tried, condemned and exe- 
cuted. The final blow against these coast pirates was struck in 
1733 by the English man-of-war Greyhound^ which captured a 
pirate ship with a large crew and carried them into Rhode Island, 
where, after solemn trial, they were all executed at Newport, July 
19, 1733.' 

From this succinct account of the coast pirates and their end, 
we turn back to the Earl of Bellamont. His administration was 
signalized by one act highly advantageous to the colonies. Count 
Frontenac hoped that, after peace was made between England 
and France, he would be able to wreak upon the "Five Nations" 
a revenge bloody and overwhelming. But Earl Bellamont sup- 
plied these Indians with arms and ammunition, and notified Fron- 
tenac that if the French made any offensive movement, the whole 
disposable military force of the northern English colonies would 
aid the " Five Nations." This was too serious an admonition to 
be unheeded. Frontenac desisted from his intended war ; and 
soon afterwards peace was agreed on between the French and the 
Iroquois.* 

Bellamont died in New York in 1701, I'espected and beloved 
by all friends of equitable government. His successor, Edward 
Hyde (Lord Cornbury) was a relative of Qtieen Anne, but "had 
every vice of character necessary to discipline a colony into self- 
reliance and resistance." * 

1 Taylor, Centen. U. S., 96. Goodrich, 135. Thallieimer's Eclec. U. S., 116, 117, 119 (note). 
E^gleston's Household U. S., 102, 103. 

2 Eggleston. 103. Grahame, III. 87. Oldmixon. I. 402. s Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 135. 
< Stephens' Comp. U. S., 114. * Bancroft, 111. 60. 



254 -^ History of the United States of America 

He was Governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 
170S, and established for himself a permanent reputation as the 
meanest and worst of all the governors appointed by England for 
her American colonies. He retired from the yellow fever in New 
York, in 1703, to Jamaica, on Long Island. Finding that the best 
dwelling-house in the town -was the manse of the Dutch Reformed 
Church, held by the pastor, Mr. Hubbard, he requested that he 
might have it for his use. His request was courteously granted ; 
but when the pestilence had subsided, and he was preparing to 
return to New York, he refused to return the house to its owner, 
and with bigoted meanness made it over to the Episcopal Church.^ 
He persecuted with relentless eagerness the pious and courageous 
religious pioneer, Francis Makemie. He used the most unscru- 
pulous and dishonest means for diverting the money of the people 
into his own pocket. Their complaints were so loud that be was 
removed from office in 1708 ; and on his removal he was imme- 
diately taken into custody by his creditors. His father's death 
enabled him to return to England with the title of Earl of Clar- 
endon, but did not remove the dark cloud which persistently 
blackens his fame. 
^ Art. Cornbury, New Amer. Eacyclop., V. 722. McDonald's Hist. Ch. ia Jamaica, N. Y. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
Queen Anne's War. 

WILLIAM and Mary, as joint king and queen, ascended the 
throne of England in February, 1689. Mary and her 
younger sister Anne were daughters of James II. by his marriage 
with Anne Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon. They were 
both educated under Protestant influences, although their mother 
is thought some time before her death to have sympathized with 
James in his love for the Roman church. She died in 167 1, and, 
two years later, James, then Duke of York and presumptive heir 
to the English thi-one, was united in marriage to Maria Beatrice 
Eleonora, Princess of Modena, who w^as his junior by twenty- 
five years. No child was born of this marriage until June 10, 
1688, on which day the queen gave birth to a son, James Francis 
Edward Stuart, afterwards known as the Chevalier of St. George. 
He was born in the very strain of the crisis which soon after- 
wards resulted in compelling James to fly from England, and 
which called William and Mary to the throne. The circumstances 
were so peculiar and promotive of suspicion that a large body of 
the people of England believed that the asserted birth of the 
prince was a fraud ; but there was no actual ground for this sus- 
picion.^ 

Mary, the consort of King William, died in 1694. Her hus- 
band, under the title of William III., lived until 1702. He was 
preparing for renewed war with France, when a fall from his 
horse hastened his death. He was succeeded by Anne, the se- 
cond daughter of James, who was a Protestant, and a woman 
who, with some manifest failings, was yet so kindly in her dis- 
position that she was called " Good Queen Anne." Her reign of 
twelve years was a brilliant period of English history, but one of 
keen suftering to the New England colonies. 

It was believed by many that a secret article in the treaty of Rys- 
v.'ick, in 1697, provided that, upon the death of William and Mary, 
James II. or (if he was not alive) his son should take the throne 
of England.^ No reliable evidence has ever justified such belief. 

' Compare Art. James II. with those on Mary and Anne, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 709-711, etc. 
2 Art. James, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 710. 

[ 25s ] 



256 A History of the United States of America. 

But it is certain that when James II. died in the palace of St. 
Germain, in France, on the i6th of September, 1701, his son, the 
Chevalier of St. George, "was recognized by Louis XIV. as King 
of Great Britain. And on the day of the coronation of Queen 
Anne, the alliance against France between England, Holland 
and the German empire (including Austria) was renewed, in 
proximate view of war.^ But Spain was now on the side of 
France. The war came, and speedily involved the American 
colonies. Its immediate cause was more entirely foreign and 
apart from the intents and interests of these colonies than had 
been the previous contest known as " King William's war." The 
war which commenced in 1703 and continued to 17 13 is com- 
monly styled " Qiieen Anne's -war " by the early chroniclers of 
American history. In Europe it has always been known as " the 
war of the Spanish succession." If it had no other good effect, 
it had at least that of confirming the convictions of thoughtful 
people in North America against the rule of " kings." 

Spain, during the time of the imbecile Philip III., had squan- 
dered all of her immense revenues derived from American gold 
and silver, and had driven six hundred thousand Moors (embrac- 
ing some of her most ingenious and industrious population) out 
of her bounds. The reign of Philip IV., from 1621 to 1665, was 
but a succession of frightful losses and disasters to Spain, includ- 
ing the loss of Portugal, the devastation of Catalonia for ten 
years by civil war, the Dutch successes in Peru, the destruction 
of three fleets and their crews by storms, diseases and war ; the 
complete release of Protestant Netherlands from Spanish rule, 
and ruinous insurrections in Naples and Sicily. The reign of 
Charles II. of Spain, from i66i^ to 1700, was, if possible, still 
more disastrous, involving, as it did, a desolating war with 
France, which left Spain poor in money and property, incum- 
bered with heavy mortgages, and with a population reduced to 
barely eight million souls.'' 

With the death of this Charles, in 1700, the line of the Span- 
ish kings of the German House of Hapsburg became extinct. 
Who should succeed him on the throne of Spain ? Austria and 
France, through their ambitious and selfish Kings Leopold I. and 
Louis XIV., both strove by every means, public and private, fair 
and foul, to determine this question in favor each monarch of 
his own dynasty. The success fell to France, but by means cer- 
tain to kindle war. The secret influences which Louis and his 

1 Art. Anne, Amer. Eneyclop., I. 612, 613. 

« Art. Spain, New Amer. Eneyclop., XIV. 810. Bancroft, III. 206, 207. 



^ueen Antic's War. 257 

ministers so well knew how to use were brought to bear on 
Charles II. of Spain ; and his second will, opened upon his 
death, was found to appoint Philip of xA-rijou, grandson of Louis 
XIV., sole heir of all the Spanish monarchy ! ^ 

Thus did human kings of the modern centuries, when they died 
childless, affect to imitate the despotic emperors of Rome, and to 
dictate, by a brief writing, who should control as sovereign the 
lives, liberties and properties of millions of people. We cannot 
wonder that England and Holland, where personal freedom had 
gained some permanency, instantly refused to recognize this will 
as valid. As to Germany, and especially Austria, the motive of 
disappointment and wounded pride w^as sufficient to array them 
against France. 

And so " Qiieen Anne's war" commenced in 1703, with Eng- 
land, Holland and Germany on one side against France and Spain 
on the other. Our history herein has nothing to say as to Marl- 
borough or Prince Eugene, nor as to the splendid victories of 
Oudenarde, Ramillies and Blenheim ; but we have the duty of 
narrating the events and results of this war in North America. 

Governor James Moore, of South Carolina, made the first move- 
ment in 1703, immediately after the war began. We have already 
noted his fruitless effort to capture St. Augustine, his successes 
against the Appalachian Indians, and the vain attempt of a joint 
attack by a French and Spanish fleet upon Charleston.^ 

A series of causes united to save the colony of New^ York from 
a descent by French and Indian forces, with their usual barbarous 
attacks. The French had made a treaty of peace with the " Five 
Nations." So terrible had these tribes been to them that they 
carefully avoided giving them the least pretext for renewal of 
hostilities. The Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, 
therefore abstained from any hostile movements against the 
white settlements of New York, as the Iroquois would have re- 
garded such movements as sufficient cause for taking up the 
hatchet.^ 

And thus the brunt and horror of this war fell upon New Eng- 
land. Nothing of united French and Indian cruelty previously 
known exceeded what she now endured. Lying and treachery 
were added to barbarities not to be described. 

. In June, 1703, Governor Dudle}', of Massachusetts, met at 
Casco, in Maine, a congress of chiefs of the Abenakis, whose 
tribes covered the country from the Merrimac to the Penobscot. 

1 Art. Spain, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 810. Bancroft, III. 207. 2 chapter XXII. 

3 Berry's U. S., 75. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 79. Bancroft, III.'211, 

17 



258 A History of the United States of America. 

The governor sought for peace, and the chiefs solemnly assured 
him that " the sun is not more distant from the earth than our 
thoughts from war." ^ Giving the belt of wampum in token of 
peace, they added new stones to piles already raised as memorials 
of friendship. 

Yet at that very time they were meditating war. In less than 
six weeks the storm burst. On the same day, in all the country 
from Casco to Wells, parties of the Indians and French united 
fell upon the dwelling-houses and strongholds, giving mercy to 
" neither the milk-white brows of the ancient nor the mournful 
cries of tender infants." "^ " Cruelty became an art, and honor was 
awarded to the most skillful contriver of tortures. The prowling 
Indian seemed near every farm-house ; many an individual was 
suddenly snatched away into captivity. If armed men, rousing 
for the attack, penetrated to the fastnesses of their roving enemy, 
they found nothing but solitudes." ^ 

All that dismal winter was a season of terrors to the people of 
the New England frontiers. In February, 1704, a body of two 
hundred French and one hundred and forty-two Indians, led by 
Hertel de Rouville, and helped by snow-shoes, made their way 
from Canada to the neighborhood of Deerfield, where a pine 
forest gave them shelter till after midnight. The careless senti- 
nels, numbed with cold, had retired. 

Then, before dawn, the whoop was sounded, and the savages 
rushed over the palisades, which the deep frozen snow almost cov- 
ered. The village was set on fire ; only the church and one dwell- 
ing escaped. Few of the people found refuge. Forty-seven were 
killed. One hundred and twelve, including the minister and his 
family, were led captives into the wilderness. Many perished 
on the march. Eunice Williams, the wife of the minister, had 
brought her Bible. When they rested, the Indians permitted her 
to read it, and her soul found strength ; but her body fainted with 
fatigue and hardship. Her husband reminded her of the " house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," and " she justified 
God in what had happened." But she could go no farther, and 
the savages would not leave her living. She commended her five 
captive children to God ; and a blow from a tomahawk ended her 
sufferings. Her husband could only say : " She rests in peace and 
joy unspeakable and full of glory."* 

After being carried into captivity, all the members of this family 
were ransomed and restored to their home, except one. This was 
the youngest daughter, who was only seven years old when made 
a captive. She was adopted by a body of christianized Indians 
1 Penhallon, in Bancroft, III. 211. 2 lUd., 212. ^ Bancroft, III. 212. ■« lUd., 213. 



^ueen An77e''s War. 259 

who had entered the communion of the Roman church near Mon- 
treal. She became a proselyte to their forms of faith, and in due 
time was united in marriage to a Conewaga chief. Several chil- 
dren were born to them. Years afterwards she visited her rela- 
tives and friends at Deerfield. Great efforts were made to reclaim 
her. The good people of the village held a day of fasting and 
prayer for her deliverance from what they regarded as a sinful 
thralldom ; but all in vain. She went back to the fires of her 
own wigwam, and to her own husband and children.^ No Chris- 
tian can prove that she was w^rong. 

The cruelty of the French and their savage allies was only 
equaled by the ferocious pertinacity of their marches for pur- 
poses of secret attack and murder. A force of Frenchmen and 
Algonquin Indians, under Des Chaillons and that same inhuman 
Hertel de Rouville, intent on an attack on the flourishing town 
of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, ascended the St. Francis, 
and, passing along the practicable parts of the White Mountains, 
through paths even now almost impervious to man, made nearly 
four hundred and fifty miles of distance before they reached their 
allotted rendezvous at Lake Winnipiseogee. Here they expected 
to meet a war party of the Abenakis, but these savages had 
changed their bloody purpose and retired. Too weak to attack 
Portsmouth, the French and Indians passed down the Merrimac 
to Haverhill, then a cluster of thirty cottages and log cabins.^ 

" On the night of the 39th of August, 170S, the evening prayers 
had been said in each family, and the whole village fearlessly re- 
signed itself to sleep. The band of invaders slept quietly in the 
hear forest. At daybreak they assumed the order of battle ; 
Rouville addressed the soldiers, who, after their orisons, marched 
against the fort, raised the shrill yell, and dispersed themselves 
through the village to their work of blood. The rifle rang ; the 
cry of the dying rose. Benjamin Rolfe, the minister, was beaten 
to death ; one Indian sunk a hatchet deep into the brain of his 
wife, while another caught liis infant child from the dying mother 
and dashed its head against a stone. Thomas Hartstone and his 
two sons, attempting a rally, were shot ; a third son was toma- 
hawked. John Johnston was shot by the side of his wife ; she 
fled into the garden, bearing an infant ; was caught and mur- 
dered ; but as she fell she concealed her child, which was found 
after the massacre clinging to her breast. Simon Wainwright 
was killed at the first fire. Mary, his wife, fearlessly unbarred 
the door ; with cheerful mien bade the savages enter ; got for 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 97, saj's it was the "eldest daughter "—a mistake. Bancroft, 
III. 21?.,"214. Barnes A Co.'s U. S., note, p. 79. 

2 Mirick's Haverhill, 117, 133. Bancroft, III. 214. 



260 A History of the United States of America. 

them what they wished, and when they demanded money she 
retired as if to 'bring it,' and, gathering up all her children save 
one, succeeded in escaping.'" 

We do not propose to multiply such narratives, though they 
ai^e legitimate history and powerfully suggestive. They present 
the French character in a repulsive light, but not more repulsive 
than St. Bartholomew and the scenes preceding and attending 
the French revolution would lead us to expect. The English 
and Dutch colonists of that period conceived an abiding hatred 
of the French, and especially of their Jesuit missionaries, which 
has not been removed even down to this day. 

The brave New York citizen-soldier, Peter vSchuyler, made a 
protest on this subject to the French Marquis de Vaudreuil, the 
Canadian governor, which must stand as the voice of Christian 
humanity against France. He said : "I hold it my duty towards 
God and my neighbor to prevent, if possible, these barbarous and 
heathen cruelties. My heart swells with indignation when I 
think that a war between Christian princes, bound to the exactest 
laws of honor and generosity, which their noble ancestors have 
illustrated by brilliant examples, is degenerating into a savage 
and boundless butchery. These are not the methods for termi- 
nating the war. Would that all the world thought with me on 
this subject ! " ^ 

Yet these barbarities were continued. The northern colonists 
suffered more than can be told ; not merely in actual raids of 
savages — French and Indian — but in the torments of constant 
anxiety, in the necessity for taking from industrious labor a large 
proportion of the men capable of active service, and in the inevi- 
table purpose of exterminating the Indians like \vild beasts, 
which was in itself a demoralizing necessity. A bounty was 
offered for Indian scalps — ten pounds to regular soldiers, twenty 
pounds to volunteers in actual service, and fifty pounds to those 
who, without pay, would inake up hunting parties and scour the 
forests and lurking places in search of Indians.^ And under this 
system the work of extermination went on with fearful efficiency. 
The white hunter soon excelled the savage in his own fastnesses. 

The American colonies, naturally enough, cherished the desire 
to conquer from France all her possessions on their northern 
frontier, and arrest her progress in the w»st and south. Sir 
Francis Nicholson, who had been Governor of Maryland, and 
then of Virginia, had formed a plan for uniting all the colonies 
and obtaining for himself the high position of governor-general.* 

» Mirick's Haverhill, 133, in Bancroft, III. 215. 2 Charlevoix, 239. Bancroft, III. 216, 

sBancroft, III. 217. < Beverley, 92, 93. Burk, II. 319. Grahame, III. 10, 11. 



^ueen A?ine's War. 261 

However much of personal avarice and ambition may have 
stimulated him, it is certain that he was active and successful for 
the colonial cause. He visited New York and England, and 
urged on preparations for a decisive movement. In 17 10 six 
English ships were joined by thirty from the northern colonies, 
and four New England regiments. They sailed from Boston in 
September, and in six days were anchored before the fortress of 
Port Royal, in Acadia. Famine was threatening, and neither 
Vaudreuil nor his lieutenant, Castin, were able to relieve the gar- 
rison. They surrendered, one hundred and fifty-six strong, and, 
though in a tattered and half-famished state, were permitted to 
march out with the honors of war. The name of the town was 
changed to Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne ; and it has never 
been lost to England since that time.^ 

Made happy by this success, Nicholson went to England and 
urged a wider movement against the French in Canada. The 
keen observers in North America had already marked with alarm 
the progress of a plan for cutting off' all English progress towards 
the Mississippi by a cordon of French strongholds from Louisiana 
to the lakes. William Penn had advised that the St. Lawi^ence 
should be held as the boundary on the north, and that the valley 
of the Mississippi should be included in the English colonies.'^ 
Governor Alexander Spotswood, of Virginia, again and again 
warned the English ministry of coming danger on this subject. 
Even the careless and pleasure-loving minister of Queen Anne, 
Henry St. John, Earl of Bolingbroke, was somewhat moved, 
and expressed " apprehensions of the future undertakings of the 
French in North America."^ 

In 17 10 the Legislative Assembly of New York sent a memo- 
rial to Queen Anne, saying : 

" It is well known that the French can go by water from 
Quebec to Montreal. From thence they can do the like, through 
rivers and lakes, at the back of all your majesty's plantations on 
this continent as far as Carolina ; and in this large tract of coun- 
try live several nations of Indians who are vastly numerous. 
Among those they constantly send emissaries and priests, with 
toys and trifles, to insinuate themselves into their favor. After- 
wards they send traders, then soldiers, and at last build forts 
among them ; and the garrisons are encouraged to intermarry, 
cohabit and incorporate among them ; and it may easily be con- 
cluded that, upon a peace, many of the disbanded soldiers will be 
sent thither for that purpose."* 

1 Charlevoix, II. 342-3-)6. Bancroft, III. 218. 2 Bancroft, III. 233. 

sBolingbroke Cnrres., II. 272. Bancroft, III. 233. 

* Address of N. Y. Assembly, in Bancroft, III. 218-219. 



262 A History of the United States of America, 

A more prophetic forecasting has seldom been made by mere 
human sagacity. To increase its effect, Peter Schuyler went to 
London, 'accompanied by five Iroquois sachems, who, in English 
small-clothes of black, but wearing also scarlet cloth mantles 
edged with gold, appeared in the audience chamber of Qiieen 
Anne, and avowed the readiness of the " Five Nations," and all 
other Indians whom they could influence, to aid in wresting 
Canada from the French. 

The English ministry were moved. St. John planned the con- 
quest of Canada. But, unfortunately, the naval force, consisting 
of fifteen ships of war at:id forty transports, was placed under the 
command of an incompetent officer. Sir Hovendon Walker ; and 
still more unhappily, the forces for land operations, consisting of 
seven veteran regiments from Marlborough's army and a battalion 
of marines, were put under the command of Brigadier-General 
John Hill, whom his bottle comrades called "honest Jack Hill,'' 
and whom the Duke of IMarlborough, in refusing him a colonelcy, 
had declared to be "good for nothing." But he was the brother 
of Mrs. Masham, one of Queen Anne's favorites ! 

Great delays and expenditures took place, by which the Eng- 
lish treasury was defrauded.^ From June 25th to July 30th, 171 1, 
the fleet and transports lay at Boston. The colonial forces under 
Nicholson consisted of an army froni Connecticut, New Jersey 
and New York, with Palatinate emigrants and six hundred Iro- 
quois. They were to advance on Montreal, while the fleet and 
transports, on which were embarked most of the New England 
forces, attacked Qiiebec. 

But when at last the fleet with its convoy sailed, the incompe- 
tency of Admiral Walker became manifest. He had conceived 
a strange and utterly unscientific fear that the St. Lawrence river 
(in its channel at least five hundred feet deep) would "freeze to 
the bottom " and entrap his ships. He loitered on his voyage 
through the ocean, racking his bewildered brain for some method 
of avoiding the imaginary danger. Meanwhile •the Marquis De 
Vaudreuil, seconded by great enthusiasm among his French and 
Indian followers, was preparing to defend Qtiebec.^ 

On the evening of August 23d a thick fog came on with an 
easterly breeze. Pilots and captains united in warning the admi- 
ral that land was dangerously near. He scoffed at their fears, 
and without going on deck, ordered the ships' heads to be kept to 
the north, and turned into his berth. He was soon called up 
again, and hurried to the deck " in his gown and slippers." But 

1 Harley's Brief Account, Bol. Corres., I. 154. Bancroft, III. 221. 

2 Charlevoix, II. 351-301. Hovendon Walker's Journal, 121. 



^tieen Anne's War. 263 

it was too late then to give orders. The fleet was in the break- 
ers among the Egg Islands. Eight ships were wrecked, and eight 
hundred and eighty-four men perished. A council of war voted 
unanimously that it was impossible to proceed. The ■weak admi- 
ral actually claimed merit for the results of a gigantic disaster 
caused by his own incompetency. In his journal he wrote these 
words : " Had we arrived safe at Quebec, ten or twelve thousand 
men must have been left to perish of cold and hunger ; by the loss 
of a part, Providence saved all the rest," ^ 

This disastrous failure and withdrawal of the fleet and trans- 
ports was fatal to all hopes of the land forces under Nicholson, 
and they hastily retreated, dissolving as they fled. The French 
held Detroit, though the English claimed it. Its situation on the 
bold Detroit river, in what is now the State of Michigan, with 
its centre seven miles from Lake St. Clair and eighteen miles from 
Lake Erie, made it at once one of the loveliest and most impor- 
tant places in Canada and the very centre of New France. Its 
loss would have been almost a fatal blow to the hopes of France 
in North America. Yet it came near being lost to her in 17 12. 
The Iroquois had urged their friends, the Fox Indians of Michi- 
gan, to attack Detroit, and they came in numbers to burn the vil- 
lage and fort. But Du Buisson, with twenty brave men, held it 
firmly until the Jesuit missionaries, by great exertions, succeeded 
in bringing up a united body of Ottawas, Hurons, Potawatomies, 
Sac's, Illinois, Menomonies, Osages and Missouris to the rescue. 
The Foxes, instead of capturing and burning Detroit, were them- 
selves besieged and compelled to surrender. Those of them who 
bore arms were ruthlessly murdered ; the rest were enslaved by 
the confederates.^ 

Finally, this " Queen Anne's war," so unfortunate for the Eng- 
lish northern colonies in America, was brought to an end by the 
peace of Utrecht, concluded in 17 13, after many previous efforts 
and negotiations among- the belligerents. 

By this treaty a settlement of the balance of power in Europe 
was made, highly advantageous for the cause of peace there, inas- 
much as it effectually checked the encroachments of France, and 
forced her to recognize the power of the English people, through 
their Parliament, to dethrone a king and settle the crown as their 
safety and happiness demanded. But it is remarkable that, though 
Louis XIV., in his old age and accumulated military reverses, 
would have been compelled to abandon the cause of his grandson, 
Philip of Anjou, in Spain (which was the origin of the war), yet 

1 Walker's Journal (28), in Bancroft, III. 223, 224. 

- Charlevoix, II. 365-372. Lanman's Michigan. Bancroft, III. 224. 



264 -A Histo}-y of the United States of America. 

as the alternative would have been the placing of the Archduke 
Charles of Austria ( who had become Emperor of Germany by the 
death of Joseph) on the Spanish throne ; and as the Spanish 
Netherlands were allotted to Austria by the treaty, and England 
and Holland were indisposed to such accumulation of power in 
the Austrian sovereign, Philip of Anjou was established by the 
treaty of Utrecht as King of Spain. But Spain, by the treaty, 
lost all her European provinces, and lost even Gibraltar, a part of 
her very soil, which England has ever since retained. Her colo- 
nial possessions — the islands remaining to her in the West Indies, 
Florida, Mexico, and her parts of South America — were, how- 
ever, left to Spain by this remarkable treaty. 

England, under it, obtained supremacy in the fisheries of the 
Atlantic oft" the coasts of North America, and full right in New- 
foundland, the Bay of Hudson and its borders, and all of Nova 
Scotia or Acadia according to its ancient boundaries. It was 
also agreed that "France should never molest the ' Five Nations ' 
subject to the dominion of Gi'eat Britain." But France's posses- 
sions in Canada and the west and south, down to and including 
Louisiana and her eastern dependencies, and Texas to an undefined 
extent, were left undisturbed ; and boundaries were not defined. 
Thus the germs of future war remained. 

One provision, signally disgraceful to England, Spain and their 
high dignitaries, was inserted as a special " assiento " in the treaty. 
While the great principle that "free ships make free goods" was 
now first definitively established, and all ports of Spain and her 
colonies were opened, yet England could not lose an opportunity 
for money-making through a black channel. " Her Britannic ma- 
jesty did offer and vmdertake, by persons whom she shall appoint, 
to bring into the West Indies of America belonging to his Catholic 
majesty, in the space of thirty years, one hundred and forty-four 
thousand negroes, at the rate of four thousand eight hundred in 
each of the said thirty years," paying, on four thousand of them, 
a duty to the Spanish treasury of thirty-three and a third dollars 
per head.' 

Thus England extorted the privilege of filling the New World 
with African slaves. As great profits were expected, Philip V. 
of Spain took one-quarter of the common stock ; Queen Anne 
took another quarter. Lady Masham wanted some of the stock. 
In everything making slavery profitable and infamous, England 
has fixed upon herself the largest share of righteous censure from 
the Christian world. 

1 Assiento, in treaty of Utrecht. Cooke's Bolingbroke, 1. 175. Bancroft, III. 232. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
George the Second's Wars, 

QUEEN Anne died in 17 14, less than a year after the treaty 
of Utrecht had gone fully into effect. Therefore, her profits 
trom the ^'- assiento'''' could not have been large. Although she 
had borne eighteen children by her marriage with Prince George 
of Denmark, they had all died in infancy, except one boy, who 
was Duke of Gloucester, and who reached his eleventh year and 
then died.^ 

By the terms of the parliamentary settlement of the English 
crown, upon the death of Queen Anne, George, King of Hanover, 
in Germany, became King of England. He was never able to 
speak English intelligibly, and never liked England, and there- 
fore spent most of his time at Osnaburg, in Hanover, where he 
finally died in 1737. 

He was never personally popular — -was gross in his tastes and 
vicious and immoral in his life. He was a cruel husband and a 
harsh and unloving father. Yet, on the whole, he was not a bad 
king. Knowing very little of the language, literature, habits, or 
constitutions of -the English people, he had the good sense to let 
them govern themselves and to interfere but seldom with the 
policy of Robert Walpole, the leading English mind and min- 
ister. Great Britain had peace during his reign. 

These thirteen years M^ere a good season for the American col- 
onies. They were undisturbed by war, except some encounters 
with the Indians, in which the whites always got the advantage. 
They grew rapidly in population, commerce, and art, notwith- 
standing the burden of the bills of credit, by which war expenses 
had been paid.^ 

On the 34th February, 1717, the greatest snow-storm thereto- 
fore known in New England occurred. In many places the 
drifted snow was sixteen feet deep, and covered cottages nearly 
to the tops of their chimneys. A number of people and many 
cattle perished.^ 

1 Compare Westminster Effigies, Harper, Aug., 1889, with Amer. Encyclop., I. 612. 

2 Stephen's Comp. U. S., 130. » Cotton Mather, in Stephen's Comp. U. S., 137, 



266 A History of the United States oj" America. 

Not quite three years afterwards, on the night of the nth of 
December, 1719? ^ display of the aurora borcalis occurred, which 
was so bright and portentous in New England that the people 
were filled with wonder and alarm. And on the 29th of October, 
1737, four months after the death of the king, a noted earthquake 
shook all the soil of the northern colonies, filling them with vague 
fears. 

These fears were not without prophecy. France had been 
steadily pushing forward her schemes of occupation in the south 
and west. In 1702, French settlers had founded Mobile, which 
was the chief city of Louisiana until New Orleans was founded 
in 17 18, and received its name from the generous, but dissolute, 
Regent of France.^ All this region gained rapid impetus from 
the financial operations of John Law, a Scotchman, who, from 
17 16 to 1720, dazzled the vision of all classes in France with 
prospects of untold wealth in the Louisiana scheme. The bubble 
burst, but enterprises commenced did not cease. Le Moyne 
DTberville, wnth sixty colonists, ascended the river four hundred 
miles and began Natchez. Bienville D'Iberville, his brother, 
began New Orleans in a canebrake. The Chickasaws and 
Natchez Indians bravely defended their homes and impeded the 
plans of the French. In May, 1736, a chivalrous young ofiicer, 
D'Artaguette, with the priest, Father Senat, and the brave Cana- 
dian, Vincennes, led a force of fifty French soldiers and a thou- 
sand Indian allies from Illinois against the Chickasav^^s, near the 
sources of the Yalabusha river. A furious battle ensued, in 
which D'Artaguette fell severely wounded, and his best men were 
slain. The Illinois Indians fled from the field. D'Artaguette, 
Senat and Vincennes were made captives. They were bounti- 
fully cared for and fed for several days, and were then, bound 
each to a stake, and put to death with all the slow torments of 
fire and knives and arrows that Indian depravity could invent.^ 

But such horrors did not stop French enterprise. They had 
built Fort Niagara in 1728, Crown Point in 1731, and gave the 
name of Vincennes to their post on the Wabash. By the middle 
of the eighteenth century they had control of all the water routes 
from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. They had more 
than sixty military stations from Lake Ontario down the Illinois, 
Wabash and Maimiee rivers to the Mississippi, and thence down 
that great river to New Orleans.^ Governor Spotswood's warn- 
ings were not premature. 

1 Derry's U. S., 76. Bancroft, III. 352. 

2 Dumont, II. Du Pratz, III. 418. Charlevoix, II. 501. Martin, I. 304. 
3Derry'sU. S.,76, 77. 



George the Scconcfs Wars. 367 

In 1727, George I. died, and his son, George II., ascended the 
throne of Great Britain. In 1739 his government declared war 
against Spain. The causes of this war on the English side were 
hardly sufficient for her justiiication. It is true that the Spanish 
rulers in Florida had given trouble to Georgia and the Carolinas, 
and had seduced their slaves away from the ownei-s, as we have 
seen. But this would net have been sufficient to call for the ter- 
rible remedy of war. 

Walpole was opposed to this war, and did what he could to 
prevent it. Its* real cause was avarice of English merchants and 
higher adventurers, who " were not permitted to smuggle to Span- 
ish coasts with impunity." ' Spain was weak ; England was 
strong, especially on the water. Her lumber-dealers cut logwood 
in enormous quantities in the woods on the Bay of Honduras, in 
which the right of Spain had not then been extinguished. Her 
smuggling vessels, drawing light draught of water, constantly 
evaded the revenue laws of Spain. A large part of the population 
of Jamaica was supported by this contraband trade. ^ But from 
time to time, Spain, whose colonial trade was almost annihilated 
by these unlawful English ventures, caught the thieves and smug- 
glers and dealt out to them unmerciful justice. Then came a howl 
for war, which Walpole was unable to withstand. 

This war brought little of success or glory to England. We 
have ah'eady noted the part in it borne by Governor James Ogle- 
thorpe and the people of Georgia and the Carolinas.^ In addition 
to these movements, the mother country called, in 1741, on all her 
American colonies to aid her with men for the projected attack 
on the Spanish town of Carthagena. This call was promptly 
and cheerfully met. Governor William Gooch, who was a brig- 
adier-general in the English service, led the Virginia forces. 
Even Pennsylvania, with her peace principles derived from her 
great founder, voted money by which she paid for her ratio of 
the soldiers. Every colony contributed men. The whole num- 
ber from America was not less than four thousand.* 

Lord Cathcart was to command the land forces, but died at 
Dominica, in the West Indies, under the fatal fever of the climate. 
The inexperienced, irresolute Wentworth succeeded him. Ad- 
miral Vernon was brave, but impetuous and imprudent. Car- 
thagena was the strongest place in South America. Fort San 
Lazaro was furiously assaulted by twelve hundred men, who were 
repulsed with heavy loss. The naval and military leaders quar- 
reled and delayed. Rains set in ; disease began to prey upon sol- 

1 Lord Mahon's England, III. 5. 2 Bancroft, III. 435, 436. schapter XXIII. 

4 Chalmers, II. 198. Campbell, 94. Grahame, III. 212. Bancroft, III. 440. Barnes' U. S., 
(note) 80. 



268 A History of the United States of A?nerica. 

diers and sailors. Thousands died ; the remnant were helpless 
and hopeless. The description of the English poet was realized : 

" Such as of late at Carthagena quenched 
The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw 
The miserable scene. You heard the groans 
Of agonizing ships from shore to shore; 
Heard nightly plunged amid the sullen waves 
The frequent corse." ' 

In two days the. effective land forces dwindled from six thou- 
sand three hundred to thirty-two hundred. Yet the fire of the fleet 
was destructive. The Spanish fortifications were demolished. 
Vernon wrote : " Even the Spaniards vs^ill give us a certificate 
that we have effectually destroyed all their castles."^ But the 
wasting of the pestilence was ruin to the English. They aban- 
doned the fever-smitten region, and sailed away. 

When the fleet returned to Jamaica, late in November, 1741, 
the entire loss of lives was estimated at twenty thousand. Nine 
out of ten of the colonial troops had perished. Not more than 
four hundred of them returned to their homes. 

Fortunately for the southern colonies, Spain was growing 
weaker all the time, and could not do them much harm. But 
hardly had the war with her ended before England became in- 
volved in one with France, arising out of questions concerning 
the succession to the Austrian throne, and, of course, entirely 
alien and apart from all colonial interest. 

This war, which is generally called " King George's war," 
commenced in 1744, and lasted four years. It speedily involved 
the northern colonies in conflicts with the French and Indians 
along the Canadian borders.* 

In this war the colonists moved actively and efficiently against 
the French territories. They had long^ been satisfied that they 
would have no stable peace until France was dislodged from her 
hold on Canada and the adjacent positions. They felt now strong 
enough to undertake aggressive movements. Benjamin Franklin, 
in Philadelphia, thirty-nine years of age, began to manifest his 
administrative powers. By his inffuence he set in motion two 
lotteries, which raised six thousand pounds sterling, and equipped 
one hundred and twenty companies of militia, of which Phila- 
delphia raised ten of about one hundred men each. The women, 
in their zeal, furnished ten pairs of silk colors wrought with 
various mottoes.* The " Friends " had manifestly so modified 
their views of war as to justify offensive movements in order to 
defence and final safety. 

» Thomson's Summer. 2 Bancroft, III. 442. 3 jud., 448-451. Derry's U. S., 77, 

♦Logan's MS., in Bancroft, III. 456. 



George the Second'' s Wars. 269 

The town and fortress of Louisburg, oil^ape Breton, was very 
imjDortant to the French, and its possession was, in like propor- 
tion, desirable to the colonists. Its harbor afforded a safe retreat 
for French privateers after their descents on the colonial fishing 
smacks and merchantmen. In January, 1745, the Massachusetts 
legislature, by a majority of one vote, resolved on an expedition 
against it. New York sent artillery ; Pennsylvania, provisions ; 
New England furnished the men — Connecticut, t;i6 ; New Hamp- 
shire, 304 ; Massachusetts, 3,000. Rhode Island also sent 300, 
but too late for active service. The English naval commander at 
Antigua, Commodore Warren, was requested to co-operate, but, 
after consulting his captains, and having no orders of co-operation 
from England, he declined. Thus the expedition was strictly 
colonial in its inception.^ William Pepperell, of Maine, was chief 
commander, but Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, was the wise 
planner of all. The men were chiefly fishermen, unemployed 
because of the war, and mechanics, lumberers, farmers — all inured 
to fatigue, and all skilled marksmen with the rifle. 

The drifting ice of the seas about Cape Breton detained the 
fleet for sixteen days at Canseau. But this detention was provi- 
dential ; for Commodore Warren, having received instructions 
from England to render to Massachusetts every aid in his power, 
sailed from Antigua, and under the bright sun of the 23d of 
April, 1745? arrived \vith his squadron at Canseau. 

On the last day of April, an hour after sunrise, the combined 
fleet came in sight of Louisburg. The fortress had one hundred 
and one cannon, seventy-six swivels and six mortars, and a gar- 
rison of sixteen hundred men. The harbor was also strongly de- 
fended by moat and bastions with thirty cannon. The New Eng- 
land forces had only eighteen cannon and three mortars, but no 
sooner did they come in sight of the city than, " letting down the 
whaleboats, they flew to the shore like eagles to the quarry." 
The French who came to oppose their landing were put to flight 
and driven into the woods." 

The next day four hundred men, led by William Vaughan, of 
New Hampshire, got in the rear of the shore battery, and the 
French, struck with panic, spiked the guns and left the work in the 
night. In the morning a vain attempt to recapture it was made. 

The siege was pushed with vigor, but in a manner so unusual 
and so out of the track of regular military science that the garri- 
son were bewildered by its vagaries. The weather was fair, and 
the marksmen picked off the men in the embrasures with unerr- 

1 Seth Pomeroy's MS. Wolcott's MS.. Bancroft, III. 458. 
2Wolcotfs MS., in Bancroft, III. 460. 



2^0 ^ History of the United States of America. 

ing skill. Still no breach had been effected, and it was sei-iously 
proposed to attempt to carry the walls by escalade, when, on the 
15th of June, a decisive event occurred. 

The ships under Commodore Warren had rendered effective 
service in blockading the harbor. Without them it is pi-obable 
that the colonists could not have achieved success. Duchambon, 
the French commandant, and his garrison were becoming despon- 
dent. Supplies were running short. The Mgilaut., a French 
ship of sixty-four guns, and carrying stores for the fortress, was 
attacked in the harbor by Captain Douglas, of the jMcrmaid, 
and, after a sharp action of several hours, was captured in full 
sight of the garrison. 

The hopeless Duchambon sent out a flag of truce, and on the 
17th of June, 174=5, the city, fortress and batteries were surren- 
dered to combined naval and land forces. When news of the 
great event reached Boston the bells were rung, and all the people 
were in transports of joy. 

The next year France made a stern effort for its recovery, but 
the large fleet commanded by the Due D'Anville was wasted by 
storms, shipwrecks and pestilential diseases, was discouraged by 
the sudden death of one commander and the delirium and suicide 
of his successor, and did not even venture to attack Annapolis. 
In 1747 the French fleet, with troops destined for Canada and 
Nova Scotia, was encountered by Anson and Warren, and totally 
destroyed or captured.^ 

A few unimportant conflicts took place on the frontiers ; but 
the advantages were so decidedly in favor of England and her 
colonies that the Duke of Newcastle, as premier, conferred with 
Governor Shirley and Admiral Warren for arranging a united 
advance for the total conquest of Canada. But this was to be 
delayed by the results of diplomacy. 

A congress of European nations was convened, in 174S, at Aix- 
la-Chapelle, and concluded a treaty of peace. The gigantic con- 
test of four years, in which thousands of lives were sacrificed, 
resulted in nothing for the advancement of the human family. 
Madras was restored to England, but Cape Breton was restored 
to Fi'ance. The boundaries between the British and French pro- 
vinces in America were left unsettled. 

The recovery of Louisburg by' France under the treaty was a 
bitter^ disappointment to the colonies, especially to New Eng- 
landers, who called the day of its surrender " a black day, to be 
forever blotted out of New England calendars." ' But they were 
learning the lesson which led to final independence. 

1 Bancroft, III. 463. 2 Eggigston's Household U. S., 128. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
"War of Anglo-American Advance. 

HARDLY five years had passed aftei" the inglorious treaty 
of Aix-la-Chapelle before the encroachments of the French 
upon the English colonies in America brought on a collision of 
arms. This contest was the inevitable result of the policy of 
France, of which we have already spoken. She made up in 
activity and enterprise what she wanted in calm perseverance. 
Her progress in permanent settlement in North America had 
been so slow that, by the middle of the eighteenth century, the 
French population, from Louisiana to the St. Lawrence, did not 
exceed fifty-two thousand souls, while the English colonies had 
probably as many as two million people.' 

Nevertheless, France pushed forward her cordon of military 
posts with zeal and skill, claiming the vast valley of the Missis- 
sippi and Ohio, and intending to shut out the English from this 
region, and thus confine them to a narrow strip of country ex- 
tending barely five himdred miles back from the Atlantic. 

New York niade no eflective resistance, but Pennsylvania, 
under the counsels of Benjamin Franklin, made earnest protest.^ 
The Indians, also, of the Ohio valley — promiscuous bands of Dela- 
wares, Shawnees, and emigrant Iroquois — met in council at Logs- 
town and resolved to oppose the progress of the French. 

Tenacharisson — " the Half-King," as he was called — went to 
the French post below Erie, and, though rudely received, inade his 
laconic speech, as follows : " Fathers, you are disturbers of this 
land by taking it away unknown to us and by force. This is 
our land and not yours. Fathers, both you and the English 
are white ; we live in a country between. Therefore, the land 
belongs neither to the one nor the other of you. But the Great 
Being above allowed it to be a dwelling-place for us ; so, fathers, 
I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our brothers, the Eng- 
lish." He then offered a belt of wampum in token of peace. 

The French commandant replied with haughty derision : "Child, 
you talk foolishly ; you say this land belongs to you ; but not so 
1 Marshall's Amer. Colon., (note) 259. = Bancroft, IV. 107-108. 

[ 271 ] 



2^2 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

much of it as the black of your nail is yours. It is my land, and 
I will have it, let who will stand up against it ; " and he threw 
the belt of wampum back with contempt. 

The crisis came hastening on. Benjamin Franklin, at Carlisle, 
met in council the envoys of the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyan- 
dots, and Miamis. They insisted that neither the French nor the 
English should settle in this country ; but, as the French were 
most pressing, they offered to help the English to repel them.^ 
Dr. Franklin made presents and a soothing speech to thein ; but 
he returned to the Pennsylvania authorities with the ominous 
report that the French had already established military posts at 
Erie, at Waterford, and at Venango, and were preparing to estab- 
lish themselves on the banks of the Monongahela. 

Governor Spotswood had continued his warnings ; and in 1749 
the English Parliament had so far heeded them as to create a cor- 
poration styled the " Ohio Company," composed of merchants in 
London and wealthy planters in Virginia. Six hundred thousand 
acres of land bordering on the Ohio were granted to them, and 
they were invested with the exclusive privilege of trading with 
the Indians on their grant.'^ 

This company might have done much to conciliate the Indians 
and stop the encroachments of the French ; but their primaiy 
object was money-making. Soon their compasses, theodolites, 
chains and rods were seen by the savages in the hands of armed 
bodies of surveyors traversing the forests and plains of Ohio ; 
and in answer to the simple and eager questions of the hapless 
red men they preserved a sullen silence, and went on with their 
work. We cannot wonder at the question of two Indian sachems 
to Gist, the agent of the Ohio Company : " Where lie the In- 
dians'' lands? for the French claim all on one side of the Ohio, 
and the English all on the other side."^ 

The English home government saw what was coming. When 
news arrived that the French had built a fort on the river Le 
Boeuf, which takes its rise not far from Erie, and is discharged 
into the Ohio, they made earnest, though fruitless, complaints to 
the embassadors of France ; and, pending negotiations, they in- 
structed the colonists to defend themselves, to repel force by force, 
and to hold themselves ready for hostilities. With these instruc- 
tions, thirty pieces of light artillery and eighty barrels of gun- 
powder were sent to Virginia.* 

1 Hazard's Regis., IV. 236. 

2 Holmes' Annals, II. 39. Grahame, III. 344. Burk, III. 170. 
8 Sparks' Life of Washington, I. 23. 

* Sparks' Washington, I. 21. Chalmers' Rev. of Amer. Colon., II. 265. 



JVar of Anglo-American Advance. ^73 

Determined to proceed by fair and pacific means, Governor 
Dinwiddie, of Virginia, prepared to send a message to the French 
commandant on the Ohio. For this purpose he selected George 
Washington, a young Virginian, whose name has since been 
placed among the very highest of all the men who have been 
leaders of their race in the pursuit of freedom and virtue. He 
was born in Westmoreland county, Febiaiary 23d, 1732. He held 
the rank of major in the colonial military, and had gained much 
experience in western scenes and hardships by surveying vast 
bodies of land for Lord Fairfax in the upper parts of the North- 
ern Neck and the Valley of Virginia. 

He left Williamsburg, bearing the governor's passport and 
instructions, on the 31st of October, 1753, and in fourteen days 
reached Wills' creek, on the Potomac. His party consisted of 
eight persons, one of whom was Gist, the former agent of the 
Ohio Company. Over rugged mountains and ice-bound rivers, 
through gloomy forests, wherein lurked treacherous savages, they 
made their way. 

Washington's observant eye noted the point where the Monon- 
gahela and Alleghany rivers unite to form the majestic Ohio. He 
saw that it was a suitable place for a strong fort, and determined 
that, if possible, Virginia should have one there. ^ He did not 
then see the coming tragedy. 

At Logstown, on the Ohio, he met the Half-King, Tenacharisson, 
and many Indian braves, and addressed them, telling the object 
of his mission, and asking their aid. Already jealous of the 
French, they answered very favorably. 

Guided by the chief and three other Indians, Washington and 
his party marched a distance of one hundred and twenty miles 
from the Ohio to the French post. St. Pierre, the commandant, 
a knight of the military order of St. Louis, received him courte- 
ously, and, after reading the message of Governor Dinwiddie with 
respect, made reply that it was not for him to determine territo- 
rial rights and treaty obligations ; that he would transmit the 
message to his superior, the Marquis Duquesne, then governing 
Canada, but that in the meantime he could not obey any summons 
to retire.' 

With this reply, George Washington made his way back to 
Williamsburg. Twice his life was nearly lost — once by a treach- 
erous shot from an Indian ; once by being thrown overboard fi^om 
his raft into the rushing waters of the Alleghany. But a Divine 

1 Sparks, I. 26. Marshall's Washington, II. 4. 

2 Burk, III. 174, 175. Smollett's Contin., VIII. 490, 491. Compare Gordon, I. 88. 

18 



274 ^ History of the United States of America. 

Power kept him safe, for his life's work was only begun. On 
the 1 6th January, 1754, he'delivered to the governor the answer 
of St. Pierre. 

It was, of course, the prelude to war. But this war was essen- 
tially different from the previous wars between France and Eng- 
land which had involved the colonies. This war was so intensely 
colonial in its origin and nature that it was actually in fierce pro- 
gress for nearly two years before a declaration of the war took 
place in Europe. 

This stern contest of more than seven years has generally been 
styled in histories of the United States " the French and Indian 
war." But this name is inappropriate and misleading. Each 
of the three wars previously waged, and known as " King Wil- 
liam's," " Queen Anne's " and " King George's," was emphatic- 
ally a "French and Indian war," more so even than this. Neither 
could this war be properly styled a war of English success, for it 
had many English defeats ; nor a war of English triumph, for it 
had many English humiliations. But it was certainly, in its pro- 
gress and results, a " war of Anglo-American advance." It an- 
nihilated the dominion of France in the north and west, and pre- 
pared for the North American republic established by the war 
-of the Revolution. 

When Washington's journal of his late embassy to vSt. Pierre 
was published in London it excited deep interest. The ministry 
advised the colonies to unite for common defence. In 1741, Dan- 
iel Coxe had proposed an extended " Plan of Union," and thn*- 
teen years afterwards, through the influence of Benjamin Frank- 
lin, a convention was held at Albany, July 4th, 17^4? ^^^d a draft 
of " Articles of Union " had been presented by him, which, if 
adopted, would have tlrawn the colonies into close chartered con- 
tact. But this plan was not agreed on. The colonists thought it 
gave too much power to the mother country. English statesmen 
thought it gave too much independence to the colonies. These 
curiously conflicting views are strong evidence of the wisdom 
and moderation of the plan ;^ but they sufficed to defeat it. 

Thus the colonists were left only to such union as a sense of 
common danger might bring, and such help as England might 
give. The French made the first aggression. George Washing- 
ton led the first movement to repel it. 

The Ohio Company sent a force of forty-one Virginians to 
erect a fort at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany 
rivers. The Virginia assembly had voted ten thousand pounds 
1 Grahame, III. 377, 378. A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 175. 



IVar of An o-/o- American Advance. 275 

for defence, and Governor Dinwiddle had caused six companies 
of provincial troops to be raised, commanded by Colonel Joshua 
Fry, a native of England, but with Washington as lieutenant- 
colonel, second in command. Two companies being ready, he 
marched without delay from Alexandria to Wills' creek. Here 
he learned that the French were already in motion. A force con- 
sisting of nearly one thousand men, in three hundred canoes, with 
several pieces of artillery, the whole commanded by M. Contre- 
coeur, had poured down on the men of the Ohio Company, driven 
them from their work, and had completed the fort, which, in 
honor of the Governor of Canada, was called Fort Duquesne.* 

Washington advanced cautiously. Colonel Fry had not yet 
joined him. After the assault on the Ohio Company's men, he 
was compelled to regard the French as enemies. On the 38th of 
May, 1754, at daybreak, the first collision took place. A simul- 
taneous fire occurred ; the provincials rushed forw^ard, and the 
French surrendered, having lost their commander, M. Jumonville, 
and ten of their number. Washington's loss was one killed and 
three wounded.^ 

Colonel Fry had died suddenly at Wills' creek. Thus the whole 
command devolved on Washington. Tenacharisson, the Half- 
King, and other friendly Indians, warned him that enemies were 
approaching " as numerous as pigeons in the woods." He fell 
back to the " Great Meadows," not far from the Yohogany. He 
had now about four hundred effective men. He worked hard to 
complete the stockade fort hei'e, which he called " Fort Neces- 
sity." Before the work was done, fifteen hundred French and 
Indians, under M. De Villier, advanced on it. They were confi- 
dent of easy victory ; but they were mistaken. The position of 
the fort showed Washington's judgment. It was in the midst of 
an even meadow, without a point of concealment within two hun- 
dred and fifty yards. As the enemy came up, they commenced 
firing at long distance, but their shot were thrown away, and 
when they ventured nearer they were rapidly shot down by the 
keen marksmen within the work. From ten o'clock in the morn- 
ing till dark the engagement continued. Washington was most 
of the time outside the wall encouraging his men, who were often 
up to their knees in mud and water.^ 

De Villier had already lost two hundred men killed or disabled. 
He had met a determined foe. He asked a parley. Captain Van- 
braam, a Dutch soldier, was sent out to him. On the 4th of July, 

iBurk, III. 176. Sparks' Washington, I. 43. Gordon's Amer., I. 89. 
2 Compare Sparks, I. -IG, with Burk, III. 177. Marshall, II. 7. 
3 Sparks, I. 55. Marshall, II. 9. 



2^6 A Uistoiy of the United States of America. 

1754, articles highly honorable to the provincials were agreed on. 
They were to retain all their arras, except the artillery ; to march 
out with drums beating and colors flying ; to keep as much of 
their baggage as they could carry away, and to proceed, unmo- 
lested by the savages, to the frontiers of Virginia.^ 

The articles of capitulation were in the French language, and 
contained the expression : '■'■U assassinat de M. Jumonville." Van- 
braam, who knew little of the language, explained this to Wash- 
ington (who then kne^v less of it than Vanbraam) as meaning 
simply, "the death of M. Jumonville." So artfully was the mat- 
ter arranged that, ^vhen accounts of the opening of hostilities, 
with a copy of the articles of surrender, were published in Paris, 
profound emotion was excited. Jumonville was looked on as an 
assassinated hero. Washington was vilified as his murderer, and 
an epic poem was written on the tragedy ! ^ Years elapsed before 
France did justice to the great man of America. 

When all the facts of this campaign were known, the Virginia 
assembly passed a vote of thanks to Washington, and appro- 
priated three hundred pistoles to the wants of his men. 

War, though not yet declared in Europe, was begun in Amer- 
ica, and England prepared to sustain her territorial and colonial 
rights. Negotiations between France and England still contin- 
vied, with proposition after proposition, as to possessions in North 
America, unacceptable and rejected on each side."^ Louis XV. 
sent three thousand French troops to America, while yet profess- 
ing earnest desires for peace. England did the same in substance. 

Early in 17=^1^, Major-General Edward Bi'addock arrived at 
Alexandria, in Virginia, accompanied by two regiinents from Ire- 
land, and soon followed by the Sea Horse and Nightingale^ ships 
of war giving convoy to transports with more troops and military 
supplies. In April, General Braddock, with Commodore Keppel 
of the squadron, met in war council, at Alexandria, Governors 
Shirley, of Massachusetts ; De Lancy, of Nc\v York ; Alorris, of 
Pennsylvania ; Sharpe, of Maryland, and Dinwiddie, of Virginia.* 
The first subject discussed was finance, and Braddock's anger was 
kindled " that no fund had yet been provided " in Ainerica. But 
soon the more pressing clanger was considered. Four expeditions 
were planned — one by La\vrence, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova 
Scotia, for the complete reduction of that province ; one by Col. 
William Johnson, selected because of his intimate familiarity 

1 Compare Chalmers' Rev. Am. Colon., II. 2C9, with Sparks, I. 56. 

2 Howe, 94. Sparks, I. 47-41). ^Vashington's letter, in Marshall, II., Append. 20-23. 

3 Bancroft, IV. 176, 177. 

* H. Sharpe to Lord Baltimore, 19th April, 1755. Bancroft, IV. 177. 



War of Anglo- Americait Advance. 277 

with the " Six Nations," to conduct an army of provincials and 
Indians against Crown Point ; one by Governor Shirley against 
Niagara, and one (regarded as most important) by General Brad- 
dock himself, for the capture of Fort Duquesne and expulsion of 
the French from the Ohio valley.^ 

The expedition that moved first was that intended to complete 
the reduction of Acadia. It was entirely successful, but it was 
followed by a wholesale act of violence and merciless power 
which has ever since brought reproach on the English name. 

By the treaty of Utrecht, Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was ceded to 
England ; but the cession was only of the peninsula itself. The 
isthmus, barely fifteen miles wide, was still held by the French, 
and they had fortified it at two points — one, a small stockade at 
the mouth of the little river Gaspereaux, near Bay Verde ; the 
other, the strong and costly fortress of Beau-Sejour, on the north 
side of the river Messagouche, on the Bay of Fundy.^ And though 
the whole peninsula was recognized as belonging to England, yet 
her supremacy was only marked by " the name of Annapolis, the 
presence of a feeble English garrison, and the emigration of hardly 
five or six English families." ' The inhabitants were French, and 
they still loved the language and the usages of their forefathers, 
and their religion was graven upon their souls. They prom- 
ised submission to England, but would not fight against France. 
Though conquered, they were French neutrals. 

" For nearly forty years from the peace of Utrecht they had 
been forgotten or neglected, and had prospered in their seclusion. 
No tax-gatherer counted their folds ; no magistrate dwelt in their 
hamlets. The parish priest made their records, and regulated 
their successions. Their little disputes were settled among them- 
selves, with scarcely an instance of an appeal to English author- 
ity at Annapolis. The pastures were covered with their herds 
and flocks ; and dikes, raised by extraordinary efforts of social 
industry, shut out the rivers and the tide from alluvial marshes of 
exuberant fertility. The meadows, thus reclaimed, were covered 
by richest grasses or fields of wheat that yielded fifty and thirty 
fold at the harvest. Their houses were built in clusters, neatly 
constructed and comfortably furnished, and around them all kinds 
of domestic fowls abounded. With the spinning-wheel and the 
loom, their women made — of flax from their own fields, of fleeces 
from their own flocks — coarse, but sufficient, clothing. The few 
foreign luxuries that were coveted could be obtained from Annap- 
olis or Louisburg, in return for furs or wheat or cattle." * 

1 Flassan. Diplom. Francaise, VI. 34. Bancroft, IV. 182, 183. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 175, 176. 
2 Bancroft, IV. 197. » Md., IV. 194. ^Raynal, Mascarene, Bancroft, IV. 194, 195. 



278 A History of the United States of America. 

Thus were these Acadians happy in their neutrality and their 
simplicity. They numbered about sixteen thousand souls. 

But the English rule was intensely distasteful to them. Their 
priests especially w^ere kindled into fervor at the thought that 
heretics, as they esteemed the English, were to surround, and per- 
haps to overwhelm, the ancient Acadians. " Better," said the 
priests, " surrender your meadows to the sea, and your houses to 
the flames, than, at the peril of your souls, take the oath of alle- 
giance to the British government." This spirit v\^rought counter- 
irritation, and the English rule was harsh. Given up to military 
masters, the Acadians had no redress in civil tribunals. Their 
papers and records, witnessing the titles to their estates, were 
often taken from them. When their property was required for 
public uses, "they were not to be bargained with for the pay- 
ment." ^ There was no love between rulers and ruled. 

When the total reduction of Nova Scotia was undertaken, Mas- 
sachusetts cheerfully levied seven thousand nine hundred soldiers — 
nearly one-fifth of her able-bodied men. A strong detachment 
took part in the attack on the French forts on the Acadian isth- 
mus. In June, 17^5, the English ships approached, and landed 
fifteen hundred provincials with three hundred regulars and a 
train of artiller3\ The forts ^vere besieged, and both soon sur- 
rendered, with a loss to the English of only twenty men killed 
and as many wounded.^ Thus were the Acadians at the mercy 
of their conquerors ; and mercy w^as not granted. 

They declined at first to take the oath of allegiance to the 
British government. Afterwards, when, discovering that they 
were helpless, they expressed their willingness to take the oath, 
they were informed that it was too late — that by a clause in a 
British statute, persons who had once refused the oaths could not 
afterwards be permitted to take them, but were to be considered 
as "Popish recusants" and liable to imprisonment.^ 

The harsh treatment of those poor Acadians was entirely the 
work of the British government. The American colonists had 
no agency in it, except in official forms under command. The 
great American poet Longfellow, in his " Evangeline " has told of 
this melancholy episode. 

The English minister, Halifax, and his colleagues expressed the 
opinion that, by the treaty of Utrecht, these people of Acadia 
were bound to become British subjects within one year, or forfeit 
their titles to their lands. All questions involved were referred 

1 Haliburton's Nova Scotia, I. 169. Bancroft, IV. 196. 

- Lawrence to the Lords of Trade, 28th June, 1755. Bancroft, IV. 198. 

3 Statute George II., c. xiii. 



War of Anglo- American Advance. 279 

to Belcher, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, who decided against 
the right of the Acadians to remain.^ 

A few fled to Qiiebec and other parts of New France ; but not 
less than seven thousand were driven on board ships and scattered 
among the English colonies fi^om New Hampshire to Georgia — 
one thousand and twenty to South Carolina alone. Some made 
their way to the French settlements in Louisiana. The fate of 
these banished people, as far as traced, v\^as sad beyond descrip- 
tion.^ 

1 Halifax to Lawrence, Oct., 1755. Bancroft, with references, IV. 199-202. 
2 See Bancroft, IV. 204-206. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Washington, Braddock, Montcalm, Wolfe. 

THE expedition of General Braddock against Fort Duquesne 
moved next in time, and resulted in one of the most frightful 
disasters to the British arms recorded in American history. It 
seemed as though the merciless policy of England towards the 
people of Acadia was to recoil upon the country that practiced it. 

Braddock had heard of Washington and sought his aid. He 
listened to his military counsels, and had he heeded them would 
have escaped the disgrace and death that vs^ere hastening upon 
him. But, though brave, he was pufled up with pride and self- 
conceit. He believed that his regiments of British regulars could 
not be defeated by the warfare of the American forests. Wash- 
ington knew better than he how formidable that warfare was, 
unless met by similar strategy. 

The British force moved from Alexandria in AjDril, 1755. Two 
regiments from Ireland, in admirable condition, and several bodies 
of provincial troops, comprised a total of nearly two thousand 
five hundred men. Braddock commanded in chief, and under him 
were Colonel Dunbar, Sir Peter Plalket, and many other English 
officers ; Colonel Washington and others of the colonies, alinost 
equally distinguished. 

When they reached Wills' creek, where a fort had been erected 
by Colonel Innes, and called Cumberland after the Duke, an un- 
expected delay took place, caused by the failure of Virginia con- 
tractors to supply wagons and teams. General Braddock fell 
into a paroxysm of rage at this disappointment ; but Benjamin 
Franklin, with good humor and address, succeeded in inducing 
the Pennsylvania farmers to supply one hundred and fifty wagons, 
■with their teams.^ Thus the army was enabled to move slowly 
forward. 

The delays, and his constant exposure, fatigue and anxiety, 
preyed on Washington's health, and in June he w%as prostrated 
several days by fever, and was only well enough to join the army 
a few days before the crisis. 

igparks, I. 62. Kote in Burk, III. 196. 
[ 280 ] 



Washington and Braddock. 281 

But his advice was sought by the superior officers and approved 
by a council of war. Under it the heavy baggage and part of 
the force were left behind, and a select body of troops was pushed 
rapidly forward upon Fort Duquesne. Twelve hundred men, em- 
bracing nearly all the provincials, made the advance. But Brad- 
dock would not yield to Washington's advice that the provincial 
rangers, and all the friendly Indians they could enlist, should con- 
stantly scour the woods and fastnesses in advance of the regulars.^ 

To avoid a rugged and circuitous road, Braddock crossed the 
Monongahela twice at a bend, so as to secure a direct road to Fort 
Duquesne. On the morning of the 9th of July, 17^^, the army 
was in regular march, and eye-witnesses have told us that a sight 
more brilliant and picturesque has seldom been presented. The 
British troops were in full uniform. Three hundred regulars, 
under Colonel Gage, led the advance. Their bayonets glittered 
in the sun, and the flash of warlike steel contrasted strangely 
with the deep and peaceful verdure of the forest shade. By one 
o'clock the whole army had passed the second crossing of the 
IMonongahela and was ascending the slope from its banks, within 
seven miles of Fort Duquesne.^ 

Suddenly a terrible fire of rifles and musketry was opened on 
them from foes concealed in the long grass and ravines around 
them. Not an Indian or Frenchman could be seen, but their v\^ea- 
pons poured death upon the regulars. Volley followed volley in 
quick succession, and every shot told with fatal power among 
the English troops. In confusion, the grenadiers halted and 
sought to return the fii'e, but obviously without effect. Brave 
men became appalled by deadly blows from unseen enemies. 
As their numbers were thinned, the regulars lost all presence of 
mind, and, falling back in dismay upon their comrades, involved 
the whole army in disorder. General Braddock was a brave man, 
but he knew not how to fight this battle. He attempted to form 
his men into platoons and solid columns. The result was appall- 
ing. Crowded together in masses, the British soldiers kept up a 
wavering fire, which did little harm to the foe, and was often 
fatal to their own comrades and officers. Upon these masses the 
French and Indian sharp-shooters poured fatal volleys. The Eng- 
lish were cut down in numbers, and it was soon evident that their 
total defeat was at hand.^ 

In no modern battle have more officers been killed or disabled 
in proportion to their whole number than in this murderous ac- 

1 Gordon's America, I. 95. Grimshaw's U. S., 85. 
2Grahame, III. 396. Sparks. I. 65, 66. 
sGrahame, III. 397. Burk, III. 202. Sparks, I. 66. 



282 A History of the United States of America. 

tion. Had Braddock ordered up his ten pieces of light artillery, 
he might have raked the woods with grape-shot, and given time 
to his soldiers to recover from their confusion ; but the regular 
army officers, though of dauntless courage, knew nothing of 
forest warfare. The Indians knew them by their brilliant uni- 
forms, and brought them down with their rifles. Out of eighty- 
six officers, sixty-three were killed or wounded.^ 

In this drama of death, only the colonial troops retained their 
courage and efficiency. They spread themselves in the wood, 
and from the shelter of trees returned the fire of the enemy with 
effect. Yet no part of the army suffered more. " They fought 
like men and died like soldiers."^ 

Out of one Virginia company of twenty-nine, twenty-five were 
killed. Of another, commanded by Captain Poison, a single pri- 
vate was the only survivor. Captain Peronny, who had been with 
Washington at the Great Meadows, was killed, as was every offi- 
cer of his command, down to the lowest corporal. Thirty men 
were all that remained of three full Virginia companies that had. 
gone into the battle. 

On this fatal day Colonel Washington displayed consummate 
courage and ability. Two of Braddock's aides had fallen, and on 
the young colonial officer fell the perilous duty of distributing his 
general's commands. Two horses were shot under him. Four 
bullets pierced his clothing. An eye-witness watched him with 
thrilling interest, expecting every moment to see him fall.^ An 
Indian chief marked him, as he rode again and again through the 
field, and, taking deliberate aim with his riffe, fired and missed. 
He repeated the fire, but in vain. Calling several of his red men 
around him, he directed all their rifles on Colonel Washington ; 
but every shot was harmless. The savages desisted, in supersti- 
tious fear that the Great Manitou protected his life.* 

Three-fourths of Braddock's officers had fallen. Sir Peter 
Halket fell by the first fire ; a few moments afterwards a son of 
Governor Shirley fell. For three hours the carnage continued ; 
yet the commander-in-chief was unhurt. He displayed heroic 
courage, exposing himself to the hottest fire, and using every ex- 
ertion to restore confidence to his troops. Three horses fell under 
him. At last a musket ball, fired (according to a belief long 
prevalent in Pennsylvania) accidentally or intentionally by one 
of his own men, pierced his right arm, and, passing though his 

1 Sparks, I. 67. 2 Burk, III. 205. 3 Dr. Craik, in Marshall, II. 19. 

* Sparks' Washington's Writings, II. 475. Append, and Life, 1. 68, 69, note. Taylor's Cent. 
U. S., 109. 



Washing-ton and Braddock. 283 

lungs, inflicted a mortal wound.^ Washington, with Captain 
Stewart, of the Guards, brought him from the field. 

The rout of the English army w^as now comj^lete. The regu- 
lars broke and fled in dismay towards the river. Artillery, am- 
munition, baggage, colors, stores, all were abandoned to the en- 
emy. Probably this saved the army from total destruction. The 
savages revelled in plunder, and the French officers could not 
persuade them to leave the field and join in the pursuit.^ Yet 
the result was sufficiently disastrous. Out of twelve hundred 
who had crossed the river in the morning, sixty-three ofiicers and 
seven hundred and fourteen privates were killed or wounded. Of 
the enemy, not more than forty were killed, and probably all by 
the colonial troops. 

The remnant of the English army retreated to the camp of Col- 
onel Dunbar, where Braddock died. A rapid and ruinous retreat 
was continued. The artillery was left ; the heavy baggage was 
abandoned or burned ; the public stores were destroyed ; the 
retrograde movement was not arrested until they reached Wills' 
creek, one hundred and fifty miles from Fort Duquesne. Colonel 
Dunbar seems to have feared for the shattered remnant of his 
army even in Winchester, and in a short time he led them to 
w^inter quarters in Philadelphia.^ 

Yet, amid all this darkness, the conspicuous merit of Washing- 
ton appeared. The Virginia assembly voted to him three hun- 
dred pounds, and proportionate sums to other colonial officers 
and privates wdio had borne themselves bravely in the battle of 
the Monongahela. Samuel Davies, one of the most eloquent of 
American divines, named Washington as an object for the admi- 
ration of Christian patriots.* The appointment of commander- 
in-chief of the Virginia forces was tendered to him, and accepted 
on his own terms. His chief exertions were to repress Indian 
raids and cruelties in Western Virginia. 

We have seen that one part of the plan of campaign for 1755 
was a movement of Governor Shirley against Niagara, an im- 
portant point at the mouth of Niagara river, where it enters Lake 
Ontario. Shirley, who ranked next to General Braddock, had 
an effective force of not less than two thousand men. The works 
at Niagara were weak and rotten, and the garrison was only 
thirty men, poorly armed. It had been intended that Shirley, 
after capturing this place, should await the arrival of Braddock, 
whose triumph at Fort Duquesne had been confidently expected. 

1 Howe's Hist. Col., 97. Note in Sparks, I. GS. 

2 Marshall, II. 19. Grahame, III. 39S. 

8 Smollett's Contin., VIII. 542. ^ Sparks, I. 71. 



284 -A Histoiy of the United States of America. 

But on his march Governor Shirley heard of the fatal defeat liml 
death of Braddock. He and his men became disheartened. On 
the 2ist of August, 1755, he reached Oswego (now in New 
York), and began to build boats. But on the i8th of September 
a storm came ; head-winds prevailed ; sickness weakened his 
force ; Indians deserted ; the season was unpropitious. But he 
was not " ovitgeneraled by the French," as a historian has stated.^ 
He constructed a new^ fort at Oswego, placed Colonel Mercer in 
command, with a garrison of seven hundred men ; and, abandon- 
ing all attack on Niagara, he led the rest of his army back to 
New England.^ 

When General Braddock's troops sailed from Ireland, the French 
government, hardly satisfied with the English assurance that they 
meant only to resist encroachinents on England's rights, thought 
it safest to send a fleet to Canada, ^vith reinforcements, under the 
brave veteran. Baron Dieskau. Admiral Boscawen, with his 
ships of war, pursued this French fleet. On the 8th of June, 
1755, parts of the two fleets were near each other ; the Alcide, 
under Hocquart, was within hearing of the Dtinkirk, of sixty 
guns, under Flowe. "Are we at peace or war?" asked Hoc- 
quart. The French witnesses affirm that the answer was, " Peace ! 
peace ! " ^ But soon aftervs^ards Boscav,^en gave the signal to en- 
gage. Howe, brave and taciturn, obeyed promptly, and captured 
the Alcide and Lys. The Daitp/iin, though very near, being a 
good sailer, escaped. In June, the larger part of the fleet, with 
Dieskau and his troops, landed at Quebec. De Vaudreuil super- 
seded Duquesne as governor, and, being a native of Canada, was 
cordially received by her people.* 

And so the Baron Dieskau was the French military comman- 
der when the expedition of Col. William Johnson against Crown 
Point was imdertaken, according to the plan agreed on at Alex- 
andria. 

Johnson was a native of Ireland, but, by invitation of his uncle, 
Admiral Sir Peter Warren, had come to New York as manager 
of an immense landed estate, chiefly in the valley of the Mohawk, 
acquired by the admiral by his marriage with Etienne De Lancey 
of the New York colony. Johnson had administered his trust 
with conspicuous skill, conciliating the Mohawks and others of 
the " Six Nations " by his honesty and justice, never dealing with 
them when they were intoxicated, and acquiring their several dia- 
lects so perfectly that he spoke them as well as the natives. The 

1 Egglpston's Household IT. S., 133. 2 Bancroft, IV. 213. Stephens, 177. 

3 Precis des Faits, Walpole's Mem. of George II., I. 3S9. Bancroft, IV. 183. 

4 Bancroft, IV. 183, 184. 



WasJiington a)id Braddock. 385 

Mohawks adopted him, made him a sachem, and gave him the 
title of " Wariaghcjaghe," which means "he who has charge of 
affairs."^ In 1743 he was appointed by the English rulers sole 
superintendent of Indians in North America. His residence was 
a large and massive stone dwelling, built and fortified by him, on 
the north side of the Mohawk river, opposite to Warrensburg, 
and appropriately called "Fort Johnson." It may still be seen 
about three miles west of the village of Amstei-dam in New York. 

Knowing his ability and influence, General Braddock invited 
him to the conference at Alexandria, and commissioned him as 
major-general, with directions and full authority to raise and con- 
duct an expedition against Crown Point. Troops from New Eng- 
land and New York promptly responded to his call. Five hun- 
dred foresters of New Hampshire, among whom was Lieutenant 
John Stark, marched to Albany. The Connecticut and Massa- 
chusetts men were coinmanded by their major-general, Phinehas 
Lyman, an officer of courage and skill in forest warfare. 

Baron Dieskau commanded the French, and for defence of 
Crown Point called out every able-bodied man in the district of 
Montreal. This swept the country so completely of men that 
reapers were sent up from Three Rivers and Qiiebec to gather in 
the harvest." 

Tow^ards the close of August, 17=55, General Johnson, at the 
head of an untrained army of thirty-four hundred men, made up 
of colonists and Indians, advanced across the portage of twelve 
miles between the upper waters of the Hudson and the beautiful 
lake, called by the Indians " Horican," and by the French " the 
Lake of the Holy Sacrament." In honor of his king, Johnson 
changed the name to " Lake George," and by this name it has since 
been known. 

Two forts had been constructed : Fort William Henry, at the 
eastern head of Lake George, and Fort Edward, about half way 
on the road between George and Champlain.^ 

Dieskau's maxim was : "Boldness wins." ■* For the defence of 
the weak fortress at Crown Point, seven hundred French soldiers, 
sixteen hundred Canadians and seven hundi'ed Indians had assem- 
bled ; but at least three hundred were emigrants from the " Six 
Nations," and, therefore, of very doubtful fidelity to the French. 

Taking with him six hundred Canadians, six hundred Indians 
and two hundred regulars, Dieskau ascended to the head of 
Champlain, and made a three days' march, intending at night-fall 

1 Art. Johnson, Sir William, New Amer. Encyclop., X. 34. 

^Breard to the French Minister, loth August, 1755. Bancroft, IV. 207. 

3 Holmes' U. S., note, 76, 77. < Doreil to the Minister, 28th October, 1755. 



286 A History of the United States of America. 

of the fourth day to attack Fort Edward ; but the guides took a 
false route, and at night Dieskau's troops wei'e four miles from 
Fort Edward, on the road to Lake George. The savages, never 
very obedient to orders, refused to go against Fort Edward, where 
they expected to be met by intrenchments and artillery, but were 
willing to march against the camp at Fort George. 

Hearing of their approach, General Johnson sent out a body of 
ti'oops, consisting of a thousand colonists, under Col. Ephraim 
Williams, of Massachusetts, and two hundred warriors of the 
" Six Nations," under Hendrick, their chief, well known for his 
clear voice, flashing eye and gray hair. Colonel Williams was a 
man of wealth and high character. In passing through Albany, 
on this campaign, he made his will and bequeathed a large sum to 
found a college, wdiich has ever since borne his name. Israel Put- 
nam, of Connecticut, was a private soldier in this body.^ But 
they marched incautiously, and fell into an ambuscade of French 
and Indian enemies. 

Yet already Dieskau was experiencing the peril of disaftected 
savages. The Mohawk emigrants of his army revealed them- 
selves to their brethren, and left the Abenakis and Canadians to 
make the attack. 

On the morning of September 8th, 17=^=^, this opening collision 
occurred. At the first fire. Colonel Williams and the brave Hen- 
drick fell. Forty Indians and a number of whites were slain. 
The English forces fell back, but were rallied, and commenced 
their retreat under Col. Nathan Whiting, of New Haven, often 
turning on the enemy and delivering a deadly fire. A force had 
been sent out to help them, and thus Dieskau was kept at bay.^ 

This gallant Fi-enchman advanced, confident of victory ; but 
he was met by a sturdy resistance, and in the very crisis of the 
fight he found his Indian allies untrue. The Ii'oquois, on a rising 
ground, stood inactive ; the Abenakis halted, and the Canadians 
lost heart. In a wilderness of pitch-pines, barely within gun- 
shot, these skulkers crouched together below an undergrowth of 
shrubs and brakes. Dieskau bitterly exclaimed : "Are these the 
so much vaunted troops? " He pushed his regulars forward, and 
a bloody encounter followed. General Johnson was wounded in 
the thigh and borne from the field. But for five hours the colo- 
nial troops, under Lyman and his brother officers, maintained the 
battle. They were keen marksmen, and took careful aim, cutting 
down the French regulars in hundreds, and nearly destroying 
them. Dieskau was twice wounded, but refused to leave the 
1 Bancroft, IV. 209, 210. 2 C. B. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 110. 



Washington and Braddock. 287 

field. At last two Canadians came to remove him ; one was shot 
dead ; he dismissed the other, and supported himself on the stump 
of a tree. A soldier — said to have been a renegade Frenchman — 
came up. Dieskau, thinking his purpose was plunder, put his 
hand to his pocket to draw out his watch. The soldier, fearing 
he was drawing a pistol, fired and shot him through the body, in- 
flicting a wound which was finally mortal, though Dieskau lived, 
part of the time a prisoner, for eleven years thereafter.^ 

The French retreated, with heavy loss, to the scene of the am- 
buscade in the morning. But disaster followed them. While 
they were sitting in fancied security eating a hasty meal. Cap- 
tain McGinnies, of New Hampshii-e, who had marched from Fort 
Edward with two hundred men, suddenly fell upon them. The 
rout was complete, and attended with severe loss to the Fi-ench, 
although McGinnies himself fell.^ 

Thus three distinct battles were fought in this one day. The 
loss to the French was not less than seven hundred in killed and 
wounded, besides many prisoners. The English loss was two 
hundred and sixteen killed and ninety-six wounded. These bat- 
tles, for the numbers engaged, were sanguinary ; and several local- 
ities, known as " French Mountain," " Williams' Rock " and 
" Bloody Pond," are yet witnesses of these fierce combats.* 

The English ministry had been greatly depressed by Braddock's 
defeat. They were correspondingly elated by the success of the 
army under Johnson. They made him a baronet, and voted him 
five thousand pounds ; and the House of Lords, in an elegant ad- 
dress, praised the colonists as " brave and faithful." But praises 
were not the substantial rewards of mei-it which ought to have 
been bestowed. All in the colonies knew that the success was 
theirs.'' 

Governor Shirley and a council of war urged Sir William John- 
son to advance ; but he did not, upon the plea that he was not 
strong enough to attack the intrenchments at Crown Point. The 
French strengthened themselves at Ticonderoga. Johnson com- 
pleted Fort William Henry, near Lake George ; garrisoned it with 
six hundred men, and when winter approached dismissed the New 
England troops to their homes, and retired to his own strong 
stone residence near the Mohawk river.^ 

War was formally declared between England and France in 
May, 1756. For more than a year it had been openly waged in 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 154. Bancroft, IV. 211. New Amer. Encyclop., VI. 465. Thal- 
heimer's Eclec. U. S., 103. Quackenbos, 1G8, 169. 

2 C. B. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 110. 3 lud., 110, 111. 
< Bancroft, IV. 212. Quackenbos' U. S., 169. 

6 Bancroft, IV. 212, 213. A. S. Barnes' U. S., 86. 



288 A History of the United States of America. 

North America. And now for seven years a stern contest of 
arms was continued in every part of the world in which these 
two belligerent nations could grapple with each other. 

At its beginning, the English ministry embraced no mind of 
commanding power, and their feebleness projected itself into 
America. The Earl of Loudon, a friend of the minister Halifax, 
and a man passionately zealous for the policy of keeping the col- 
onies in subordination and inferiority to the mother country in all 
respects, was appointed Lord-Lieutenant and Captain-General in 
North America. His dignity was enhanced by his appointment 
as " governor of the central, ancient and populous dominion of 
Virginia." ^ His commission was very broad, giving him military 
power independent of the colonial governors and superior to them. 
He was also to make American assemblies " distinctly and pre- 
cisely understand that the king reqviired of them a general fund, 
to be issued and applied as the commander-in-chief should direct, 
and provision for all such charges as might arise from furnishing 
quarters." ^ 

Thus the powers of the sword and of the purse were united in 
one hand ; and that was the hand of one who had no military 
genius and very small military knowledge, and who was weak 
and sluggish in intellect, and so little honest in character that he 
accused Benjamin Franklin of dishonesties in the postal service 
of the colonies by reason of losses caused chiefly by his own nar- 
row and unprincipled policy.' Disasters might have been ex- 
pected under his rule. 

On the side of France, a very different commander-in-chief was 
sent to Canada in the person of Louis Joseph De Saint Veran, 
Marquis De Montcalm. He had been in military service since 
his fourteenth year, and had already gained a name which has 
since become immortal in American history. 

He landed at Quebec about the last of May, 1756. Difficulties 
surrounded him, arising from the failure of successive harvests 
in New France, the paucity of the population, the loss of Acadia 
and its occupation by English forces, and the hostilities between 
the "Six Nations" and the Indian tribes under the influence of 
France.* But with indomitable courage and address, he set him- 
self to the work of organizing a military force adequate for attack 
and defence. 

His first movement was against the forts, Oswego and Ontario, 
on the lake of the last name, which, as we have seen, had been 

1 Bancroft, IV. 228, 229. 2 Commission and Instructions to Loudon. Bancroft, IV. 229. 
sQraliame, IV. 1. 2. Franklin's Memoirs, note, p. 2. 
* Art. Montcalm, Amer. Encyclop., XI. 678. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 289 

completed and garrisoned by Governor Shirley. Montcalm col- 
lected three regiments and a large body of Indians at Montreal, 
reviewed them at Frontenac on the 5th of August, 1756, and on 
the evening of the same day anchored at Sackett's harbor. 

Oswego, on the right of the river, w^as a stone fortification with 
a wall and bastions, but commanded by the opposite summit, on, 
which Shirley had erected Fort Ontario. Against the latter, on 
the 1 3th of August, Montcalm opened his batteries. The garrison 
kept up their defensive fire until their ammunition was exhausted. 
They then spiked their cannon and retreated to Oswego. Mont- 
calm instantly occupied the deserted work and turned its guns on 
the lower fort. Colonel Mercer was killed ; a breach was made. 
The French were just about to storm the works on the 14th, when 
the garrison, sixteen hundred strong, capitulated. Only forty- 
five had been killed. But the prisoners of war were carried in 
triumph down the St. Lawrence river ; their colors, as trophies, 
decorated the churches of Montreal, Three Rivers and Qiiebec ; 
and one hundred and twenty cannon, six vessels of war, three 
hundred boats, witli stores of ammunition and provisions, and 
three chests of money, fell into the hands of the victors.^ 

This success brought joy to Frenchmen, Canadians and sav- 
ages. The missionaries planted a cross, bearing on one side, 
" This is the banner of victory," and on the other, " Bring lilies 
with full hands.'" Montcalm felt this triumph, but to allay the 
jealousy of the natives, he caused both forts — Oswego and Onta- 
rio — to be razed to the ground.^ 

The Indians of the Ohio valley, moved by this success of the 
French, and faithless to their ti-eaties, fell upon the settlements 
which were extending in the west and committed cruel havoc. 
But three resolute companies of Pennsylvania, under Col. John 
Armstrong, struck the Delawares a blow so sudden and severe 
that they soon sought peace. Kittanning, their chief town, was 
captured and destroyed.^ 

Had the Earl of Loudon been prompt and resolute, he could 
have saved Ontario and Oswego. But his inefliciency became 
more and more apparent as the war went on. 

In December, 1756, William Pitt became the Prime Minister of 
England, and was commissioned to form a new cabinet. The 
moment his mighty hand grasped the helm of the ship of state, it 
seemed as though the heavens began to brighten and the storms 
to lose their power. Incompetent officers, civil and military, 

1 De Vaudreuil to the Ministers, 30th Aug., 1756. Bancroft, IV. 239. Quackenbos, 170, 171. 

2 Bancroft, IV. 239. - 

sThalheimer's Eclec. U. S.. p. 103. Bancroft, IV. 242. 

19 



390 A History of the United States of America. 

were dismissed, and stronger men were put in their places. 
Everywhere preparations were pushed forward for meeting the 
French armies with success.^ 

But Montcalm also was active in America. His rapidity was 
in curious contrast to the sluggishness of Loudon. At the close 
of the spring of 1757, this inefficient earl was at Halifax with an 
English fleet of sixteen ships of the line and several frigates, and 
a well-equipped army of ten thousand men. Instead of moving 
instantly against Louisburg, and to sustain the forts on the lakes 
against Montcalm, Loudon planted a vegetable garden, leveled 
uneven ground for a parade, and passed a precious season in exer- 
cising his men in mock-battles, sieges, and stormings of play- 
fortresses. By the middle of August the war spirit of his army 
had evaporated. Charles Lee (then a subaltern, afterwards a 
general in the American Revolutionary army) grew nearly fran- 
tic, and Major-General Lord Charles Hay expressed contempt 
so openly that Loudon had him arrested. At last the expedi- 
tion sailed, apparentlv for Louisburg ; but reconnoitering vessels 
brought news that the French fleet at Cape Breton had one more 
ship than the English ! On this unworthy plea, Loudon aban- 
doned the enterprise. Part of the soldiers returned to inactivity 
in Halifax. Loudon sailed to New York, and arrived just in time 
to hear of a sad reverse to the English fortunes on the lakes." 

The French officers had exerted theinselves successfully to rouse 
the Indian tribes against the English possessions. At a congress 
at ^Montreal, Vaudreuil had addressed the chiefs of thirty-three 
nations — some from !Maine and Acadia, some from Lakes Supe- 
rior and Huron, and some from the Iroquois of New York. He 
said : " The English have built a fort on the lands of Onontio 
(meaning the King of France) ; I am ordered to destroy it. Go, 
see what I shall do, that when you return to your mats you 
may tell what you have seen." They took the belt of wampum, 
and answered: "Father, we are come to do your will."^ And 
!Montcalm, by his personal magnetism, attracted irresistibly these 
sons of the forest. They almost idolized him. Day after day at 
Montreal he joined them in singing the war songs of the tribes. 
He was soon at the head of nearly ten thousand men, more than 
half of whom were Indians. 

Provisions were scarce ; the harvests of Canada had failed, and 
the French government had not sent food-ships, fearing that they 
would be captured by the English cruisers. Montcalm knew 

1 Bancroft, IV. 247-249. 

« Bancroft, IV. 258. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 178. 

8 Vaudreuil to Fr. Min., Bancroft, IV. 259. 



Montcahii a??d Wolfe. ^ 2gi 

that what was to be clone must be done without delay. He 
pressed forward, by way of Ticonderoga, upon Fort William 
Henry, at the south end of the beautiful Lake George. 

Meanwhile his savage partisans, under Marin, two hundred in 
number, had made a successful raid to the very borders of Fort 
Edward, and had brought back forty-two scalps and only one 
prisoner ! Montcalm's own narrative betrays the atrocity of 
spirit engendered by these wars. He wrote as to Marin : " He 
did not amuse himself with making prisoners." And a veil of 
joy arose in his camp when the scalps were seen.' 

On the 34th of July, the Indians of his force made a sudden 
rush on twenty-two barges on the lake, under Captain Palmer, 
killed many boatmen, and took one hundred and sixty prisoners. 

General Webb, one of the incompetent appointees of the weak 
Earl of Loudon, was in command at Fort Edward, with four 
thousand men. Alarmed at these Indian irruptions, he marched, 
with a heavy force, to Fort William Henry, but marched back 
just in thiie to escape the impending siege. Montcalm kept all 
his savage warriors enthused and ardent for the siege by pro- 
ducing to them, in the name of Louis XV. of France, a mighty 
belt of six thousand shells, which, being accepted, bound them, 
by ties the most solemn known to them, to continue to the end of 
i-he expedition.^ 

Fort William Henry was commanded by Colonel JNIonro, a 
brave and skillful officer of Scottish descent, who had under him 
about five hundred men in the fort and seventeen hundred in the 
adjoining outworks and field. ^ The French awd Indians rowed 
across the lake, formed rapidly, and advanced so suddenly that 
the English out-forces barely escaped to the fort, leaving bar- 
racks, stragglers, cattle and horses to the enemy. 

On the 4th of August, 1757, Montcalm had completed his in- 
vestment, having, with his subordinates, De Levi and La Corne, 
a force of six thousand French and Canadians and seventeen 
hundred Indians ; enough to encompass the work on every side.* 
He summoned Monro to surrender ; but that firm officer, strong in 
his own soul, and hoping for help from Webb, returned an answer 
of defiance. The siege was fiercely pressed. 

General Webb had four thousand soldiers, and unlimited au- 
thority to summon the militia of the near country and villages to 
help him. Had he been a true soldier, he would have intervened 

1 Montcalm to Vaudreuil, 27th July, 1757. Bancroft, IV. 200. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 113. 

2 Bougainville to the Minister, 19th August, 1757. 

3 Compare Bancroft, IV. 203, with Stephens, 178. 

^Capt. Christie to Gov. Pownall, IDth August, 1757. Bancroft, IV. 203, 264. 



29- -I Jh'sforv of till- I'fiifcJ Sfafcs of America. 

to raise tlio siofjfe and relieve the heroic Monro and the beleaguered 
garrison. But he did nothing except to send a letter of gloom 
and discoxn-agement to Monro, exaggerating the enenw's force, 
and advising him to capitulate. The messenger who bore this 
Letter was captured and brought to Montcalm, who immediately, 
by llag o( truce, forwarded the letter to ^lonro.' 

This tlauntless otRcer held out to the 9th of August, when, 
finding more than half his guns burst and manv disabled, his 
provisions failing, his ammunition almost exhausted, and his 
hopes of help from Webb gone, he hung out a tlag o( truce, ami 
arranged terms of capitulation. 

By these the English were to retire with the lionors of war; 
not to serve against the French for eighteen months ; they were to 
retain their private eflects, and to be escorted by the French forces 
to the outposts of Fort Edward. All prisoners, French or Indians, 
captured in the war and held in the fort, were to be liberated.* 

And now once more ^ve meet a scene manifesting the hopeless 
taithlessness and atrocitv of the North American Indians. ^lont- 
calm had kept away intoxicating liquors from the savages, but 
the English sutlers had supplied them. Hardly had the sad pro- 
cession of unarmed soldiers, with camp attendants, women and 
children, moved a mile from the outworks before the savages fell 
on them, and for hours continued deeds of murder, pillage and 
cruelty, which resulted in the death of not less than thirty, the 
plundering of all their eflects which could be snatched away, 
and the carrying awav of an unkiunvn number into captivity in 
the wilderness of Canada.'' 

History has acquitted Montcalm and his ofhcers of all compli- 
city in this massacre, and of all blame, save their share in the 
general custom of that age of employing lawless savages as al- 
lies. Before the surrender, Montcalm had called the Indian chiefs 
into war councils, and had obtained their solemn pledges that the 
terms should be observed ; and when the savage work com- 
menced, he, with De Levi and other French ofHcers, had plunged 
into the tumult and striven to arrest it bv their commands and 
their acts, several of them receiving wounds during their hu- 
mane exertions. Montcalm uttered pravers, menaces, promises 
to the natives. " Kill me,'* he cried, "but spare the English, who 
are under my protection.'' He urged the English troops to de- 
fend themselves.* 

' Bancroft, IV. -264. J, Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. 
-Bancroft, IV. -Jtv". Quackenbos' U. S.. 172. ITS. 
* Stov>hens, 17!=-1S0. Quackeubos. ITo. Bancroft. IV. -Jtvi. 

< Montcalm to French Minister. Sth September, 1757. Barnes ± Co.'s U. S., note, S6. Ban- 
croft, IV. ::65. 



Montcahn and Wolfe. 293 

It has been alleged against him that he did not command his 
own soldiers to open fire on the murderers/ But in the tumult, 
and while the savages were in the midst of the captives, such a 
fire would have been more fatal to the sufierers than to their 
assailants. Montcalm collected four hundred fugitives and sent 
them, under strong escort, to Fort Edward ; and he sent De Vau- 
dreuil with instructions and authority to ransom all who had been 
led into captivity and return them to their homes. ^ 

After the surrender of Fort William Henry, twelve hundred men 
remained to demolish the works, and a thousand to transport the 
vast stores surrendei'ed. Webb sent his own baggage to the rear, 
and prepared to retreat to the highlands on the Hudson. Incom- 
petency, and something near to cowardice, threatened New York 
with subjugation by French and Indians, and called out an appeal 
from the brave officer in command at Albany. " For God's sake," 
he wrote, "exert yourself to save a province; New York itself 
may fall ; save a country ; prevent the downfall of the British 
government upon this continent." ^ 

Everywhere in North" America England was humiliated and 
her colonies were depressed. The settlements in the Ohio valley 
shrunk away ; France had her posts on each side of the lakes and 
at Detroit, Mackinaw, Kaskaskia and New Orleans, and corded 
them together by lines of fortification at Waterford and Du- 
quesne, on the Alaumee, the Wabash, and by way of Chicago to 
the Illinois river. In twenty-five parts of what is now covered 
by the United States and her territories, at the end of the autumn 
of 1757 France claimed and seemed to possess at least twenty 
parts, Spain four parts, and Great Britain only one ! * 

But with the crisis came the man to meet it. William Pitt saw 
the danger and its cause, and sent out his reorganizing orders. 
Loudon and his incompetents were quietly put aside. Able naval 
and military commanders were sent to America. Preparations 
were made for a decisive advance on Louisburg, Quebec, Ticon- 
deroga. Crown Point and Fort Duquesne. 

For operations on the coast, a large English fleet, under Admi- 
ral Boscawen, came to the American waters in the early part of 
1758. The land forces, intended to operate against Louisburg and 
eastern Canada, were to be commanded by Gen. Jeffrey Amhei'st, 
an officer of solid judgment, and Gen. James Wolfe, who, though 
young, had already drawn the intuitive confidence of Pitt, and 
whose name was to be placed high on the column of renown. 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 178. 

s Montcalm to Earl of Loudon, 14th August, 1757. Bancroft, IV. 2G6. 

* Capt. Christie to Gov. Pownall, 10th August, 1757. * Bancroft, IV. 267, 



294 ^'^ History of the United States of America, 

The advance on Ticonderoga and Crown Point was to be con- 
ducted by General Abercrombie, with whom was Lord Howe, a 
young nobleman already very dear to the army. The movements 
against Fort Duquesne and in the Ohio valley were intrusted to 
General Forbes. 

At the same time, William Pitt adopted a generous course 
towards the colonies. They were to be trusted and encouraged,- 
rather than depreciated and held as inferiors. England was to 
furnish arms and ammunition for colonial forces, but the colo- 
nies were to enlist the men, clothe them and pay them. Eng- 
land was to appoint the generals and division officers, but the 
colonial troops might choose their own colonels and subordinate 
officers.' The happy effects of this liberal policy were soon mani- 
fested. 

On the 2Sth May, 1758, after a long and rough passage. Gene- 
ral Amherst reached Halifax. The English fleet had twenty-two 
ships of the line and fifteen frigates. The army was at least ten 
thousand effective men.^ 

No time was lost. Early in June the fleet approached Louis- 
burg. The high winds and rough surf in Chapeau Rouge Bay 
delayed the landing. But at daybreak on the 8th, General Wolfe, 
leading his troops, who were forbidden to fire until the landing 
was eflected, cheered on the oarsmen, and when they reached the 
shallows, leaped into the water ; and under a severe fire from the 
French, the troops gained the firm land, charged through an abattis 
of felled trees and over a rampart, and drove the enemy from their 
batteries, which were instantly occupied by the English soldiers. 
On the same day Louisburg was completely invested. In these 
daring movements, two young officers under Wolfe — Isaac Barre 
and Richard Montgomery — distinguished themselves ; but in the 
cause of colonial freedom they were even better known sixteen 
years thereafter.^ 

On the morning of June I3th, Wolfe, with light infantry and 
Highlanders, took by surprise the strong light-house battery on 
the northeast side of the harbor's entrance. The smaller works 
w^ere promptly captured, and the central attacks began. 

The water assaults were equally successful. On the 3ist July 
three French ships were burned. On the night of the 35th the 
boats of the fleet set fire to the Prudent, a seventy-four, and car- 
ried off the Bicnfaisa)it. Admiral Boscawen was preparing to 
send six English three-deckers into the harbor. 

1 Horace E. Scudder's U. S., pp. 151, 152. 2 Bancroft, IV. 296. 

3 Barre, in Chatham Correspondence, II. 42. Bancroft, IV. 296, 297. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 255 

But the army and the heavy guns had ah^eady done the work of 
capture. Louisburg was in ruins. No place of safety covered 
either officers or men. Forty cannon out of fifty-two were dis- 
abled. The Chevalier de Drucour, commanding the garrison, 
made signals of submission. On the 27th July, 1758, the English 
forces took possession. The French garrison, with the sailors and 
marines, five thousand six hundred and thirty-seven in number,' 
was sent to England as prisoners of war.^ Cape Breton and 
Prince Edward's Island were in the possession of England. 

Louisburg is still hers, but as Halifax is her naval station, the 
town so often attacked, surrendered, relinquished and recovered 
is now little more than a village, with a port which gives shelter 
to merchantinen in storms. 

General Wolfe was called back to England to confer with Pitt 
as to the possibility of capturing Quebec. He was greeted with 
joy by all as the coming hero. The trophies from Louisburg were 
deposited with pomp in the cathedi-al of St. Paul's. Admiral 
Boscawen, a member of Parliament, received a unanimous vote 
of thanks from the House of Commons.^ 

The wise encouragement of Pitt had greatly stimulated military 
preparations in the colonies. Massachusetts had forty-five thou- 
sand men on her rolls, of whom thirty-seven thousand were by 
law required to train, and, if needed, to take the field. When 
General Abercrombie assembled his army early in July, to advance 
on Ticonderoga, he had under his command nine thousand and 
twenty-four pi-ovincial troops from New England, New York 
and New Jersey, brave and skillful men — many of them rangers 
in woodland tunics, with rifles, hatchets, powder-horns and slung 
bags of bullets. Among them were John Stark, of New Hamp- 
shire, and Israel Putnam, of Connecticut. Abercrombie had also 
six thousand three hundred and sixty-seven regulars. No army 
so large and so well equipped had thus far marched through the 
forests of America.^ 

Lord Howe was the prevalent spirit of the army. He geni- 
ally adopted Pitt's policy of treating the colonial officers as in 
every respect the equals of the regulars of like rank. He cut off" 
his hair, wore clothes suited to field and forest, dismissed the 
great army of washwomen, washed his own under-garments, and 
cheerfully led the way in all acts of self-denial that he required 
from his soldiers.* He won all hearts that knew him. 

1 Stephens' Com p. U. S., 182. Scudder's U. 8., 152. Bancroft, IV. 297, 298. 
s Art. Wolfe, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 513, 514. Bancroft, IV. 298. 
8 Journal of Cleaveland, Bancroft, IV. 300. Quackenbos, 173, 174. 
* Eggleston's Household U. S., 140, 141. 



296 A History of the United States of America. 

On the 5th day of July, 1758, the army of more than fifteen 
thousand men struck their tents at daybreak, and embarked on 
Lake George in nine hundred small boats and one hundred and 
thirty-five whale boats, followed by the artillery, mounted on 
rafts. The day was bright ; banners waved ; martial music 
resounded over the quiet waters ; the fleet moved in stately order 
down the lake. No sight more imposing had ever been witnessed 
in the New World. 

But in front of them was an ever vigilant and dauntless foe. 
Montcalm held Ticonderoga, and defended it with a strong forti- 
fication on the heights of Carillon. He had only two thousand 
eight hundred French and four hundred and fifty Canadians. 
With these he toiled day and night to strengthen his works. On 
the evening of the 6th of July, De Levi joined him with four 
hundred more men, some of whom were choice Indian warriors. 
The work was carried on with ceaseless resolution. The road 
from Lake George passed, by two bridges, over the rapid river tor- 
rent, which ran four miles from Lake George to Champlain. The 
French had destroyed these bridges, but Montcalm had ordered 
Colonel De Trepezee, with three hundred men, to hold the ap- 
proaches and reconnoiter, and to retire on the main body when 
attacked.' 

The English army, leaving behind provisions, artillery and 
heavy baggage, pressed forward. The right centre, commanded 
by Lord Howe, came suddenly on De Trepezee's small force, who, 
in retreating, had lost their way. But these Frenchmen, though 
overpowered by numbers, fought gallantly. At their first fire, 
Lord Howe fell mortally wounded, and soon to die. Some of 
the enemy were killed, some drowned in the stream, and one hun- 
dred and fifty-nine surrendered. But the death of the beloved 
young English noble carried grief through the army. " Order 
disappeared, and infatuation and dismay took the place of cour- 

On the morning of July yth, Abercrombie, discouraged by the 
destruction of the bridges, thought of a retreat back to the land- 
ing ; but before noon Gen. John Bradstreet came up with a 
strong detachment, rebuilt the bridges, and took possession of ad- 
vantageous ground near saw-mills which the French abandoned. 
Somewhat cheered by this, Abercrombie ordered an advance, and 
that night the army encamped not more than a mile and a half 
from the enemy's fortifications. 

1 Montcalm to Vaudreuil, 6th July, N. Y. Paris Documents, XIV. Bancroft, IV. 301, 302. 
8|Bancroft, IV. 302, 303. 



Montcahn and Wolfe. 297 

Abercrombie's road to success was plain. He had a splendid 
army, open communications, and plenty of artillery. He needed 
only to envelop Montcalm by investment, as that prudent, though 
daring, officer had invested Fort William Henry. The English 
artillery could have been easily planted on Mount Defiance and 
other points which commanded the hastily constructed works of 
Carillon. Thus a surrender of the whole French force would have 
been compelled in a brief siege. Montcalm himself has left this 
testimony : " Had I to besiege Fort Carillon, I would ask for but 
six mortars and two pieces of artillery."^ 

But the English commander-in-chief was incompetent to select 
the right way. Early on the 8th of July, 1758, the engineer, 
Clerk, upon hasty examination, reported Montcalm's works as 
flimsy and inadequate. John Stark and the English engineers 
knew better, and gave warning. But, without waiting for his 
artillery, Aberci'ombie ordered an assault. He himself prudently 
took his place far in the rear. Sir William Johnson also had 
come up with four hundred and forty Iroquois warriors ; but they 
took no part whatever in the battle.^ 

Montcalm had called in all his forces, had stationed them, and 
was prepared. He ordered that no shots should be fired until his 
enemies were within the shortest range. The English and pro- 
vincial troops, with heroic courage, rushed forward over piled 
logs, stumps, and abattis of felled trees with their sharp branches 
pointed outwards. At deadly range, swivels and musketry were 
opened on them, cutting them down in hundreds. Through 
hours of the afternoon these charges were continued. An attempt, 
nearly successful, was made on the French left. There Bourla- 
marque fell dangerously wounded, and his bleeding lines were 
broken. Montcalm sent reinforcements and restored the lines. 
On the right, the grenadiers and Scotch Highlanders charged for 
hours without faltering ; many fell within fifteen paces of the 
trench, some on its very ridge. Montcalm was everywhere, en- 
couraging his men, and causing food and refreshments to be 
distributed to them. De Levi was almost equally efficient. The 
English troops fell into some confusion, and fired on their own 
comrades in advance. At six o'clock the last charge was repulsed, 
and the assailants retired, with a loss of one thousand nine hun- 
dred and forty-four men killed and wounded.' 

Yet, even then, more than twelve thousand troops reniained to 
Abercrombie, and, with the help of his artillery, he could readily 

1 Bancroft, IV. 306. McCabe's U. S., in Stephens, 182-184. - Bancroft, IV. 304. 

3 McCabe, in Stephens, 183. Bancroft, IV. 305, 306. Quackenbos, 174. 



29S A Histo7-y of the United States of America. 

have captured Carillon and Ticonderoga. But, in the " extremest 
fright and consternation," he hurried the army back to the land- 
ing on "Lake George, and nothing but the alertness and presence 
of mind of Bradstreet prevented a scene of panic and destruction 
at the boats. Abercrombie did not rest quietly until he had 
placed the lake between his fine army and their greatly inferior 
foes. He sent his artillery and ammunition to Albany for fear it 
should be captured ! ' 

Montcalm was astonished at this retreat ; yet his judgment was 
too clear and well-balanced not to perceive the extreme peril 
threatening the French possessions in North America. He saw 
that Pitt "was in earnest, and w^as wielding powerful resources 
with consummate skill, and that all he needed was competent 
commanders in order to drive the French from their strongholds. 
It was at this crisis that he expressed his conviction, that " in a 
few months the English would be masters of the French colonies 
in America." But his courage did not fail. He resolved to strug- 
gle to the last, and, in his own words, " to find his grave under 
the ruins of the colony."^ His forebodings were justified by 
coming events. 

General Bradstreet had already gained reputation for courage 
and efficiency by his success, in July, 17=56, in supplying Oswego 
with stores from Schenectady, and his repulse, with heavy loss 
to his French and Indian enemies, of an attack made on him 
from ambuscade while, at the head of a force of three hundred 
armed boatmen, he was descending the Onondaga river. ^ Early 
in the spring of 1758 he had proposed an attempt to capture Fort 
Fi'ontenac, near Lake Ontario. Lord Howe had favored the 
scheme ; and, after the retreat from Ticonderoga, a council of war 
induced Abercrombie to give reluctant consent, and to order the 
needed troops to move under General Bradstreet. 

He took command, at Oneida carrying place, of tw'enty- seven 
hundred men, all colonial troops, more than eleven hundred being 
from New York, and nearly seven hundred from Massachusetts. 
They were joined by one hundred and fifty warriors of the " Six 
Nations." Crossing Ontario in open boats, Bradstreet landed, 
August 25th, within a mile of Frontenac. Some of the garrison 
had fled ; the rest surrendered on the second day after his ap- 
pearance. He captured thirty pieces of cannon, sixteen small 
mortars, nine armed vessels carrying from eight to eighteen guns, 
and a large quantity of stores, most of which were intended for 

1 Bancroft, IV. 306. 2 Art. Montcalm, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 678. 

*Art. Bradstreet, Amer. Encyclop., III. 613. 



Montcabii and Wolfe. 299 

Fort Duquesne and the Ohio dependencies. Bradstreet razed the 
fort, destroyed such vessels and stores as could not be brought oft', 
and returned with his troops to Lake George.' From this time 
to the end of the war victory seldom left the arms of England. 

The expedition for the capture of Fort Duquesne was com- 
manded by Gen. Joseph Forbes, whose health had become so im- 
paired that he was drawing near to the grave. Nevertheless, the 
preparations were pushed forward by Colonel Washington and 
other officers. In consequence of a disagreement between the 
Earl of Loudon and the authorities of Maryland, that colony con- 
tributed nothing, either in men or money, towards the expedi- 
tion.^ But twelve hundred and fifty Highlanders came from 
South Carolina ; three hundred and fifty Royal Americans joined 
them ; Pennsylvania, with conspicuous ardor, raised twenty-seven 
hundred men ; Virginia sent two full regiments, numbering nine- 
teen hundred men, with Washington as senior oflicer. 

He desired to push on the whole advance by the old road from 
Fort Cumberland ; but Forbes was persuaded by the Pennsyl- 
vania officers to cut a new road to the Ohio. Washington was 
grieved by the delay, and wrote : " See how our time has been 
misspent." But he submitted to his superiors, and was unceasing 
in his efforts to win a decisive success. General Forbes was borne 
on a litter as far as Raystown. The new road was cut thence to 
Loyal Hanna, a post forty-five miles in advance. Had the whole 
army now pressed forward, a bloodless victory and heavy captures 
would have been reaped ; ^ but imprudence in savage warfare 
brought on one more scene of death. 

From Loyal Hanna, Major Grant, with eight hundred chosen 
Highlanders and a company of Virginians, was sent forward to 
reconnoiter and advise as to the best mode of attack. The brave 
French officer, Aubry, had, a short time before, reinforced the 
garrison of Duquesne with four hundred men, chieffy Illinois In- 
dians. Grant advanced within a short distance of the fort, and 
gained a hill near the fork of the two rivers. At daybreak of 
the 14th of September, 175S, hoping to tempt the foe into an am- 
buscade, he ordered his drums to sound a morning " reveille^ 
Hardly was the sound heard, before the gates of the fort flew open, 
and with terrible war-cries a s\tarm of savage warriors poured 
out upon the invaders. The attack was so sudden and violent 
that the men had not time to draw their rifles to their shoulders 
before they were falling under the strokes of the tomahawk. A 

1 Volunteer's Impartial Account, 25. Bancroft, IV. 308. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 104. 
- Sharpe to Baltimore, Dec. \~'-n . Calvert to Sharpe, 27th Nov., 1758. Bancroft, IV. 310. 
3 Marshall, II. 68-69. Sparks, I. 95-98. 



300 A History of the United States of America. 

ferocious butchery followed ; no quarter was given by the In-j 
dians ; a few prisoners, among whom were Majors Grant and 
Lewis, were saved by the French, who had followed the Indians 
from the fort. I 

But the savage success was interrupted by a deed of mingled 
heroism and coolness. Captain Bullet, at the head of his com- 
pany of Virginians, seeing the Indians rushing on in a tumultu- 
ous band, eager for fresh victims, directed his men to lower their 
arms and make signs of surrender.^ The savages, massed to- 
gether and with hatchets uplifted, were coming on. When they 
came within ten yards. Bullet, in a voice of thunder, cried : "Fire, 
and charge bayonets." Instantly the muskets rose to deadly aim, 
and a fire was delivered at this short range, which covered the 
ground with the slain and wounded. A furious rush with pre- 
sented bayonets followed. The savages gave way on every side, 
and, believing that a strong reinforcement was at hand, fled to 
the main body of the French near the fort. Hastily summoning 
the stragglers. Bullet ordered a retreat, and, after a march of 
great fatigue and peril, regained the camp at Loyal Hanna. The 
loss was nearly three hundred men. and the provincials saved the 
day.^ 

General Forbes did not reach Loyal Hanna until the 5th of 
November, 1^58. He was feeble and dying, and the council of 
war that assembled partook of his weakness. It was decided not 
to advance. But Washington, having gained from three prison- 
ers accurate information of the weakness of the gawison of Du- 
quesne, and of their discouragement because of the capture of 
Fort Frontenac and the cutting ofl' of their supplies, asked the 
privilege of pressing on, and Forbes could not refuse it.^ 

On the i=;th of November, Washington had gained Chestnut 
Ridge; on the 17th, Bushy Run. The troops were in eager 
spirits, saddened only by passing through the fields and forests 
where the whitening bones of the victims of the slaughter of the 
Monongahela were seen. 

An easy victory awaited Colonel Washington. Disappointed 
and depressed, the Indian warriors had been falling away, until 
the garrison hardly numbered five hundred. These set fire to all 
in the fort that was combustible, and retreated down the river to 
Presque Isle and Venango. A mine exploded as the English 
troops advanced, and before the burning fragments were extin- 
guished. Colonel Washington, on the 25th of November, entered 

' Burk, III. 232. Campbell, 129, 130. Joshua vlii. 1-22, with Henry's comments. 
* Rae's Town Camp, 20th October, 1758. Bancroft, IV. 312. 
3 Burk, III. 234. Campbell, 132. Bancroft, IV. 312. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 301 

the works at the head of the advance guard, and planted the Brit- 
ish flag on the long-contested ground. The fort was immedi- 
ately repaired, and was named " Fort Pitt," in honor of the great 
English minister of state. 

The army then proceeded to the sad duty of collecting the re- 
mains of those who had fallen in Braddock's defeat, and giving 
them decent burial. An eye-witness has related the scene : " In 
profound silence they trod the withered leaves, which were already 
falling before the blasts of winter ; around them on every side 
were the bleaching bones of men who had left the soil of Britain 
to die amid the forests of America. Wild beasts had already 
visited the field, and many fearful signs gave proof of their rav- 
ages." Major Halket had lost a father and a brother in the bat- 
tle. An Indian guide conducted him and some of his men to the 
spot where he had seen a veteran officer fall, and a heroic yoilng 
subaltern sink down in death as he stooped to his assistance. 
Two bodies were found, one lying on the other. A false tooth 
identified the father to the son, who, with a faint cry, " It is my 
father ! " fell back into the arms of his comrades.^ 

Since the day when a Roman army, under Germanicus, discov- 
ered the remains of whole legions under Varus, which had per- 
ished in the forests of Germany by the murderous strategy and 
assaults of the barbarians, ten years after the birth of Christ, no 
scene more pathetic and mournful had attended a battle-field 
down to this burial service on the borders of the Monongahela.^ 

With the opening of the year 1759, William Pitt made almost 
superhuman exertions for decisive success against France. Ben- 
jamin Franklin was one of his counselors, and filled his great 
soul with the conviction that England must, at any cost, wrest 
the control of North America from her enemies. The British 
Parliament responded to Pitt's propositions with an unanimity 
which excited astonishment at home and abroad. Thev voted for 
the year twelve millions sterling (sixty millions of standard dol- 
lars), and such forces by sea and by land as had never been pre- 
viously raised. Lord Chesterfield wrote in amazement : " This is 
Pitt's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He declares only 
what he would have them do, and they do it." ^ 

All questions of seniority of rank were disregarded. The 
whole inquiry with the premier was. Who are the men that will 
lead most vigorously and successfully in this work? Stanwix was 
to complete the reduction and occupation of the posts of the west, 

1 Gait's Life of West. Grahame, note lii., vol. IV. 483, 484. 
2Taciti Annalium Lib. I. Ixi. 38, edit. Lips., 1829. 
s.Lord Chesterfield's Corres. Bancroft, IV. 313. 



302 A History of the United States of Ame7'ica. 

from Pittsburg to Lake Erie and the Mississippi ; Prideaux was 
to reduce Fort Niagara and proceed against Montreal ; Amherst, 
now commander-in-chief, and in title Governor of Virginia, was 
to advance with the main army against Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point and to Lake Champlain, and afterwards to co-operate 
against Quebec. The undertaking to capture that almost im- 
pregnable city was intrusted to the young general, James Wolfe, 
and with him the fleet in the American waters was to act in con- 
cert.' 

The resources of the two belligerent powers in North America 
were so unequal that Montcalm plainly informed the minister of 
war in Fi"ance that Canada must be lost to them unless unex- 
pected good fortune helped them, or signal incompetency and 
folly attended the English management. Yet the French war 
premier continued to trust to Montcalm, and to write : " The king 
relies on your zeal and obstinacy of courage." ^ 

The census of New France showed a population of only eighty- 
two thousand whites, of whom barely seven thousand could serve 
as soldiers. Moreover, there was continued scarcit}^ in the land ; 
interruptions for military service left the fields uncu-ltivated, and 
British fleets intercepted all supplies from France ; the domestic 
animals were failing ; the soldiers were unpaid ; paper money, to 
the amount of forty-two millions of livres, and greatly depreciated, 
flooded the channels of commerce, and civil officers were making 
haste to get rich, and hoping that their frauds would be wiped 
out by their country's disaster.^ On the other side, England was 
growing richer and richer, though her public debt was increasing. 
Her colonies were prosperous, and she had nearly fifty thousand 
armed men in America. 

General Prideaux was the first to advance. He had two bat- 
talions from New York, one of Royal Americans, two regiments 
of regulars, a detachment of artillery, and a large force of Indian 
auxiliaries under Sir William Johnson. He moved on Fort Niag- 
ara, which stood on the narrow promontory round which the deep 
and rapid Niagara river sweeps from Erie to Ontario. It com- 
manded the portage between these two lakes and the western fur- 
trade. Its possession, therefore, was very important. 

Leaving a detachment under Colonel Haldimand to construct 
and hold a post at the mouth of the Oswego, General Prideaux, 
on the 1st July, 1759, embarked his forces on Lake Ontario, and 
with little opposition invested Fort Niagara. 

1 Bancroft, IV. 315, 316. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 186, 187. 

2 Letter from Belleisle. ^ Bancroft, IV. 320. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 303 

The resolute French officer, D'Aubry, knowing its importance, 
had collected from Detroit, Erie, Le Boeuf and Venango, about 
twelve hundred men, and marched to the rescue. Prideaux was 
preparing to intercept this force, when, on the 15th July, he was 
killed by the bursting of a cohorn. Sir William Johnson succeeded 
to the command, and acted with great promptness, courage and suc- 
cess.' He posted a large part of his army on the left, above the 
fort, so as at once to intercept D'Aubry's advance, and protect the 
men in the trenches. On the 34th July the French force appeared. 
Johnson's AIohav\^ks made a sign to the opposing Indians, but as 
it was not returned, they uttered the war-whoop and rushed to 
the encounter. The regulars met the French firmly in the centre, 
and the Indians, under Johnson's order, attacked their flanks and 
threw them into confusion. The English then charged with im- 
petuous valor ; the enemy broke and fled in utter rout. The car- 
nage continued until ftvtigue stayed the ^'ictors. The next day 
the garrison capitulated and surrendered six hundred men. The 
success on Ontario was so complete that a force sent by General 
Stanwix from Pittsburg took possession, -without resistance, of all 
the French posts as far as Erie.^ 

Meanwhile, the advance of the large army under General Am- 
herst took place. He was at the head of nearly six thousand 
regulars, and of as many provincial troops and light infantry, 
imder Colonel Gage. Amherst was taciturn, stoical, slow and 
safe, but not fertile in resources, inventive or daring. He moved 
slowly by way of Lake George, and on the 23d of July disem- 
barked his army nearly at the landing-place of Abercrombie. 
The next day the French, under De Levi and Bourlamarque, 
retreated from their lines, leaving only a garrison of four hundred 
in Fort Carillon.'' 

On the 26th of July the fort was abandoned, and '^\\& days after- 
wards the French retreated from Crown Point to intrench them- 
selves on Isle-aux-Noix. The whole country was open to the 
strong army under Amherst. He took possession of Crown Point, 
and was expected immediately to advance on Montreal, and 
thence to proceed eastward to co-operate with Wolfe in the at- 
tempt to capture Qiiebec ; but he did nothing towards this great 
end. He let all of August, of September, and ten days of October, 
pass without movement. Had Wolfe been like him, Quebec 
would not have been gained. But thus the greater glory came 
to this heroic young soldier. The work was all his own. 

1 Barnes' U. S., note, 87. Taylor's Centen. tJ. S., 128. Art. Johnson, New Amer. Encyclop. 
SBancroft, IV. 321, 322. ■^Ihid.^Zll. 



304 A History of the United States of America. 

As soon as the heats of June began to clear the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence of floating ice-masses, Wolfe and his naval aids 
began their movement. The fleet, under Admiral Saunders, had 
tw^enty-two ships of the line, and as many frigates and other 
armed vessels. Wolfe had command of about eight thousand five 
hundred soldiers. His adjutant-general was Isaac Barre ; his 
brigadiers were Monckton, Townshend, and Murray. Col. Guy 
Carleton commanded the grenadiers. Lieutenant-Colonel (after- 
wards Sir William) Howe had a detachment of light infantry.^ 

Qiiebec was powerful in natural defences, standing on the lofty 
plain of Stadacona, and defended on three sides by the broad 
rivers St. Charles and St. Lawrence. The citadel was three hun- 
dred and thirty-three feet above the level of .the rivers. Behind 
the city was the level known as the " Plains of Abraham." This 
was the weak part ; but to gain it with a military force seemed 
nearly hopeless. Montcalm was in command, and had drawn to 
the defence of Quebec and its dependencies about twelve thousand 
men, leaving the western lines of Canada almost without soldiers. 

On the 26th of June the English fleet and army, without loss, 
arrived off' the Isle of Orleans, which screens the spacious harbor 
just below the junction of the two rivers. Wolfe and his ofilcers 
immediately began to reconnoiter. On all sides the upper city 
seemed impregnable. In the night of the 29th, fire-ships were 
sent down to burn the fleet ; but the British sailors skillfully 
grappled them and towed them aside, so' that they did no harm. 

On the night of the 29th, General Monckton, with four battal- 
ions, succeeded in ci^ossing the rapid south channel, and occupy- 
ing Point Levi. He immediately erected batteries of cannon and 
mortars. The people of the lower town, foreseeing its fate, vol- 
unteered an attack ; but, after ci'ossing, their courage failed and 
they retreated. The English fire of shells and red-hot balls de- 
stroyed the houses of the lower town, but made no impression on 
the defences of Quebec.^ 

Montcalm's army was dwindling. The Indians left him, and 
many Canadians returned to their homes. But with ceaseless 
exertions he sought to make every approach to his citadel im- 
practicable. 

Wolfe was anxious, almost impatient, for decisive action. He 
planned an attack on the French intrenchments on the left bank 
of the river near the falls, where the Montmorenci, passing over a 
perpendicular rock, flows for three hundred yards amid clouds of 
spray to the St. Lawrence. On the last day of July the attack 
iBancroft, IV. 324, 325. Holmes' U. S., 78, 79. 2 Bancroft, IV. 326. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 305 

was made with rash gallantry by grenadiers and the brigade of 
Monckton ; but it was opposed by a strand of deep mud, a hill- 
side steep and almost impracticable, and a heavy fire of a brave 
and well-intrenched force of French soldiers. Wolfe saw enough 
to induce him to order a retreat. In this bloody repulse the Eng- 
lish lost four hundred men.' 

General Wolfe was now disheartened in spirit and sick in body. 
He sent Murray, with twelve hundred men, above the city to de- 
stroy the French ships and open communication with Amherst. 
He heard of the capture of Niagara and the successful occupation 
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. He looked daily for the com- 
ing of Amherst, which would enable him to secure the capture of 
Qiiebec ; but that general came not. 

Almost hopeless, Wolfe called a council of war at Monckton's 
quarters, and laid befoi'e his three brigadiers three several and 
equally desperate plans for attacking the intrenchments of Mont- 
calm at Beauport. They wisely and unanimously opposed them, 
but advised that four or five thousand men should, if possible, be 
conveyed above and behind the town. Wolfe acquiesced, but 
wrote to Pitt on the 2d September a letter showing that he re- 
garded this attempt as the last resort of desperation.^ 

Three armed ships, with transports and part of the army, passed 
up the river. The summer was over, and the French began to 
hope that the English attempts on Quebec were ended. 

But on the loth of September, Wolfe, whose eyes were keen, 
discovered the spot which has made his name immortal. It is the 
quiet cove whose curving promontories make a basin with very 
thin margin ; and a dark, narrow path, hardly sufficient for 
two men abreast, then led up the mountain to the " Plains of 
Abraham " above. His resolve was made, and his orders issued, 
and during the day and night of the 12th all was preparation.'' 

Gray's well-known poem, the " Elegy in a Country Church- 
yard," had been published not long before. Wolfe greatly ad- 
mired it, and as he passed from ship to ship on the evening of the 
1 2th September, he spoke of it with enthusiasm, and even went 
so far as to say : " I would prefer being the author of that poem 
to the glory of beating the French to-moiTOw." Thus he soundly 
estimated the glory of the true poet as higher than that of the 
true soldier. But the " coming event," with all its sombre gloiy, 
was already " casting its shadow before " it over his high spirit ; 

1 Compare Stephens, 188. Bancroft, IV. 328, 329. Holmes' U. S., 79. 

2 Bancroft, IV. 331. 

3 Wolfe to Rickson, 1st Dec, 1758. Admiral Saunders to Pitt, 20th Sept., 1759. Bancroft, 
IV. 332. . f . -I 

20 



3o6 A Histo7'y of the United States of America. 

for, out of all those marvelous stanzas, the one he selected and re- 
peated again and again in the hearing of his comrades was this ; 

" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour ; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." ^ 

But he hesitated not, faltered not, delayed not. At one o'clock 
in the morning of the 13th of September, 1759, Wolfe, with 
Monckton and Murray and about half their troops, set out in 
boats, and without sails or oars glided down with the tide. 

But as they passed, almost noiselessly, a French sentinel on the 
shore, he hailed: '■'■ ^ui va laV A captain in Frazer's regi- 
ment, familiar with French, answered : " La France.'''' The sen- 
tinel rejoined : " De quel regiment? " The ready captain, having 
learned the name of one of the regiments up the river with Bour- 
gainville, replied : " De la Reine.'''' The sentinel was satisfied, 
and sent the word '•'•passe " over the water.^ 

At the cove (now known as Wolfe's cove) the light infantry 
leaped ashore a little below the path ; but, clambering up with 
the help of roots and boughs, they gained the top, and w'ith a few 
shots dispersed the picket-guard. Then the chief movement be- 
gan, and before the dawn of day four thousand five hundred 
British regulars, " perfect in discipline and terrible in their fear- 
less enthusiasm," stood on the " Plains of Abraham," on the 
weakest side of Qiiebec. 

Montcalm w^as in his intrenchments on the farther side of the 
St. Charles when he first learned of the appearance of the Eng- 
lish. He was amazed, but at first said: "It must be a small 
party. They will burn a few houses and retreat." But he was 
soon better informed, and said, with bitter earnestness: "Then 
they have got to the weak side of this miserable garrison : we 
must give battle and crush them before mid-day."^ 

He had no alternative. The British war-ships held every ap- 
proach by water, and could quickly supply heavy artillery to 
Wolfe on the elevated plateau he now held, which commanded 
the rear defences of Qtiebec. Montcalm knew he must either 
dislodge Wolfe, by prompt force of arms, from his position, or 
capitulate in a few days. He led otit his army to battle. 

The two forces were not equal in numbers ; but in efficiency 
and discipline the English had greatly the advantage. In fact, 

1 Narrative of J. C. Fisher, of Quebec, to the historian, Bancroft, who has inaccurately 
quoted "the inexorable hour," IV. 332, 333. 

^Taylor's Centen. U. S., 129. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 89. 
3 Bancroft, IV. 333,334. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 307 

Wolfe himself, a short time before, had described Montcalm's 
immediate garrison as " five weak battalions of less than two 
thousand men, mingled with disorderly peasantry." But these 
Canadian militia were so numerous as to have been estimated at 
five thousand men.^ Moreover, the French had three small pieces 
of artillery ; the English only two, which had been, with great 
labor, drawn by hand up the precipice.^ 

For one hour the cannon only were used. But the English reg- 
ulars were gaining strong positions, and Montcalm dispatched 
couriers to Bourgainville to bring up his two thousand men, and 
to De Vaudreuil to add his fifteen hundred, to prevent the central 
French force from being driven from its ground. He endeavored, 
by a flank movement, to crowd the British troops down the high 
bank of the river. Wolfe promptly met and defeated this move- 
ment, by detaching Townshend with Amherst's regiment and a 
part of the Royal Americans. 

Waiting no longer for more troops, Montcalm led his whole 
army in an impetuous attack. But, though his doubled lines 
greatly outnumbeixd his foes, they were ill-disciplined, and were 
disordered by the uneven ground. Monckton, by Wolfe's com- 
mand, received the shock with steadiness, reserving his fire until 
the French were within forty yards. Then a regular, rapid and 
destructive fire of musketry was opened, under which the enemy 
melted away. Montcalm was everywhere ; though wounded, he 
cheered on his men. His second in command, De Sennezergues, 
was killed on the field. The brave Canadians wavered under the 
hot and fatal musketry fire. The French regulars were over- 
whelmed. 

Wolfe had received a musket ball in the wrist ; but, binding 
it with his handkerchief, he placed himself at the head of the 
Twenty-eighth regiment and the Louisburg grenadiers, and led a 
resistless charge of bayonets. The French lines began to break. 
But Carleton was wounded ; Barre, who fought near Wolfe, 
received a ball in the head which deprived him of sight ; Wolfe 
received another wound, but urged on his men. The serried line 
of steel surged onward, and the French gave way.^ 

In the moment of victory, Wolfe received a third musket ball 
in his breast. " Support me," he cried to an officer near him ; 
" let not my brave fellows see me fall." He was carried to the 
rear. Water was brought to him ; but he felt that life was fast 
ebbing. Lying on the ground, with his head supported by an 
officer, he heard him shout with excitement : " They fly ! they 

1 Knox's Journal, I. 74. Bancroft, IV.. note, 334. 

* Compare Holmes' U. S., 79, with Bancroft, IV. 334. 

«Scudder'sU. S., 155. Derry, 88. Eggleston's Household U. S., 138. Bancroft, IV. 335. 



308 A History of the United States of America. 

fly ! " The dying hero opened his eyes, and asked : "Who fly? " 
Tlie answer came: "The French! the French! Victory! vic- 
tory ! " " Now, God be praised ! " said Wolfe, " I die happy." ' 
And so his brave spirit passed away from this world in the mo- 
ment of a great triumpli. But even he knew not how^ great it was. 

Montcalm, in the same battle, received his mortal wound. 
When told by the surgeon that death w' as certain, he said : " I am 
glad of it ; how^ lorig shall I live.^ " " Ten or twelve hours," was 
the reply ; " perhaps less." " So much the better," the French 
hero answered ; " I shall not live to see the surrender of Qiiebec." 
He calmly gave his orders. When De Ramsay, who commanded 
the garrison, asked his advice, he replied : " To your keeping I 
commend the honor of France. As for me, I shall pass the night 
with God, and prepare myself for death." He dictated a letter 
asking from the English ofHcers generous treatment for the French 
prisoners, and at five the next morning he died.^ 

De Vaudreuil advised De Ramsay to capitulate, without wait- 
ing for bombardment and assault. He wrote : " We have cheer- 
fully sacrificed our fortunes and our houses, but we cannot expose 
our wives and children to a massacre."^ And so, on the 17th of 
September, 1759, De Ramsay capitulated, and Quebec belonged 
to England. 

America rung with exultation. England also triumphed, while 
she mourned for Wolfe. The genius of Benjamin West, a native 
of Pennsylvania, produced a painting of his death scene, which 
introduced a new^ era in art, and was visited and gazed on with 
emotion by thousands of spectators ; and at Qiiebec, in the gov- 
ernment gardens, and in our own age, a massive obelisk, sixty 
feet high, has been reared, which bears in united honor the wor- 
thv names of Wolfe and Montcalm.* 

The fall of Qiiebcc was virtually the end of the French domin- 
ion in the region which had been called " New France." True it 
is that France could not quietly acquiesce. In the spring of 1760 
an earnest attempt to recapture Qiiebec was made. Admiral Saun- 
ders had left abundant stores and heavy artillery, and a garrison 
of seven thousand men in the city, under the brave, but superficial. 
General ^Murray. Amherst continued inactive ; and as soon as 
the river opened, in April, 1760, De Levi, with ten thousand 
men, began the siege. 

On the 2Sth of AjDril the imprudent Murray, leaving his advan- 
tageous ground, hazarded an attack near Sillery Wood. De 
Bourlamarque met the shock with firmness, and made a counter 

1 Cassell's U. S.. I. 617-619. Stephens, 188. Bancroft, IV. 335, 336. 

2 Bancroft, IV. 337. * Relation du Siege de Quebec. 
♦New Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 356,515. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 309 

charge with so much vigoi" that jNIiirray was signally repulsed, 
and lost a fine train of artillery and a thousand men. The French 
loss was only three hundred, though the empty and boasting Mur- 
ray represented it as eight times that number.' 

Fortunately, frost delayed the French approaches. The Eng- 
lish garrison was reduced, by winter, sickness, and the unfortu- 
nate battle, to two thousand two hundred effective men ; but they 
worked incessantly at defence. Even the women and the crip- 
pled helped. And Pitt had foreseen and provided against the 
danger.^ A fleet came in time, and the English minister was 
able to write to his wife, on the 27th of June : "Join, my love, 
with me in most humble and grateful thanks to the Almighty. 
The siege of Qiiebec was raised on the 17th of May, with every 
happy circumstance. The enemy left their camp standing, and 
abandoned forty pieces of cannon. Swanton arrived there in the 
\augiiard on the r^th, and destroyed all the French shipping, 
six or seven in number. Ilappy, happy day ! My joy and hurry 
are inexpressible." 

General Amherst sent Colonel Haviland with a force from 
Crown Point towards Montreal. He found the fort at Isle-aux- 
Noix deserted by the French. Amherst cautiously led an army 
of ten thousand men by way of Oswego and Ogdensburg, re- 
ducing all into English possession, but treating the helpless 
Canadians with humanity. On the 7th of September, 1760, he 
reached the neighborhood of Montreal, and joined to his own 
forces an army under Murray, who had marched from Qiiebec, 
occasionally, on his way, burning a village and hanging, on 
slight pretences, some Canadians. The next day Haviland, with 
his troops, arrived from Crown Point.^ 

To resist these three armies was not thought of by De Vau- 
dreuil. On the 8th of .September, Montreal surrendered, and the 
surrender included by its terms all of Canada, at least as far as 
the Miami, the Wabash and the Illinois rivers. Property and 
religion were cared for in the terms, but for civil liberty no stipu- 
lation was made.* 

Everywhere England was victorious. France and Spain de- 
sired peace. Negotiations for the purpose were long in progress. 
While they were pending, George H. died suddenly of apoplexy, 
and on the 25th of October, 1760, his grandson became king, 
with the title of George HI. ; and in his twenty -second year com- 
menced a reign memorable in the history of the world, and espe- 
cially in that of North America. 

' Mante, Memoircs, 281. Bancroft, IV. 359. 

2 Wm. Pitt t() Ladv Hester, 27th June, 1760. Bancroft, IV. 359. 

3 Bancroft, IV. 360. t Ibid., IV. 361. 



3IO A History of the United States of America. 

The new king soon drove Pitt from the circle of his counsel- 
ors, but could not deprive Great Britain of the triumphs won by 
the great minister. The successes of the English arms were so 
wide and decisive that France and Spain wei'e obliged to submit 
to terms which would otherwise have been sternly rejected. 

In fact, the minister of France for foreign affairs, Choiseul, 
who, in despair, had resigned his department to the Due de 
Praslin, wrote, concerning the pi"oposed terms : " The English are 
furiously imperious ; they are drunk with success ; and, unfor- 
timately, we are not in a condition to abase their pride." ^ But 
a Divine Power w^as ruling, though unseen by all. England, by 
her very successes and the broadness of her demands, was pre- 
paring the way for the loss of her colonies, and the grandeur of 
the American republic. 

The terms of the treaty of Paris were signed on the 3d of No- 
vember, 1763, and ratified on the loth day of February, 1763. 

By this treaty of peace, England obtained several islands in the 
West Indies ; the Floridas ; all Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton and 
its dependent islands ; the fisheries (except that a share in them 
was retained by France, with the two islets, St. Pierre and Mique- 
lon, as a shelter for her fishermen) ; Louisiana to the Mississippi, 
but without the island of New Orleans ; Senegal in Africa, with 
the command of the slave-trade ; the island of Minorca, in the 
Mediterranean ; and all of the East India possessions (except a 
few dismantled and ruined posts) which France held on the ist 
of January, 1749. All that France had claimed east of the Mis- 
sissippi, from its source to the river Iberville, one of its out- 
lets, through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of 
Mexico, was ceded to England. For the loss of Florida, France 
indemnified Spain by ceding to her New Orleans and all of 
Louisiana west of the Mississippi, with boundaries undefined.^ 

Thus the American colonies had peace, and vast expansion of 
their possible territories for settlement. But they had suffered 
greatly ; had lost thirty thousand lives, and had expended sixteen 
millions of dollars, of which England repaid onl}^ five millions.^ 
On the other hand, the colonies had learned self-denial and self- 
reliance ; had learned the value of their own officers and men, 
when compared with those of the mother country, and had made 
immense advances in ideas of self-government, which, though yet 
vague and undefined, needed only the stimulus of coming events 
to be developed into complete independence. 

1 Choiseul, quoted by Bancroft, IV. 451. 

2 Compare Stephens' Comp. U. S., 191, with Bancroft, IV. 452. 
3Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 90, 91. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Causes of the War of Revolution. 

THE period of fifteen years, from 1760 to 1775, was one of 
momentous import in the life of the colonies. The student 
will have contented himself with inadequate premises and shal- 
low inferences, who reaches the conclusion that oppression in 
money demands, in the form of navigation laws, stamp acts, 
customs on colonial imports, and other forms of taxation, direct 
or indirect, practiced by the mother country, constituted the real 
and efficient cause of the American Revokition. These were mere 
incidents and evidences. The cause lay deeper. It was the 
never-dying question of rights and not of money. The colonies 
had a right to discard a government by a king and a parliament 
separated from them by three thousand miles of ocean, and to 
assert and maintain the divine and indestructible right of every 
people to govern themselves. The whole question was, Had the 
time and occasion come ? And a Supreme Providence decided 
that question in the affirmative. 

But the condition of the colonies during those fifteen years, in 
relation to the mother country, had special interest on several sub- 
jects, which enlist our attention in the following order : ( i ) The 
Indians; (3) Negro slavery; (3) Religious liberty; (4) Civil 
freedom ; (5) The social system and customs ; (6) Taxation with- 
out representation. These all united in warming into life and 
growth the germs of revolution. 

(i.) It is remarkable that, although the savages outnumbered 
the colonists for nearly a century after the first settlements, and 
although they wei^e often mercilessly hostile, yet England never 
made any direct efforts to give military aid to her colonies in re- 
sisting Indian attacks. She left them to their own resources. 
She did worse. In some instances she hampered and restrained 
them in their measures for repelling the savages. We have seen 
one signal illustration of this in narrating "Bacon's rebellion." 
The results were painful and harassing struggles, sufferings and 
losses to the people of the colonies, but attended by the immense 
advantage to them of learning Indian warfare and wiles, of be- 

[ 3" ] 



312 A History of the United States of America. 

coming unequaled marksmen with musket and rifle, and of ac- 
quiring the virtues of endurance and self-denial, which fitted them 
for the final contest for freedom. 

The English governors sent to the colonies were often the in- 
struments of provoking Indian wars, which prudence and con- 
ciliation might have averted. This was notably the case with 
Governor Lyttleton, of South Carolina. 

When Washington, in 1756, was appointed commander-in-chief 
of the Virginia forces, no part of his duty caused him more solici- 
tude and anxiety than that of seeking to protect the western 
parts of that colony and North Carolina. The savages " gave no 
quarter, and spared neither age nor sex. Women and children 
were chosen objects of their barbarity. INIany were left weltering 
in blood on the tloors of their own dwellings. ISIany were carried 
into the wilderness to be put to death with nameless tortures. A 
few survived to return, after years of degradation and suffering 
passed among native tribes on the Ohio and the northern lakes." ' 

Washington's heart was wrung with anguish in view of these 
cruelties, and of his inability entii-.ly to stop them or to avenge 
them. In his official reports, his feelings expressed themselves in 
one well-known passage. He wrote : " The supplicating tears 
of the women, and moving petitions of the men, melt me into such 
deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, 
I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, 
provided that would contribute to the people's ease."" 

Yet he was not unjust or undiscriminating. The Cherokees, 
in the western borders of the Carolinas, had always been friendly 
to the colonists. Virginia had acknowledged this in 17555 '^^^^ 
had sent them a deputation and a present. In 1757, their war- 
riors had rendered brave and efficient service in protecting the 
frontiers south of the Potomac. The colonial government made 
them no acknowledgment, but W^ashington and his officers were 
prompt and generous in furnishing to them supplies of food and 
appropriate gifts.^ 

It was with this friendly Cherokee nation that Governor Lyt- 
tleton provoked hostilities by his imprudent and unmerciful de- 
mands. In July, 1758, a private and entirely local affray occurred 
between some Virginia backwoodsmen and some half-starved 
Cherokees, who had been acting as allies of Washington, and on 
their way back to their homes, took, without asking, some food 
absolutely needed. In this skirmish several " beloved men " of 

1 Kercheval's Valley of Va., 93-104. 

2 Sparks, I. SO. Burk, III. 214. Howe, 100. 
s Washington's Writings, II. 10-270. 



The Causes of (lie II a r of Revolution. 313 

the Cherokees were slain, and their scalps were ostentatiously 
displayed by the whites.^ 

The Cherokees, naturally enough, sought to avenge this wrong. 
Their young men went on the war-path, and killed two soldiers 
of the garrison of Telliquo, in the Carolinas.^ But the Cherokee 
chiefs recalled them, and came from their mountains to Charles- 
ton to assure the whites of peace. The South Carolina legislators, 
who knew Indian morals, met in Maixh, 1759, and by a vote re- 
fused to consider hostilities with the Cherokees as either existing 
or to be apprehended. 

Lyttleton repudiated this decision, and, assuming the high pre- 
rogative of making war, inflamed the colonists, called out the 
militia, and sent envoys to the Chickasaws, Catawbas, Tuscaroras 
and Creeks to stir them up against the Cherokees. His blood- 
thirsty demand was that twenty-four of the Cherokees should be 
delivered up to be put to death, or otherwise disposed of as he 
thought fit, in retaliation.^ The Cherokees could not consent to 
this. They prepared for extremities, and sent warriors to sur- 
round and besiege Fort Loudon, on the Tennessee, in the western 
borders of the colony. 

In October, 1759, Governor Lyttleton came to Congaree, the 
gathering-place of the South Carolina militia. He had a consid- 
erable force, and with. him were Christopher Gadsden, long colo- 
nial representative of Charleston, and Francis jMarion, afterwards 
so renowned in the war of Revolution. 

Oconostata, the great chieftain of the Cherokees, and thirty 
other warriors, came as envoys to make peace. Their persons 
were sacred by the laws of nations. Yet, after holding several 
conferences with them, and permitting them to come with him to 
Congaree, Lyttleton caused them all to be arrested ; and, on arriv- 
ing at Fort Prince George, they were crowded into a prison-hut 
hardly large enough for six of them.* Oconostata and two others 
were exchanged ; the rest remained in close imj^risonment. 

This hastened the bloody sequel. The Cherokees commenced 
war after the manner of Indians. Hoping to rescue the impris- 
oned envoys, they allured the commandant of Fort Prince George 
to a dark thicket by the river-side, and shot him dead. The gar- 
rison was justly incensed, but their fury took a brutal and cow- 
ardly form. They butchered in cold blood all the imprisoned 
envoys ; and to conceal their crime they invented the falsehood 
that these victims (whom Lyttleton called "hostages") had de- 

1 Hewat's S. C, II. 214. 2 Adair's Amer. Indians, 247. Bancroft, IV. 341, 342. 

3 Speeches in Hewat, II. 219. ■• Bancroft, IV. 348. 



314 ^4 History of the United States of America. 

vised a plan to poison the wells of the garrison ! It is noteworthy 
that a historian of these events leaves out of his narrative all men- 
tion of this atrocious crime. ^ 

The effect of this massacre on the minds of the Cherokees may 
be conceived. There was hardly a village that did not mourn a 
murdered chief. The warriors flew to arms. They said, with 
poetic truth: "The spirits of our murdered brothers are flying 
around us, screaming for vengeance." They harried the frontiers 
of the Carolinas, and even advanced so far as to attack the skirts 
of Ninety-Six. Here several of the Cherokees were killed, 
and Governor Lyttleton's subservient officer wrote to him in 
hideous triumph : " We fatten our dogs with their carcasses, 
and display their scalps, neatly ornamented, on the tops of our 
bastions."^ 

The Chei'okees obtained arms and military stores by barter with 
Louisiana. The stern fact of open war could no longer be de- 
nied ; yet so obvious was it that it had been brought on by the 
cruelty and injustice of Lyttleton and his creatures, that the Legis- 
lature of South Carolina, in February, 1760, made a second pro- 
test against his course, as subversive of their " birthrights as 
British subjects, and in violation of undoubted privileges." Yet 
the English Lords of Trade sustained him, and could find no 
words strong enough to expi'ess their approbation of his whole 
conduct. 

Enjjland was then at war with France, and Lyttleton found no 
difficulty in inducing General Amherst to detach a force to help 
him in his unfortunate war on the Cherokees. Colonel Mont- 
gomery (who was afterwards Lord Eglinton) and Major Grant 
^vere sent, in April, 1760, with six hundred Highlanders and six 
hundred Royal Americans, from the army of the Ohio, to strike a 
sudden blow at the Indians and return. Seven hundred Caro- 
linians joined them at Ninety-Six, with whom Moultrie, and per- 
haps Marion, served as officers.^ 

Early in June this large force reached Little Keowee, one of 
the Cherokee towns, and, killing all the people except women 
and children, left their homes in ruins. They marched next to 
Estatoe, in the beautiful valley of Keowee, famed for its fertility 
and picturesque scenes. This was the favorite home of the Cher- 
okees. The English army showed no mercy. They easily mas- 
tered the defenders, slaying and wounding some, taking others 

1 Stephens ; compare his account, 190, 191, with Miln to Lyttleton, 24th February, 1760. 
Adair, 250. Bancroft, IV. 350. 

2 Francis to Lyttleton, 6th March, 1760. Drayton's South Carolina, 246. 
3 Bancroft, IV. 351. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 315 

prisoner, and putting the rest to flight. They then plundered and 
set fire to every village — Estatoe, Qualatchee and Conasatchee — 
utterly destroying them. The poor Indians were plainly seen 
on the mountains, gazing mournfully on their desolated homes. 
Even Major Grant felt compassion. He wrote : " I could not 
help pitying them a little ; their villages were agreeably situated ; 
their houses neatly built ; there were everywhere astonishing 
magazines of corn, which were all consumed." About seventy 
Cherokees were killed ; forty, chiefly women and children, were 
made prisoners. The survivors, feeding on horse-flesh and wild 
roots, made their escape over the mountains.^ 

Montgomery sent messages that unless they consented to his 
terms of peace, he would follow them and reduce the upper towns 
to ashes. ^ 

The chiefs gave no response to his message. He crossed the 
Alleghany ranges with his army. The Royal Scots and High- 
landers and the colonial troops alike enjoyed the free mountain 
paths and breezes. At a narrow pass, called " Crow's Creek," 
in the valley of the Little Tennessee river, the Cherokees emerged 
from ambush and gave battle. Morrison, a gallant Scottish offi- 
cer, was killed at the head of the advance. But the Highlanders 
and provincials returned huzzas to the Indian yells, and, pressing 
on, drove them from their lurking-places, and chased them from 
height and hollow. The loss of the whites was twenty killed 
and seventy-six wounded.^ 

This was the end of IMontgomery's advance. He did not relieve 
the half-starved Fort Loudon. Resting a single day in the Alle- 
ghanies, he then kindled lights at Etchowee to deceive the Cher- 
okees, and silently retreated. By the ist of July he had reached 
Fort Prince George. 

This retreat was fatal to Fort Loudon. Already nearly starved, 
the garrison made terms of capitulation with the Cherokees, 
which neither side observed. Oconostata himself received the 
surrender, August 8th, and sent the garrison of two hundred on 
their way to Carolina. But the next day, at Telliquo, the Cher- 
okees surrounded them, killed Captain Demere and three other 
officers, with twenty-three privates, and distributed the rest as 
captives among their tribes. They were veiy exact in claiming 
that they put to death only the same number that had been mur- 
dered in Fort Prince George the previous December.* 

iTimberlake on the Cherokees, Bancroft, IX. 353. 

2 Virginia Gazette, 49(1, 2, 1. 3|Yivginia Gazette, August, 1760, 501, 2, 1, 15. 

*Lieut.-Gov. Bull to Lords of Trade, 9th Sept., 1760, 21st Oct., 1760. Fauquier to Lords of 
Trade, 17th Sept., 1760. 



316 A History of the United States of America, 

Thus does wrong give birth to wrong. Montgomery, with his 
troops, left the colony to the harassing assaults of the Cherokees. 
Governor Ellis, of Georgia, by a wise and humane policy, concil- 
iated the Creeks, and his people were left to peaceful pursuits. 

During 1761 the war with the Cherokees went on. " I am for 
war," said Saloue, the young warrior of Estatoe. " The spirits of 
our murdered brothers still call on us to avenge them ; he that 
will not take up his hatchet and follow me is no better than a 
woman." To reduce these native mountaineers. General Am- 
herst, early in 1761, sent a regiment and two companies of light 
infantry under that same Grant, of sad Pittsburg memories. South 
Carolina added a regiment of her own, commanded by Colonel 
Henry Middleton, under whom were William Moultrie, Henry 
Laurens and Francis Marion.^ 

In April, 1761, this force encountered the Cherokees on the 
banks of the Little Tennessee, about two miles from the spot 
where Montgomery had met them. A battle was kept up for 
three hours. The Cherokees fought bravely, but their ammuni- 
tion gave out and they retreated, having inflicted a loss of ten 
killed and forty badly wounded on the whites. 

Grant's troops i"emained for thirty days west of the Allegha- 
nies, marching from town to town, plundering, burning and lay- 
ing waste. The unhappy Cherokees had that year planted new 
fields of maize, all of which were desolated. Four thousand In- 
dians — men, women and little children — were driven from their 
pleasant homes to wander among the mountains. 

Utterly broken in fortunes and spirits, they sued for peace 
through Attakulla-kulla, a well-known chief, who said to the 
whites : " I am come to you as a messenger from the whole na- 
tion, to see what can be done for my people in their distress." 
The people of the Carolinas felt pity for them. Lyttleton was 
gone ; his counsels no longer prevailed. Peace was agreed on. 
The sad Cherokees returned to their loved valleys ; but they felt 
that they vs^ere no longer to rest in permanent security. " They 
knew that they had come into the presence of a race more pow- 
erful than their own ; and the course of their destiny was irrevo- 
cably changed." ^ 

Hardly had the peace of Paris terminated the war of seven 
years between England and France, before a w^ar was commenced 
against the English colonists by the Indians of the northern and 
northwestern borders and of the Ohio valley, which, though not 

> Moultrie's Memoirs Ainer. Rev., II. 223. Bancroft, IV. 423. 

2 Terms of Peace with the Cherokees in L. of T., 11th Dec, 1761. Bancroft, IV. 425, 426. 



The Causes of the Wa?' of Revolution. 317 

of long duration, was waged with every appliance of savage du- 
plicity, treachery, cruelty and skill that ever had been put in 
practice by the natives. This war is very properly designated as 
" Pontiac's war." The chief bearing that name was said to have 
been a Catawba captive, adopted by the Ottawa nation ; and he 
came to be regarded as " the king and the lord of all that coun- 
try " of the Northwest.' 

He was of colossal stature and size, and of commanding talents, 
united with impressive manners and address.^ He was almost 
adored by numerous tribes, and was represented as a man " of 
integrity and humanitv," at least according to the morals of the 
wilderness. 

The termination of the war with France, and the advance of the 
English to take possession of the forts in the surrendered country, 
were regarded with sagacious alarm by Pontiac and all the In- 
dians whom he could influence. The French, by their cordial 
manners, their religious missions, and their easy pliancy as to 
marriages and social habits, had gained the hearts of the I'ed men. 
The English treated them as inferiors, to be swept out of their 
way, and sold them intoxicating liquors — a practice utterly repu- 
diated by the French policy.^ 

Pontiac, and the more observant of all the Indians, saw that the 
success of the English meant the gradual destruction of the red 
men, or their reduction to modes of life which they abhorred as 
slavery. The Iroquois, and especiallv the Senecas, led the way in 
secret combinations for hostility. They were soon in cautious 
conference with the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Aliamis, the 
Wyandots, the Abenakis and the Potawatomies. Pontiac was 
the central and moving spirit. For two years this secret work 
was going on, and the " bloody belt " was being carried around 
from nation to nation and town to town, until it was discovered 
by the young ensign in command at Fort Miami, who, " after a 
long and troublesome interview," persuaded the chiefs to arrest 
its progress and surrender it to him.* 

But the dark work had been done. Of all the inland settle- 
ments, Detroit was the largest and most attractive. The climate 
was mild and the air healthful. Good land abounded, yielding 
wheat, Indian corn, and excellent vegetables. The forests were 
stocked with buffaloes, deer, quails, partridges, and wild turkeys. 
Water-fowl of delicious flavor frequented the streams, and the 

1 William Smith to Gates, 22d Nov., 1763. Gladwin to Amherst, 14th Mav, 1763. Bancroft, 
V. 113. 

2 Rev. W. T. Price's Hist. Sketch of Greenbrier Presbvtery. 1SS9. 
3 Hutchinson to Rich'd Jackson, Aug., 1763. Bancroft, V. 111. 

*Gayarre's Hist, de la Louisiana, II. 131. Holmes to Major Gladwin, 30th March, 1763. 



3iS A History of the United States of America, 

waters yielded fine fish, especially the white fish, very seldom 
caught elsewhere. The French inhabitants dwelt on farms, and 
wei-e contented and peaceful. They honestly submitted to the 
English sovereignty, according to the peace of Paris. ^ The 
Indians tried in vain to draw them into their war. 

Major Gladwin was in command of the Detroit fort — a large 
stockade enclosing about eighty houses. He had one hundred 
and twenty men, with eight officers. Pontiac paid him several 
insidious visits, with constantly increasing forces of warriors 
secretly armed. But Gladwin was on his guard against all sur- 
prises. A romantic tradition, which has gained wide acceptance, 
asserts that a Chippewa Indian girl, who was in love with Glad- 
win, revealed to him the plan of Pontiac ; but this tradition can 
hardly claim historic basis. ^ 

On the 7th of May, 1763, an English party sounding the en- 
trance to Lake Huron were seized and murdered. On the after- 
noon of the 9th, Pontiac threw off all disguise, and, with a large 
body of savages, openly beleaguered the Detroit fort, which had 
provisions for only three weeks. His proclamation was : " The 
first man that shall bring them provisions, or anything else, shall 
suffer death." But Gladwin obtained needed supplies, and set at 
defiance the seven hundred besiegers. 

War Avas soon apparent at every point open to savages' wiles 
and cruelty. On the i6th of May. a party of Indians ap- 
peared at the gate of Fort Sandusky, then a small and weak 
work. Ensign Paulli, the commander, admitted four Hurons and 
three Ottawas, as " old acquaintances and friends." They sat 
smoking, till, on signal, they seized Paulli, slew his sentry, admit- 
ted their comrades and massacred the garrison. The traders 
were killed and their stoi^es plundered. Paulli, as a prisoner, was 
carried in triumph to the lines around Detroit.^ On the 25th of 
May, by similar villainy, the small work at St. Joseph's was cap- 
tured, and the garrison, except three men, were put to death. 

Nine British garrisons were thus, by treachery and wiles, sur- 
prised in one day. Prowling savages gathered around all the 
outlying settlements. It has been estimated that twenty thousand 
persons in Western Virginia were driven from their homes by the 
fear of the savage tomahawk and scalping-knife.* 

At Michilimackinac the fort was on the strait, and the whole 
inclosure was more than two acres on the main-land, surrounded 

1 Bancroft, V. 114, 118. 

2 Compare Carver, 155, 156; Thalheimer, 107; Quackenbos, 182, with Gladwin's own 
statement, and Bancroft, V. 116, note. 

^ Paulli to Gen. Gage, Bancroft, V. 118. 
, ■• Quackenbos' U.S., 181. 



The Caitscs of the War of Revolution, 319 

by a picket fence, with cabins for a few traders, and a garri- 
son of about forty men. The Chippewas had been in the habit 
of assembling in the enclosed space to play ball, somewhat in the 
forms of the modern game of base-ball. On the 4th of June, 
1763, an exciting game was in progress ; the officers were watch- 
ing it, when, suddenly, the ball was driven close to the gate. 
Unsuspected, the savages ran up, seized the commander, Ether- 
ington, and his lieutenant, and hurried them to the woods. The 
Indian squaws were already in the fort, with hatchets hidden 
under their blankets. The Indians seized these arms, and, by a 
sudden attack, killed an officer, a trader, and fifteen men. The 
rest of the garrison were made prisoners. Everything portable 
was carried from the fort. The French traders were not harmed. 
Thus was taken the old fort of Mackinaw. Presque Isle (now 
Ei'ie) w^as captured by reason of the tensor of the commander. 
Le Boeuf was next invested. Its resolute commander made a 
stern defence till midnight, and then escaped with his men into 
the woods, after the Indians had set fire to the block houses. The 
old fort at Venango was rec^uced to ruins. But all the numbers and 
strategy of the natives was of no avail for the capture of Fort Pitt. 

In a severe engagement, the white troops under Dalyell were 
worsted. But Bouquet, at Bushy Run, with his officers and men, 
behaved with great courage and coolness, and finally routed the 
savages, though with a loss of one-fourth of their own numbers. 
Unfortunately, when the savage movements began. General Am- 
herst regarded them as hardly worthy of notice. He expressed 
the hope that the natives would be " too sensible of their own 
interests " to conspire against the English.^ 

But as the news of the capture of fort after fort, and of bloody 
massacres, and of a defeat to Dalyell, and heavy loss to Bouquet 
came to him^ the English commander grew in wrath. His indig- 
nation against " the bloody villains " knew no bounds. He offered 
a reward of one hundred pounds to any one ■who would kill Pon- 
tiac. He sent eleven hundred troops (in large proportion colo- 
nial), under General Bradstreet, to the Northwest. His instructions 
were : "You will take no prisoners, but put to death all that fall 
into your hands."" 

Had such instructions been carried out, Indian wars would 
never have ceased in North America so long as a red warrior was 
alive. But General Bradstreet was too wise, brave and humane 
to be led astray by such orders. 

1 Amherst to Major Gladwin, May, 1763. Bancroft, V. 113. 

2 Amherst's instructions, 10th Aug., 1763. Bancroft, V. 132. 



330 A History of the United States of America. 

Pontiac had shown eminent addi-ess and skill in organizing and 
eonciuctiog the war. He had even devised a rude system of 
banking, and of negotiable instruments, which were strangely 
effective for liis money purposes. His notes, which were always 
punctually paid, consisted of pieces of smooth, tough bark, each 
etched with the figure of what he wanted to buy, and of an otter, 
which he had adoptea as his own hieroglyphic seal/ No Indian 
chief bad ever exercised an influence so extensive as his. 

But his career was now drawing to its close. The Indians, 
alarmed at the advance of the white troops, began to fall oft' from 
him. The French, in Illinois, contributed greatly to a general 
pacification. De Neyon, the officer lately in command of Fort 
Chartres, sent belts, messages and peace-pipes to all parts of the 
continent accessible to him, urging the savages to bury the 
hatchet and take the English by the hand, and telling them that 
they would see his face no more.* General Bradstreet found no 
organized resistance, though a formal peace was not made until 
Sir William Johnson brought all the New York, Northwestern, 
and Ohio valley tribes to a treaty of peace in 1766.^ The more 
eastern savages, known as the St. Francis Indians, who had been 
especially barbarous and destructive to the people of New Eng- 
land, were so fearfully scourged and overthrown in 1759, by 
Major Rogers, that they had given no trouble thereafter.^ 

Pontiac refused to sign the treaty of peace, and i^etired to the 
hunting-grounds of the Illinois. He still sought to organize a 
war upon the whites. But while attending a council, in 1769, he 
was stabbed and slain by a Peoria Indian, who had received from 
soine base whites a bribe of a barrel of rum to do this deed of assassi- 
nation.^ With his death ended the last hope of a native liberator. 

(2.) On the subject of negro slavery, the facts of history are all 
against the mother country in her fixed policy towards her colo- 
nies in America, It is true that the first introduction of negro 
slaves was the result of a voluntary purchase by Virginia planters 
from a Dutch ship, in 1620, as we have noted ; and doubtless 
similar transactions often occurred afterwards in all the colonies. 
For at least two and a half centuries after Columbus came to the 
West Indies, the African slave-trade was considered legitimate 
and consonant even to Christian morality. The crime of having 
a black skin and negro conformation, was held sufficient to justify 
enormities at which the Christian world now gazes back with 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 1S3. Art. Pontiac, New Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 479. 

2 Neyon a Kerlerec, Dec, 1763. Bancrolt, V. 133. 

5 Sendder's U. S., 157. ■> Goodrich's U. S., 162. 

6 Compare Quackenbos, 183. Holmes' U. S., 81. Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 479. Derry's 
U. S., 90. 



The Ca7iscs of the War of Revolution. 321 

horror. And yet there are divines who claim that no discoveries 
nor advances in Christian theology are possible ! 

The colonies became sensitive as to the moral blackness of this 
slave-trade, and its effects upon their prosperity, long before Eng- 
land would tolerate any discontinuance thereof. 

When first brought in, the negroes spoke nothing but their 
African dialects, and were often fierce and intractable. Great 
harshness was used to subdue them. Insurrections were not 
infrequent, and they were always put down with the bloody 
hand. One occurred in the city of New York in 17 12. Twenty- 
four negroes were put to death, in some cases with prolonged 
torture.^ In 1740 an uprising of slaves took place in South 
Carolina. The whites organized and gave them battle, and 
routed them with fearful slaughter. In 1741 a negro plot for 
insurrection was supposed to have been detected in New York, 
and, upon evidence far from conclusive, thirty-three slaves were 
executed, thirteen of them by fire.^ 

Prior to the Revolution, negro slaves were in all the colonies ; 
but in IMaryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia they most 
abounded, because the conditions of soil, climate and productions 
in the South made their labor most profitable. Moreover, the 
hot suns and mild winters of the South suited the African, and 
he increased and multiplied wonderfully there. 

And it was in the Southern colonies that the first earnest pro- 
tests and adverse legislation against slavery began. It is true that, 
as early as 1701, the town of Boston instructed its representatives 
in the assembly " to put a period to negroes being slaves " ; ^ but 
no favorable enactment followed. In 17 12, a general petition 
was gotten up in Pennsylvania, and signed by many, asking for 
the emancipation of the negro slaves ; but the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania answered that " it was neither just nor convenient 
to set them at liberty."* 

A deep religious sentiment was all the time proclaiming in 
the hearts of the Southern colonists that negro slavery was incon- 
sistent with Christianity. We cannot otherwise account for the 
crude notion that if a negro was baptized with Christian baptism 
it was unlawful thereafter to hold him in slavery. Yet, so prev- 
alent was this notion that from 1667 to 1748, Virginia passed 
repeated laws forbidding the baptism of negro slaves ;^ South 
Carolina passed a similar law in 1713, and Maryland in 1715.^ 

lEggleston's Household U. P., lOS. 

^Eggleston, 108. Bancroft, III. 406. Holmes' IT. S., 64. D. B. Scott's U. S., 98. 
3 Bancroft, III. 408. ■» Ibid., 408. '■> Heiiing, II. 260 ; III. 448, etc. 

« Laws of S. C, Dalcho, 94. Bancroft, III. 409. 

21 



322 A History of the United States of America. 

But England did not trouble herself with any such scruples. In 
May, 1727? Gibson, Bishop of London, declared that " Christianity 
and the embracing of the gospel does not make the least altera- 
tion in civil property." Thus he held that a negro might be 
" civil property " — in other w^ords, " a chattel" — and yet a proper 
subject for Christian baptism. The incongruity was latent still. 

It is no longer a question of historic doubt that all the South- 
ern colonies passed repeated laws to discourage, and, if possible, 
to prevent entirely, the further importation of African slaves, 
and that England invariably nullified this colonial legislation. 
Throughout the statute books of Maryland, Virginia and South 
Carolina these laws are copiously scattered. This sentiment was 
so general in America that the very fii'st Continental Congress 
which could claim any power of legislation, on the 6th of April, 
1776, passed a resolution " that no slaves be imported into any of 
the thirteen united colonies." ^ 

We have seen that, by the acts of the trustees, under the origi- 
nal charter of Geoi'gia, slavery was forbidden. Doubtless, as set- 
tlements increased, there were those in the colony who were im- 
pelled by selfish greed to seek a change in this provision. But it 
was England who really broke it down. Years afterwards Ogle- 
thorpe wrote : "My friends and I settled the colony of Georgia, 
and by charter were established trustees. We determined not to 
suffer slavery there ; but the slave-merchants and their adherents 
not only occasioned us much trouble, but at last got the govern- 
ment to sanction them."^ 

In 1760, South Carolina enacted restrictions on the importation 
of slaves and the increase of slavery. The English ministry re- 
buked her, and nullified her action.^ In 1761, a proposition was 
introduced into the Legislature of Virginia to suppress the impor- 
tation of negro slaves by a prohibitory duty. A warm debate 
followed. Richard Henry Lee, from Westmoreland, made his 
maiden speech in favor of the restriction, arguing with learning 
and eloquence to show all the dangers of slavery, its sinister 
effects on the prosperity of the colony, and painting from the 
models of ancient history the horrors of servile insurrections.* 

The enactment was carried by a majority of a single vote ; but, 
from England, a negative from the Crown promptly annulled it. 

In all this, England alienated her colonists more and more, be- 
cause it was evident that her policy was purely selfish and money- 
seeking. Whenever great barriers of morals have stood in her 

1 Journals of Congress, I. 307. 2 Oglethorpe letter in Bancroft, III. 41G. 

8 Bancroft, III. 416. * Lee's Mem. of Lee, II. Bancroft, IV. 422. 



The Cattses of the War of Revolution. 323 

way in seeking selfish gain, as in the cases of importing negro 
slaves into North America and opium into China, she has broken 
those barriers in the pursuit of money. 

Steadily rejecting every colonial limitation on the slave-trade, 
she instructed the governors, on pain of i^emoval, to refuse even 
temporary assent to such laws. Only a year before the opening 
of the Revolution, the Earl of Dartmouth summed up her policy 
on this subject in these memorable words : " We cannot allow 
the colonies to check or discourage in any degree a traffic so ben- 
eficial to the nation.'"' 

This traffic, inhuman in its origin, conduct and results, had 
been a favored method by which the kings, queens and nobles 
of England had sought to enrich themselves, from the days of 
Sir John Hawkins to modern times. Under it nine millions of 
negroes are estimated to have been snatched from their homes in 
Africa, up to 1776, by negro-kidnapers and traders, chiefly Eng- 
lish.^ At least one-eighth of these victims died on the middle 
passage, and were thrown into the Atlantic. Yet England, 
especially after the insertion of the assiento in her treaty of 
Utrecht with Spain, in 1713, pressed on this traffic with unre- 
lenting zeal. Her manufacturers earnestly favored it, because 
they were sure that negro labor in the colonies would perma- 
nently unfit them for competition with English skilled labor.^ 

(3.) On the subject of religious liberty, the first impression 
would be that the colonists themselves had been more responsible 
for its loss or restriction than the mother country, and that such 
examples as Maryland, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania presented 
would prove tha]^ it would not have been restricted in any 
colony, had it been properly sought. But this is a superficial 
view. 

The very essence of the English constitution and laws assumed 
the connection of church and state as legitimate and beneficial. 
Therefore, as far as her influence could be felt, England sought 
to extend this connection in her colonies. The system of glebe 
lands, church properties, and tithes was the necessary outcome 
of the union of church and state ; and its overthrow was part of 
the Revolution itself, and was needful to the establishment of 
religious liberty ; for, if the state may adopt a special organi- 
zation of the grand Christian system as " the church," and may 
compel people to support it by their attendance and property, 
religious liberty is impossible. 

1 Dartmouth to colonial agent, Bancroft, III. 416. 

a Raynal's Indies. Edwards, II. s Bancroft, III. 413-417. 



3-4 'i Ilisiory of the l't:itcd Strifes of America. 

It was. naturally and almost inevitably, in the Virginia colony 
that this question sliowed itself in its true light and proportions. 
We have seen that many eireumstances had contributed to give 
this colonv a reputation tor lovaltv. and to put into her counsels 
a luimber ot' leailing minds who felt special reverence for the 
institutions of England. 

Init. as population increased, others of equal mental power atul 
culture began to appear ; and even the Washingtons. Pendletons, 
W ythes. Lees, Randolphs and Jetlersons began to realize that a 
church established by law necessarily antagonized the principles 
of religious liberty. The crisis of exposure approached, and with 
the crisis came the man to lit't the curtain. 

By a statute enacted in loob. the Episcopal clergy of \'irginia 
were to receive, each one, a salary of sixteen thousand pounds of 
tobacco. This statute was in substance re-enacted in l74^'. and 
had been sanctioned by the Crowti. 

The price of tobacco had been long stationary at two pence 
per pound, but was liable to change by the law of supply and 
demand. A short crop in 1755 caused the price to advance, and 
the assembly passed an act declaring that debts or claims pay- 
able in tobacco might be discharged by paying /// money at the 
rate of two pence per pound.' This law was in operation ten 
months only, and was quietly endmed by the clergy. But in 
ij"^S the assemblv. in view of another short crop, re-enacted the 
statute of IJ•^^, and annexed no suspending clause, which would 
have kept their enactment in suspense luitil sanctioned by the 
Ci'own. The clergy took tire, and determined to enforce their 
claims by law. 

Immediately a hot controversy arose. I\imphlets on both sides 
appeared. I lis majesty, in council, sought to cut the knot by 
declaring the act of I7^S null and void.* Thereupon suits were 
instituted in various counties by clergymen against their respec- 
tive parish collectors to enforce the law of 174S. which gave six- 
teen thousand pounds of tobacco to each minister. In Hanover 
county. Rev. James Maury had sued his vestry. Able coimsel 
had been employed on each side. The action was for the sixteen 
thousiind pounds of tobacco ; the defendants pleaded the act of 
1 75S, and the plaintitls demurred to the plea on two grounds: 
prst, because that act had not received the royal sanction when 
enacted ; second, because the king, in council, had expressly de- 
clared it void. 

» wins r.striok H«nry. 22, 24. 

« Wlrte Henry. ;:». l»r. Hawks' Eccle«iA& Hist, of VA..122. Grah&me. IV. S^ 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 325 

When this dcinurrcr came up in the county court for November, 
1763, it was iir<2jucd by Peter Lyons for the phiintiiT, and John 
Lewis for the defendants. The court, notwithstandin*^ that pop- 
ular feeling ran stron^^ly a<?ainst the clergy, sustained the demur- 
rer, thus deciding that the law of 1748 must take full eflect. 

Upon the mere technical rules of law as then existing, there 
can be no doubt that the court was right in sustaining the demur- 
rer. Nothing remained l)ut to call a jury and submit to them 
the question of the amount of damages to which the plaintiff was 
entitled. At this stage Mr. Lewis withdrew from the cause, 
telling his clients he could do nothing more for them. 

But deeper down than the merely legal question was the prin- 
ciple of religious liberty, which rested on the rock of right and 
justice. It was latent, silent, asleep ; but it was in the case, and 
needed only to be aroused to show itself in might and majesty ; 
and the time and man had come to arouse it. 

Almost hopeless, the defendants employed a* young lawyer 
named Patrick Henry, then in his twenty-seventh year. He was 
not deeply learned in his profession, and had not theretofore 
exhibited conspicuous talent ; but he was known to have strong 
common sense, and to feel deep sympathy for the popular side in 
a controversy already stigmatized as that of " the parsons against 
the people." * 

The case came before a jury in the County Court of Hanover 
on the first day of December, 1763. Patrick Henry's own father 
was the presiding justice, and his uncle was one of the very 
clergymen now urging their claims. The court-room was densely 
crowded. IMr. Lyons, for the phiintitT, opened the case, and, cer- 
tain of success, he stated the previous steps before the court, and 
concluded his speech to the jury by a brilliant eulogy upon the 
merits of the clergy. Patrick Henry then arose and commenced 
his address. He was awkward and embarrassed ; his words fal- 
tered ; the clergy smiled, nodded, and exchanged glances of com- 
passionate triumph ; the people trembled for their champion ; his 
father hung his head in shame and sorrow. But gradually a 
mighty change came over the speaker; his form became erect; 
his eye kindled into fire ; his voice grew in emphasis, and from 
his lips poured forth words which bound all in the assembly as 
with a magician's spell. A dead silence prevailed, and, bending 
forward from seats and windows and each place where they 
stood, the people listened in awe to the voice of the great spirit 
of eloquence who had descended among them. His power was 

iWirt'8 Henry. 29. edit. 1839. Semple's Va. Baptists. 2-7. 



326 A History of the United States of America. 

such that he made " their blood to run cold in their veins, and 
their hair to rise on end." His father sat a listener, with tears of 
indescribable feeling running down his cheeks. With resistless 
sway, the orator pleaded before the jury the injustice of the plain- 
tiffs' claim. He denounced the act of the king in declaring void 
the law of i7=;8, and with prophetic power he urged that the 
compact between people and sovereign might be dissolved by 
royal oppression. He painted in repulsive colors the conduct of 
the clergy, and at length, at one withering burst of invective, the 
ministers present rose and fled from the house ! ^ When the case 
was submitted to the jury, they returned almost immediately to 
the bar with a verdict of one penny damages. 

A motion for a new trial was made, but was promptly over- 
ruled by a unanimous vote. Men were ali^eady looking to the 
future. Religious liberty prevailed over statute law and the 
king's negative. The clergy abandoned all their suits, and never 
again urged their claims.^ They felt that their foundation was 
rotten. The people were already conscious that religious free- 
dom would never be obtained until the dominion of England 
over them was destroyed. 

(4.) The violations by the English crown and Parliament of the 
principles of civil freedom, in their application to the colonists, 
were so gross and repeated that the marvel is, not that revolution 
came at last, but that it was so long delayed. The " Acts of 
Trade" passed by the Parliament, and specially enforced by the 
" Lords of Ti-ade," were oppressive and unjust to every man, 
woman and child in the colonies, cutting them oft" from legiti- 
mate business, compelling them to buy English manufactures and 
deal with English merchants, and freight in English ships exclu- 
sively. And to enforce these odious " Acts of Trade " a contri- 
vance still more odious was brought into play. The English cus- 
tom officers asked for " writs of assistance " from the colonial 
courts, by ineans of vi^hich any man's house and papers and 
means of living might be searched for evidences of violation or 
evasion of the " Acts of Trade." 

In February, 1761, Boston was a seaport town of about fifteen 
thousand people.^ The question of granting these " writs of 
assistance " came before the chief justice, Hutchinson, and his 
four associates sitting in the old town hall. James Otis, a na- 
tive of Barnstable, and a man of fiery eloquence and varied 
learning, argued against them as contrary to the free constitution 

1 Wirt's Henry. 28. 29. Burk. III. 302, 303. Grahame, IV. 99. 

2 Wirt, 29. Dr. Hawk's Ec. Hist. P. E. Church in Va., 123, 124. 

3 John Adams to Wm. Tudor Novanglus, 269. Bancroft, IV. 418. 



The Causes of the IVar of Hcvolutioii. 327 

of the English leahii. His speech was the beginning of the Revo- 
lution in New England, and produced a profound impression.^ 
John Adams, then a young man, listened to it with rapt admira- 
tion, and declared that trom that time he could never read the 
"Acts of Trade " without anger, nor " any section of them without 
a curse/' Vet Hutchinson and the subservient judges, after con- 
tinuing the application to the next term, and writing to England, 
decided to grant " writs of assistance " whenever the revenue offi- 
cers applied for them. 

And during those pregnant fifteen years England kept stand- 
ing armies in her colonies without the consent of their legislatures ; 
rendered the military indej^endent of, and superior to, the civil 
power ; protected her soldiers from punishment when they com- 
mitted murders on the inhabitants ; deprived the colonists of the 
protection of trial by jury, and frequently transported them be- 
yond the Atlantic, to be tried away from their homes and from 
the scene of the alleged offence, by strangers and veniremen hos- 
tile and prejudiced. The people of the colonies felt the ever- 
growing conviction that civil freedom was not to be enjoyed by 
them under British dominion ; yet they endured while endurance 
was possible. 

(5.) In the early years of colonization, the social system and 
customs of England were followed in the colonies with almost 
slavish obedience. Even in New England and in Pennsylvania, 
the ideas coming from privileged orders and established ranks 
long jDrevailed. Official positions were monopolized by a few 
leading families, and often descended by an unbroken usage from 
father to son. The catalogues of the students in the colleges of 
Harvard and Yale were long arranged according to supposed 
family rank.^ 

Distinctions in dress, to mark the higher and lower ranks of 
society, were long kept up. In New England, up to the time of 
the Revolution, calf-skin shoes were worn only by the gentry ; 
the lower classes wore heavy neat's-leather shoes ; farmers, me- 
chanics, laborers and workingmen generally were clothed in red 
or green baize jackets, leather or striped ticking breeches, and a 
leather apron. On Sundays and holidays a white shirt took the 
place of the checked one ; the stiff' leather breeches were greased 
and blacked ; the heavy cowhide home-made shoes were adorned 
by huge brass buckles. The common laborer received only about 
two shillings (little more than twenty-five cents) per day.^ 

1 Minot's Diary of .lohn Adams, 523. Note in Bancroft, IV. 416, 417. 

2Barnes" Popular U. S. Colonial Life, Chap. IV. Barnes & Co.'s U. S. (note) 91, 92. 

»Note in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 93. 



228 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

The colonial " gentleman," on the other hand, dressed richly. 
His morning costume was of silk, with velvet cap and dressing- 
gown ; and his evening dress was of blue, green or purple 
flowered silk or embroidei'ed velvet, enriched with gold or silver 
lace, buttons and knee-buckles. Wide lace ruffles fell over his 
hands ; his street cloak was heavy with gold lace ; and he was 
seldom without a gold-headed cane and a gold or silver snuff-box.^ 

These distinctions were carried even into the church and the 
place where God was supposed specially to dwell. The pew of 
the governor or the speaker of the assembly was often marked 
by some special ornament.^ In New England the men and wo- 
men usually sat apart, and the children were put in the galleries. 
Sunday morning was opened with the sound of the drum ; the 
men, heavily armed, and the women assembled in front of the 
captain's house. Three abreast, they marched to the church build- 
ing, where every man placed his musket or his rifle within easy 
reach. The elders and deacons sat in front facing the congrega- 
tion. The services began with a long prayer ; then came the read- 
ing and expounding of the Scriptures, and a psalm, lined out and 
led by one of the elders. Instrumental music was absolutely pro- 
scribed, being supposed to be forbidden by Amos v. 23. The 
sermon was often three hours, sometimes four hours, long. At 
the end of each hour the sexton turned the hour-glass on the 
desk. This was the sole i-elief that could be expected. The con- 
stables carried long staffs, having a hare's foot at one end and a 
hare's tail at the other. If a female nodded with coming sleep 
during the sermon, the end with the hare's tail was gently applied 
to her face till she was roused ; but if a man or a boy was the de- 
linquent, the end with the hare's foot was brought down with a 
smart rap on the head to awake him.^ 

The customs in New York long retained the Dutch mould 
originally impressed on them. To the Dutch we owe the Christ- 
mas legends and visits of Santa Claus, the colored eggs at Easter, 
dough-nuts, crullers, New York cookies, and, above all, the cus- 
tom of general visiting on New Year's day, which Gen. George 
Washington approved so highly that he expressed the hope that 
its cordial observance would never be abandoned.* The happy 
burghers breakfasted at dawn, dined at eleven and retired to rest 
at sunset. On dark evenings, lighted candles were placed in the 
front windows to guide belated wanderers. But on the Hudson, 
the great patroons with their immense estates, their families and 

1 Note in Parnes & Co.'s U. S., 93. 'EKglpston's Household U. S , 109, 110. 

3 EgKlewton's Hf useliold U. S,, 109. Barnps, mote) 95. 

* Washington's words, quoted in note p. 95, Barnes & Co.'s U. S. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 329 

theii' crowds of feudal tenants kept up the usages and indulgences 
of the nobles and wealthy classes of the country regions of Eu- 
rope. 

In the Southern colonies the life most prized was not that 
of cities and towns, but of the country. The Virginia gentle- 
man, with his family, lived in his large and well-built house on 
some elevated part of his immense landed estate, surrounded by 
a numerous household of domestic servants, all of whom were 
negro slaves. The slaves who did the agricultural and other work 
of the estate had their quarters, forming a sort of small village or 
hamlet, wuth rude gardens and poultry yards. One of these es- 
tates in those days was literally " a state " on a small scale, with 
a monarch nearly unlimited in his powers. Among the slaves 
were men of nearly all trades — blacksmiths, carpenters, shoe- 
makers, millers. There were large buildings for curing tobacco 
and threshing wheat, and mills for grinding wheat, maize and 
other grain. George Washington, on the Mount Vernon estate, 
established so high a reputation for the flour ground from his own 
mills out of his own wheat, that the packed barrels bearing his 
brand are said to have been received, bought and sold without in- 
spection in the West India markets.* 

Along the rivers Ashley and Cooper, in South Carolina, and a 
few other parts of that region, were found, even down to the 
Revolution, survivals of the only legal titles of nobility that had 
ever existed in the North American colonies. These were the 
landgraves provided for by the " Grand Model " of Locke. But it 
is certain these titles were never liked, and were so persistently a 
subject of ridicule and aversion by nearly all classes that, with 
the withdrawal of the " Model," they soon evaporated. Neverthe- 
less, in the regions where rice, cotton and tobacco were raised, 
the life of the proprietor and his family assumed most of the 
forms of European privileged orders. The planters kept kennels 
of choice hunting dogs and stables of blooded horses, and with 
their families rolled to church or to some small town in a coach 
with two magnificent horses, often with four, and with mounted 
attendants. 

The spacious dwellings gave many evidences that Europe had 
contributed both to their materials and their adornment. The 
grand staircases, mantels and wainscoting were often of solid 
mahogany or other costly wood, and were elaborate and quaint 
in construction. The sideboards were laden with gold and silver 

1 Irvine's Lite of Washington, I. 289. Address of Hon. R. C. Winthrop. Barnes & Co.'s 
U. S. (note) 96. 



330 A History of the United States of Anu-eica^ 

plate, and the tables were covered with luxuries. All labor, 
except fine embroidery or similar recreation, was performed by 
negro slaves. They abounded most in Virginia and the Caro- 
linas. They were often so numerous, especially in South Caro- 
lina, that the owner had no knowledge even of their names. 
The overseer conducted the work and discipline of the planta- 
tion. Yet these laboring classes were, in general, contented and 
happy, being without ambition or anxieties. They cherished a 
" family pride " which was just as intense as that of the white 
family to whom they belonged ; and the household slaves, male 
and female, in their dress, language and manners, kept up the 
privileged ideas which a life so independent and luxurious was 
adapted to form. 

The tendency in the South was to country life, and, therefore, 
the cities and towns were few and small. North of Maryland the 
towns grew faster, and some of them assumed the proportions 
and dignity of cities. Philadelphia was the largest city, contain- 
ing, before the Revolution, probably as many as thirty thousand 
inhabitants. It was also remarkable for its flagged side-walks, 
the regularity of its sti-eets, and the elegance of its brick and 
stone residences. And William Penn's longing that it should be 
a " fair greene country town " had been realized. The carriage- 
ways were bordered with trees, and many of the houses were 
surrounded by gi^ass-plots, gardens and orchards refreshing to the 
eye.^ 

The usual mode of travel was on foot or on horseback. Coast- 
ing sloops were also much used, and were fitted up with some 
comforts for travelers. If the wind was fair, three days sufficed 
for the run from New York to Philadelphia. Conveyances by 
land carriages were commenced in 1766, which reduced the time 
between New York and Philadelphia to two days ! This was such 
unprecedented speed that these coaches were called " flying ma- 
chines." ^ The future was hidden, but the spirit of the age was 
preparing for it. 

The first regular stage-coach service was between Boston and 
Providence, and took two days. The colonies combined for a 
postoftice system. Benjamin Franklin was one of the earliest 
postmasters-general. In his two-horse chaise he made a grand 
tour through the country maturing and perfecting the plan. His 
daughter Sally accompanied him, riding sometimes with him in 
the chaise, sometimes alongside on an extra horse. Five months 
were occupied in this tour. In 1673 a mail was started between 

1 Note in Barnes & Co. 'a U. S., 91, 95. 2 i\yia., 93. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution: 33 1. 

New York and Boston, by Hartford and other towns. A month 
was allowed for the round trip.^ 

Education, in the sense of book study, was far more general in 
the Northern than in the Southern colonies. The Puritans highly 
prized education. When Boston was only six years old, she ap- 
propriated two thousand dollars to the seminary at Cambridge, 
which became Harvard College in 1636. Yale followed in 1700 ; 
Princeton in 1746 ; the University of Pennsylvania in 1749 ; Col- 
umbia in 1754; Brown University in 1764; Dartmouth in 1769, 
and Rutgers in 1770. 

In the early years of Harvard, each family gave a peck of corn 
or a shilling in cash for its support. Common schools were pro- 
vided for in Massachusetts prior to 1647, in which year every 
town was ordered to have a free school, and if it had over one 
hundred families, a grammar school. In Connecticut, any town 
which failed to maintain a free school for three months in a year 
was liable to a fine. In 1700, ten ministers, having previously 
agreed, brought each a gift of books, each saying : "I give these 
books for founding a college in Connecticut." Governor Yale 
generously befriended it, and it was called by his name. It was 
located first at Saybrook, but in 17 16 was removed to New Haven.^ 

But it is a significant tact that England neither desired nor 
cherished education in her colonies. No appropriations from the 
public funds of the mother country were made to any American 
school or college, except William and Mary in Virginia, and this 
was with imgraceful and deluding accompaniments. 

While James Blair, a learned and pious minister of the Estab- 
lished Church, who held the office of " commissary " in Virginia 
under the Bishop of London, was in England in 1691, soliciting a 
charter and a grant of funds for a college in the colony, he was 
stubbornly opposed by Seymour, the attorney-general. ]Mr. Blair 
urged the necessity for the grant, and ventured to remind Sey- 
mour that the college was to train young men for the ministry, 
and that the people of Virginia had souls. '' Souls f'' said Sey- 
mour, " damn your souls! make tobacco.''^ ^ 

Yet Mr. Blair was more successful with others. In a short 
time two thousand five hundred pounds were raised from colonial 
or private contributions. William and Mary received graciously 
the application of Commissary Blair. The college was called by 
their name, and the charter was granted in 1691. The immediate 
grants from the Crown were the balance in quit-rents due from 

1 Note In Barnes, 93, and illustration of stage-coach, 304. 

2 Note in Barnes & Co.'sU. 8., 96. sGrrahame's Colon. Hist., 1. 136. 



332 A History of the United States of America. 

the colony, amounting to two thousand pounds sterling, twenty 
thousand acres of " choice land " from the public domain, and a 
revenue of one penny per pound on all tobacco exported from 
Virginia and Maryland to the other American plantations.^ 

The observant student will see at once that these grants really 
took no funds out of the English treasury ; for the quit-rents 
had arisen chiefly by the odious and illegal grants of Charles II., 
the " twenty thousand acres " from the public domain already be- 
longed to Virginia, and the tax of one penny per pound on ex- 
ported tobacco was certain to be borne by consumers in the other 
American plantations, and took not a penny from England. 

Nevertheless, the colony was then so smitten with loyalty that 
the people shut their eyes and persuaded themselves that the 
British crown had really done much for their college. The Vir- 
ginia assembly passed an act imposing, for the benefit of Wil- 
liam and Mary College, a tax on rawhides, buck-skins, doe-skins, 
otter-skins, wildcat-skins, mink-skins, fox-skins, raccoon-skins, 
muskrat-skins and elk-skins.^ These wild creatures paid with 
their lives for the upraising of the college. Thus William and 
Mary commenced her career, and she helped in the education of 
some of the most enlightened patriots of the Revolution. 

Meanwhile the colonies were fast filling up with new men, 
women and children. The hold of English customs was weaken- 
ing. Education, in its widest sense, was generating thoughts of 
independence. People who had felled the forests, subdued the 
native sod, and covered the lakes and rivers with ships and ves- 
sels bearing the products of their own hard-working hands, nat- 
urally conceived the idea that they had a right to independence. 

In the Southern colonies the effects of their peculiar civilization 
were noteworthy. It would have seemed as if every influence 
there was adverse to independence, and favorable to loyalty to 
the English crown ; but events proved that a hidden current had 
been running for years, which made the Southern statesmen and 
planters the leaders in all thought and action favorable to revo- 
lution. Those men of leisure, thoroughly educated in all that 
books could teach, had noted the diflerences between the condi- 
tions in North America and any that had previously existed on 
earth. They saw the advantages of independence, and the oppor- 
tunities for its establishment. They saw how the world had 
suflered under civil and religious tyranny, and the monarchic 
institutions springing therefrom, and in their quiet homes they 

1 Beverley, 88. Keith. 168, 169. Campbell. 88. 89. 

2 Hening, III. 122. 123. Acts III. and IV. 



The Catiscs of the War of Revolution. 333 

mused on the problems of freedom, and watched for the occasion 
of solving them. 

Thus it happened that when the days of revolution came, Tories 
were few in the colonies. So long as they remained quiet, as 
Lord Fairfax did, they were not persecuted ; but when they 
showed themselves actively hostile, they were hated with bitter 
hatred, as the worst enemies of their country. 

(6.) Taxation without representation was the immediate cause 
of the Revolutionary war. Had the English monarch, his minis- 
ters and the Parliament been wise, they would never have resorted 
to this means of attempting to relieve the ever-increasing pressure 
of the national debt ; for it was a violation of the basis princi- 
ples of the English constitution. 

The power of the Parliament to legislate for the colonies in all 
legitimate subjects of legislation had been generally recognized. 
Even William Pitt held this opinion ; for he had said, in one of 
his speeches favorable to the colonies : " At the same time, let 
the sovereign authority of legislative and commercial control, 
always possessed by this country, be asserted in as strong terms 
as can be devised ; and, if it were denied, I ivould not sufer even 
a nail for a horse-shoe to be mamfacturcd in AmericaT^ 

Hence, oppressive as were the navigation laws and acts of 
trade passed by England, the colonists submitted. But there was 
one line which the Parliament never ventured to pass till 1765. 
It was the line which asserted that taxation without representa- 
tion was not to be practiced. During Sir Robert Walpole's 
ministry, although England was heavily pressed by her debt, yet, 
when it was suggested to him to tax America, he repelled the 
temptation with prophetic alarm.^ He declared that " it was a 
measure too hazardous for him to venture upon." And after- 
wards, when Walpole's celebrated " Excise Bill " failed, and Sir 
William Keith renewed the suggestion to tax America, the great 
minister answered : " I have Old England set against me, and 
do you think I will have New England likewise?" It was the 
weaker thought of subsequent ministers that yielded to this temp- 
tation. 

George Grenville was the minister who first passed this fatal 
line. He approached it cautiously. In 1764 he intimated that a 
" stamp act," operative in the colonies, was contemplated, but that 
its enactment would be postponed for a year, in order that the 
colonies might offer an equivalent for its proceeds in any form 

1 Grahame, IV. 241. Blackstone's Com., I. 76, 78. 

« Belsbam's Great Brit., V. 134. Biseet's George III.. 188, note. 



334 ^ History of the United States of A?7zerica.. 

they might adopt. But this lure was vain. The colonies refused 
to follow it. Some returned equivocal answers, but the larger 
number answered by positive refusals.' 

Grenville hesitated no longer, but on the yth of February, 176s;, 
caused the celebrated Stamp Act to be inti^oduced into the House 
of Commons. It imposed a tax on wills, deeds, conveyances, 
leases, contracts, bonds, bills of exchange, notes, parchment, vel- 
lum, paper writings, declarations, pleas, demurrers, rejoinders, 
bills, answers, newspapers, calendars, pamphlets, almanacs — in 
short, on ever}'^ writing necessary to business in the colonies ; and 
it declared void and invalid all that was done without payment 
for these stamps.^ 

This act did not pass the House of Commons without strenuous 
opposition. In the course of the debate, Charles Townshend, 
who was thought to know much of America and her people, in 
arguing for the tax, used words as follows : " And now, will 
these American children, planted by our care, nourished by our 
indulgence to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected 
by our arms, grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from 
the heavy burden under which we lie? " ' 

Isaac Barre, the comrade-in-arms of Wolfe, rose, and, with 
words of fire, replied : 

" They planted by \'oiir care ! No ; your oppressions planted 
them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncul- 
tivated, inhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to 
almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and, 
among others, to the cruelties of a sayage foe, the most subtle, 
and, I will take upon me to say, the most formidable, of any people 
upon the face of God's earth ; and yet, actuated by the principles 
of true English liberty, they met all hardships with pleasure, 
compared with those they suffered in their own country from the 
hands of those who should have been their friends. 

" They nourished by your indulgence ! They grew by your 
neglect of them. As soon as you began to care about them, that 
care was exercised in sending persons to rule them, in one depart- 
nnent and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of deputies to 
some members of this house sent out to spy out their liberties, to 
misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them ; men whose 
behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of these Sons 
OF Liberty to recoil within them ; men promoted to the highest 

1 Miller, TTI. 50, 51. Grahame. IV. 1S2. 
2Spe Stamp Act, In Oris Botta, Amer. Revol., I. 58, 62. 

^Erroneously attributed to Grenville, Parliamentary History, XV. 3S. Adolphus, I. 71. 
Compare with Bancroft, V. 239, 240. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 335 

seats of justice ; some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going 
to a foreign country, to escape being brought to the bar of a court 
of justice in their own. 

" They, protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up 
arms in your defence ; have exerted a valor, amidst their constant 
and laborious industry, for the defence of a country whose frontier 
was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little 
savings to your emolument. And, believe me — remember, I this 
day told you so — the same spirit of freedom which actuated that 
people at first will accompany them still. 

" God knows I do not at this time speak from motives of party 
heat. What I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my heart. 
I claim to know more of America than most of you, having seen 
and been conversant in that countiy. The people, I believe, are 
as truly loyal as any subjects the king has, but a people jealous of 
their liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should 
be violated. But the subject is too delicate ; I will say no more." * 

While Barre spoke, Ingersoll, of Connecticut, sat in the gallery 
and heard him with delight. He made a report of the speech, 
which the next packet carried across the Atlantic. Ever}^ news- 
paper in the colonies soon copied it. The name, " Sons of Lib- 
erty," given by it was seized upon with enthusiasm, and soon 
hundreds of societies bearing that name were organized from 
New England to Georgia. 

But the Stamp Act was passed by a vote of two hundred*and 
fifty to fifty in the Commons, and even a larger proportion in 
the House of Lords. ^ On the 23d of March it received the royal 
sanction, to take effect in the colonies on the first day of the suc- 
ceeding November. 

It was met by a steady storm of opposition from the northern 
limits of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to the southern 
boundary of Georgia. James Otis, Samuel and John Adams led 
the argument for the rights of the colonies in the North, but they 
were quickly joined by Livingston in New York, Mifflin and 
Thomson in Pennsylvania, Patrick Henry in Virginia, Gadsden 
in South Carolina, and others equally patriotic and firm. 

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was in London seeking to promote the 
interests of the colonies. He did all he could to avert the passage 
of the Stamp Act. When it passed both houses of Parliament 
and received the king's assent, Franklin seemed to despair of 
American freedom, and wrote home to Charles Thomson, of 

1 Parliamentary History. XV. 38, 39. IiigersoU's Keport, Bancroft, V. 240, 241^ 
sBisset, 190. Miller. III. 51. Belsham. V. 1(J8, 169. 



33^ -^ History of the United States of Atnerica. 

Pennsylvania : " The sun of lilDerty is set. The Americans must 
light the lamps of industry and economy." Thomson answered 
him, in a prophetic spirit : " Be assured, the Americans will light 
lamps of a very diflerent sort from those you contemplate." 

When the act was printed and issued from the king's press in 
Boston, it was seized and torn to pieces.^ Lawyers in many of the 
colonies resolved that they would abandon the practice of their 
profession rather than use the stamps. The English ministry felt 
the strongest desire that the distributing agents should be native 
Americans ; but few colonists would accept the office. Mr. Mer- 
cer, in Virginia ; to whom this office was assigned, immediately 
rejected it.* 

In the House of Burgesses in Virginia of this year, men of 
commanding talents appeared. Among them were Peyton Ran- 
dolph, who also held the office of attorney-general ; Richard 
Bland, Edmund Pendleton, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe 
and Patrick Henry. Though all disapproved of the Stamp Act, 
the spirit of loyalty to England was yet strong ; but near the 
close of the session, Patrick Henry assumed the lead. He wrote 
on the blank leaf of an old law-book the rough draft of five reso- 
lutions which he offered to the house.' They were a strong pro- 
test against the course of the Parliament. The third declared 
that taxation by the people themselves, or their representatives 
duly chosen, was an essential characteristic of British freedom. 
Th* last resolution was in these words : " Resolved, therefore, 
that the General Assembly of this colony have the sole right and 
power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this 
colony ; and that every attempt to vest such power in any person 
or persons whatsoever, other than the General Assembly afore- 
said, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as Amer- 
ican freedom." 

A warm debate ensued. Pendleton, Bland, Wythe and Ran- 
dolph all opposed the resolutions ; but Henry was the master 
mind, and made an impression which is felt to this day. His 
words were pregnant with a nation's freedoin. In the heat of 
the debate occurred a memorable scene. Patrick Henry reached 
a climax. " Caesar," he cried, " had his Brutus ; Charles the First 
his Cromwell, and George the Third — " "Treason! " burst from 
the lips of the president. " Treason ! treason ! " resounded through 
the house. The orator paused ; then, raising himself to his full 
height, with eyes of fire and a voice which thrilled every soul, he 

» Belsham, V. 184. Burk, III. 289. "- Gordon, I. 116. Graharae, IV. 220. 

3 Wirt's Henry. 49. Marshall, II. 130, and Burk, III. 306, 310, are inaccurate. 



The Causes of the IVar of Revolution. 337 

concluded his sentence, " and George the Third may profit by 
their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."^ 

While this was in progress, a young student of William and 
Mary College stood in the lobby of the house, and listened with 
reverence and delight to Patrick Henry. He was learning from 
him, but he was destined to go far beyond him in teachings on 
freedom, civil and religious. On the 29th of May, 1765, the de- 
bate closed, and the resolutions were adopted by a majority of a 
single voice. Peyton Randolph came to the door, and the excited 
young listener heard him exclaim, with every mark of passion : 
" I would have given five hundred guineas for a single vote." ^ 

Patrick Henry left for his home the same evening. The next 
morning the governor and his council were busy in seeking to 
have these bold protests erased from the journal. They partially 
succeeded. The house agreed to strike out the fifth resolution if 
the others might stand. Thus the journal for May 30th, 1765, 
bears only the four. Finding the house in a temper very unfa- 
vorable to the king and his policy, the governor, on the ist of 
June, dissolved the assembly.^ 

The resolutions of Virginia were echoed throughout all the 
colonies. Similar resolves were adopted on every side ; news- 
papers which had sought to reconcile the colonies to the Stamp 
Act came out boldly against it. Non-importation agreements 
were made by merchants and wealthy planters. Stamp agents 
were compelled to resign. By the ist of November "not a sheet 
of stamped paper was to be found throughout the colonies." * 
The " Sons of Liberty " opened correspondence with each other. 
Finally, Massachusetts proposed a scheme for the union of repi^e- 
sentatives from all the colonies in a general congress. 

This, the first American congress which looked to independ- 
ence, met in New York in October, 1765. The governor having 
dissolved her assembly, Virginia was not formally i-epresented. 
Neither was New Hampshire nor Georgia ; but all were there in 
spirit. Twenty-eight members met on the appointed day. Tim- 
othy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was elected president. They 
adopted resolutions in which the rights of the colonies are set 
forth, and their freedom from taxation, except by their own as- 
semblies, is declared. They refused to rest their rights on char- 
ters granted by England ; and, under the lead of Livingston, of 
New York, and Gadsden, of South Carolina, acted in a spirit 

iBurk. III. 309. Grahame, IV. 209. Wirt's Henry, 5.5. 

2 Jefferson's account in Wirt, 52. Tuelcer's Jefferson. I. 43. 

3 Gordon, I. 119. Burk, III. 310. Grahame, IV. 209, 210. Wirt, co?j<m (note), 54, but it is 
proved. 

^Belsham, V. 1S5. Burk. III. 29S, verbatim from Belsham. 

22 



338 A History of the United States of America. 

which found words as follows : " We should stand upon the 
broad common ground of those natural rights that we all feel and 
know as men and as descendants of Englishmen. The charters 
may ensnare us at last, by drawing different colonies to act dif- 
ferently in this great cause. Whenever that is the case, all will 
be over with the whole. There ought to be no New England 
man, no New Yorker, known on the continent, but all of us 
Americans." ^ 

These views prevailed. And yet their resolutions and memo- 
rials were conceived in a tone so mild, courteous and conciliatory 
that they w^ere not entirely welcome to the more enthusiastic pa- 
triots.* 

All the governors, except the Governor of Rhode Island, 
pressed measures for making the Stamp Act efficient. Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Golden, of New York, was specially active in this 
odious work. Friday was the first day of November. Signs of 
gloom were everywhere. In Boston, muffled di-ums beat dead- 
marches ; bells tolled as for funerals ; long processions of mourn- 
ers passed through the streets ; a coffin containing the emblematic 
corpse of "Liberty" was solemnly interred; but it was raised 
again. 

In New York " the whole city rose up as one man in opposi- 
tion to the Stamp Act." Sailors came fi^om the shipping. The 
people flocked in by thousands. Isaac Sears was the recognized 
leader. At the corners of the streets and on prominent houses, 
placards threatened all who should use stamps, or delay business 
for want of them. 

Golden retired to the fort, and sent for a detachment of marines 
from the Coventry, ship of war. He would have fired on the 
people, but a paper was delivered at the fort gate by an unknown 
hand, November ist, 1765, which menaced the governor that if 
he attacked the people he would be hanged upon a sign-post, 
like Porteous, of Edinburgh, whose fate was recent enough to give 
serious warning to Golden.^ 

As darkness came on, a vast torchlight procession carrying a 
scaffold and two images — one of the governor and the other of 
the devil — came from the fields (now the park) down Broadway 
to a point near the fort, knocked at its gate, broke open the coach- 
house, took out the governor's chariot, carried the images upon it 
around the town, brought them back, and burned them before his 
eyes, with tumultuous cries and warnings which he could not dis- 
regard. 

1 R. R. Livinfrston, Jr., to Gordon, the historian. Letter of Gadsden, Bancroft, V. 335. 
SBurk gives them. III. 311-322. » Bancroft, V. 355. 



The Ca?ises of the War of Revolution. 339 

Colden yielded to resistless pressure. Colonel Gage, the mili- 
tary head in the colony, being appealed to, avowed the belief that 
a fire from the fort would be the signal for " an insurrection " and 
" the commencement of a civil war." The common council asked 
that the stamped papers of all kinds should be delivei-ed into their 
custody. Colden capitulated. The hated stamps were taken to 
the city hall. Order was restored ; but everywhere was heard 
the shout : " Liberty ! property ! and no stamps ! " ^ 

And soon everywhere in the colonies the custom-houses and 
the courts were re-opened, and business went on without stamps. 
This was the death-blow ; for when a pretended law is openly dis- 
regarded, its jDower is gone." 

Meanwhile the British ministry had changed. Grenville had 
been displaced and Rockingham had succeeded. Petitions poured 
in for repeal of the Stamp Act. William Pitt denounced it and 
applauded the colonists. " I rejoice," he said, " that America has 
resisted ; three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of 
liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit 
instruments to make slaves of all the rest."'^ 

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was examined in the presence of the 
House of Commons, and by his practical wisdom and simple and 
coui'teous words carried persuasion to many minds. On the 19th 
of March, 1766, the king sanctioned the law repealing the Stamp 
Act ; but the repeal was accompanied by a Declaratory Act, as- 
serting the right of the King and Parliament of Great Britain by 
law " to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases 
whatsoever."* 

Here was the germ of subsequent oppression by the mother 
country, and revolution by the colonies. 

The Duke of Grafton succeeded Rockingham as prime minister 
in 1767, and Charles Townshend was made chancellor of the ex- 
chequer. He was active and excitable in mind, brilliant in debate, 
formidable as a party leader and unscrupulous as a politician. 
Provoked by the fierce opposition made by New York to the 
Stamp Act, the Parliament passed a law suspending the powers 
of government in that colony until she made satisfactory repara- 
tion. But Virginia sympathized with New York, and openly en- 
couraged her.* 

Townshend boasted that he knew a method of taxing America 
to which no constitutional objection could be raised. He insisted 
that, though the colonies might, with a show of law on their side, 

1 Colden to Gage, 5th November ; to Maior James, 6th November. Bancroft, V. :t56, 357. 

2 Gordon, I. 132. » pitt's speech in Belsham, V. 193. ■* Miller's George III. 58. 
6 Letters of a Pennsylvania farmer In Virginia Gazette, January 7, 1768, 



340 ^ History of the United States of America. 

object to internal taxes (such as those imposed by the Stamj) Act), 
yet they had no right to object to external taxes, sucli as duties 
on imports would impose.* But there was no difference in prin- 
ciple, as the colonists clearly saw. 

A bill was introduced by the ministers into Parliainent, impos- 
ing duties upon lead, painters' colors, glass, paper and tea im- 
ported into the colonies. With little opposition, it became a law 
in May, 1768.^ 

In October of this year Norborne Berkeley, Baron De Bote- 
tourt, became Governor of Virginia. He obeyed with some reluc- 
tance the wishes of the English ministry that he should seek to 
impress on the colonists a sense of the power and authority of the 
mother country by a display of splendor on his arrival. In a 
magnificent coach, presented by George III., he was slowly drawn 
by six milk-white horses, in gorgeous trappings, through the 
streets of \Villiamsburg. He met the assembly with all the cere- 
monious powers observed by the English sovereign when he re- 
ceived his Parliaments.^ 

But all this vain show did no good. It neither dazzled nor 
deceived the burgesses. It was distasteful to Botetourt himself, 
and he soon laid it aside. He was a man of excellent disposition 
and character, although a firm supporter of the rights of the 
Crown, as he understood them. 

In May, 1769, the burgesses took up the late measures of Eng- 
land, and passed four resolutions in firm, but respectful, words : 
They denied the power of taxation except by themselves, and 
declared that persons accused of crime in the colonies ought to 
be tried at home, and that to seize them and send them to Britain 
for trial " was highly derogatory of the rights of British sub- 
jects." They were already preparing for union, and therefore 
recommended that their resolutions be sent to all the other colo- 
nies for their concurrence.* 

Lord Botetourt was taken by surprise. Already he saw the 
influence of the king fading away. Summoning the speaker arid 
assembly to the council chamber, he addressed them thus : 

" Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House of Burgesses : I 
have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects. You 
have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are dissolved 
accordingly." 

But now the spirit of freedom was in the air. Instead of 
returning to their homes as heretofore, when dissolved, the bur- 

1 Virginia Gazette, February, 1768. 2 jiiiier,JII. 64. Belsham, V. 271. 

3 Note in Curk, IH. 33:). Wron.i? in text, 342, and Grahame, IV., 290. 
< Resolutions in Burk, III. 342, 343. GraUame. IV. 291. 



The Causes oy the War of devolution. 341 

gesses, almost as with one accord, re-assembled in a private house, 
the residence of Anthony Hay, in Williamsburg, and formed the 
first Revolutionary "convention" that Vii'ginia had known. No- 
thing like it had previously existed, except the meeting called 
by Nathaniel Bacon in 1676, which we have already noted. The 
parallel, both in place and in purpose, will not escape the studious 
reader. 

The convention made no attempt to make laws ; but they 
adopted a preamble strongly expressive of the wrong done by 
the late acts of England, and then entered into a non-importation 
agreement, binding themselves to be frugal, to import no taxed 
article, and none of the manufactures or products of Britain, and 
no slaves, until she should return to the practice of justice. 

This paper was signed by eighty-eight of the highest and 
noblest names then known in Virginia. Among them were the 
names of George Washington, Peyton Randolph, Thomas Jeffer- 
son, Henry Lee, Richard Henry Lee, and Carter Braxton, with 
others of whom history is proud. The original paper, after hav- 
ing for years disappeared from Virginia, was recovered and pre- 
served by a historical society in Massachusetts, and in November, 
1S89, was, by agreement, placed in the State library of Virginia.^ 

Copies of the preamble and resolutions were soon spread every- 
where through every colony, and excited deep enthusiasm. Old 
and young, great and humble, rich and pool", united in opposition 
to England. The flame spread everywhere. British statesmen 
began to see their mistake. The Earl of Hillsborough, secretary 
of foreign affairs, wrote to Lord Botetourt, assuring him of the 
favorable intents of Parliament, and that at the next session the 
custom duties on glass, paper, and colors would be repealed as 
adverse to the interests of commerce. The good governor rejoiced, 
and sent a genial and hopeful message to the council and Ho-use of 
Burgesses, who replied by a resolution of gratitude to the governor 
and respect for the king.^ But their hopes were soon blasted. 

Charles Townshend died in September, 1769, and was succeeded 
by Frederick, Lord North, the eldest son of the Earl of Guild- 
ford. In January, 1770, the Duke of Grafton resigned, and Lord 
North became First Lord of the Treasury and Premier of England. 
His administration was memorable — fatal to the true interests of 
Britain, and only beneficial to the North American colonies be- 
cause it drove them to war, and secured their independence as 
sovereign States, united for common defence and general welfare. 

1 Article in Richmond Dispatch, Nov. 29. 1889. Burk, III. 345-349. 
" Documents in Burk, III. 350-353, 



242 A History of the United States of America. 

In March, 1770, urged by numberless petitions from British 
merchants and manufacturers, Lord North introduced a bill repeal- 
ing the customs on all articles imported by the colonies, except 
tea. But the duty on tea was retained for the express purpose of 
affirming the right to tax, and his lordship openly declared his 
policy : " To temporize is to yield ; and the authority of the 
mother country, if it is now unsupported, will in reality be relin- 
quished forever ; a total repeal cannot be thought of till America 
is prostrate at our feet."" ' 

In this form the bill became a law. Lord Botetourt was so 
deeply disappointed and wounded that he asked leave to resign. 
While his application was pending, his anxiety and grief of spirit 
aggravated a disease of the body, and he died during the summer.^ 

In 1772 he was succeeded by Lord Dunmore, who was trans- 
ferred from New York. He is represented as having decided 
talent, and ability for diplomacy, but as coarse in person, rude in 
manner, unscrupulous in morals ; wanting in the courtesy, refine- 
ment, and sensitive love of justice which had distinguished his 
predecessor.* It was meet that during the rule of such a man 
kingly authority should be uprooted forever in the Virginia 
colony. 

Her assembly in 1773 contained members of great mental power 
and of uncompromising patriotism. Among the youngest were 
Dabney Carr and Thomas Jefferson. On the i3th of March, Mr. 
Carr introduced resolutions appointing "a standing committee of 
correspondence and inquiiy," to consist of eleven members, whose 
duty it should be to watch Britain, and to confer with the other 
colonies. On this committee were put Peyton Randolph, Robert 
Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin 
Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, 
Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary and Thomas Jefferson.* Each 
became a leader for liberty in the coming struggle. But Dab- 
ney Carr did not live to see his country declare her independence. 
He died in Charlottesville on the i6th of May, 1773, in the 
thirtieth year of his age.^ 

Meanwhile in all the colonies. North and South, the approach- 
ing storm of war was manifesting its presence. Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin was still in London. His character and influence made 
him an object of much interest to English politicians. In 1772 a 
member of Parliament sought to convince him that all the obnox- 
ious measures and grievances complained of by the colonists had 

1 Belsham, V. 358. - Burk. III. 361. » Wirt's Henry, 99. Burk. III. 368-370. 

■1 Wirt's Henry, 69. 70. Burk, III. 392. Tucker's Jefferson, I. 52, 53. 
5 Virginia Gazette, May 29, 1773. 



The Causes of the War of Revohition, 343 

really originated, not from the British government, but from 
Tories in America. He put into Franklin's hands a number of 
letters, written from Massachusetts by Governor Hutchinson and 
Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, warmly urging coercive measures 
against the colonics. Franklin sent these letters to the Speaker 
of the IMassachusetts House of Representatives.^ 

Their publication aroused great and just indignation against 
their authors and all who shared their sentiments, and rendered 
invaluable service in difiusing everywhere the revolutionary spirit. 
Massachusetts, by her assembly, petitioned the king to remove 
Hutchinson and Oliver from office. In January, 1774, Franklin 
appeared before the privy council to urge this removal. He was 
now nearly three-score and ten years of age, and venerable for 
genius, science and wisdom ; yet he was grossly i-eviled«and in- 
sulted by Wedderburn, the solicitor-general, whose scurrilous 
harangue was listened to with shouts of laughter and applause by 
the lords in council. The petition of Massachusetts was rejected, 
and the next day Franklin was dismissed from his office of colo- 
nial postmaster-general.^ Thus did England urge on her own 
dire misfortune and the independence of the United States. 

Yet the British civil leaders were not entii^ely blind. Hoping 
to reconcile the colonists to the payment of the import duty of 
three pence per pound on tea, the Parliament passed a law under 
which the East India Company were permitted to withdraw from 
English ports millions of pounds of tea there stored, and to ship 
them to America without paying any duty in the custom-house 
of the mother country. The effect of this was to make the price 
of tea actually lower in America than it had been before the tax 
was imposed.^ 

But the eyes of the colonists were now wide open. Evidently 
the question of principle, and not the question of jnoney, had 
gained the ascendency. So long as they paid a duty tax in their 
own ports, so long were they taxed without their consent. The 
determination was almost universal not to use imported tea, and 
not to permit any of this hated commodity to be landed. 

The East India Compan}'- sent several ships with cargoes of tea 
to iVmerica. In Charleston, South Carolina, they were permitted 
to bring the boxes into the city, but under the requirements of the 
city council it was stored in cellars, where the damp heats speedily 
rendered it worthless.* In Wilmington, North Carolina, a band 

' Art. Franklin, New Amer. Encyclop., VII. 707. 

- Amer. Encyclop., VII. 707, 708. Bancroft, VI. li. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 148. 

3 I ondon Times, January, 1847. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 200. 

*Steplien8' Comp. U. S., 200. Goodrich's U. S., 180. 



344 -^ History of the United States of Atnerica. 

of bold men, led by Cornelius Harnett, John Ashe and Hugh 
Waddell, in open day, and bearing down all opposition, boarded 
a tea ship and destroyed her cargo. In Baltimore, the ship Peggy 
Stewart^ laden with tea, was taken oft' into a safe place in the 
harbor and burned with her entire lading. 

But in the harbor of Boston occurred the decisive act, known 
ever since as the "Tea Party." The inhabitants of Philadelphia 
and New York had made such strenuous opposition to landing their 
cargoes that the tea ships had quietly returned to London. In 
Boston there was already a considerable English military force. 
The people met in town ineeting and voted a formal request to 
the governor to send back to England the three tea ships in their 
harbor. Strong speeches were made by Adams, Quincy and 
others. *The governor paid no attention to the request ; where- 
upon, on the 1 6th December, 1773, in open day, the people rushed 
down to the wharves, and, as night approached, seventeen men — 
sea captains, carpenters and citizens, all dressed like Mohawk 
Indians — boarded the three ships, and in less than two hours 
hoisted out and threw overboard three hundred and forty-two 
chests of their cargoes. They then quietly dispersed to their 
homes.' 

They passed by a house where the British Admiral Montague 
was. He threw up the window and called to them : " Well, 
boys, you have had a fine night for your Indian dance ; but, mind 
me, you will have to pay the fiddler ! " One of them answered : 
" Oh ! never mind, admiral, just come out here and we'll settle the 
bill in two minutes ! " He shut down the window.^ All this 
seemed humorous, but it pointed to a bloody settlement. 

General Gage had been ordered to Boston with two regiments 
of British soldiers. They entered on a quiet October morning, 
1768, with drums beating and colors flying, as if in a conquered 
city. The town was required to quarter them and maintain them, 
but refused. Some made quarters in Faneuil Hall, some in tents 
on the commons.^ It could not have been expected that, with 
such irritations, peace would be preserved. Long before actual 
war came, bloodshed had occurred. 

The first blood was shed in New York. For three years a lib- 
erty-pole had stood unmolested in the park. After the " Stamp 
Act" disorders of 1765, English soldiers had been stationed in 
the city. Early in 1770 some of them, in an insolent spirit, cut 
down this liberty-pole. The irritated people assembled, and an 

1 Gordon, I. 225. Otis' Botta, 1. 121. Goodrich, 180. 

2 Note in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 105. 

8 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 143. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 104. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 345 

affray occurred, in which several citizens were killed ; but the 
soldiers were worsted and withdrew. A new pole of liberty was 
erected in the uj^per part of the town, with which the soldiers 
did not venture to interfere.^ 

On the 5th of March, 1770, a serious conflict took place in the 
streets of Boston between part of her people and the soldiers, 
which has been since designated as the " Boston Massacre." It 
is only important as a sign of the times. A man of African 
descent, bold spirit, and great strength and statui-e, named Crispus 
Attucks, from Framingham, was the leader of the people. Next 
to him in boldness was a white citizen, named Caldwell, who 
was not a resident of the town. The crowd, under the lead of 
Attucks, pressed on the soldiers near a sentry-box. The soldiers 
pushed them back.^ Attucks cried out : " Don't be afraid of them ; 
they dare not fire ! Kill them ! kill them ! knock them over ! " 
The crowd brandished their clubs, and pelted the soldiers with 
snowballs. Attucks seized the bayonet on the musket held by a 
soldier, and, with a blow of his powerful fist, knocked him down. 
Then the soldiers fired. Attucks and Caldwell dropped dead ; 
several were wounded. The soldiers fired twice more. Three 
citizens were killed and a number wounded before the crowd 
would disperse. 

Boston was on fire with excitement. The drums beat, and 
men, women and children rushed into the streets. The soldiers 
who fired were arrested, and the governor persuaded the crowd 
to disperse and retire to their homes. 

The funeral of the slain was conducted with tolling bellg and 
much pomjD and ceremony. The bodies were all deposited in the 
same vault in the cemetery.^ 

Notwithstanding the ^^nhWc furor ^ the trial of the arrested sol- 
diers was conducted with perfect impartiality. John Adams and 
Josiah Quincy defended them with signal ability. Six were ac- 
quitted ; two were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a 
brief imprisonment. 

In 177 1, disorders resulting in bloodshed occurred in the North 
Carolina colony. Governor Tryon was already known as inimi- 
cal to the rights of the colonists. A body of men had banded 
themselves together under the name of " Regulators." They had 
been organized under a written agreement made in Orange (now 
Randolph) county, March 33d, 1767, soon after the Parliament 
had asserted a right to bind the colonies in all cases xvhatsoever. 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 197. 

'-John Adams' defence of the soldiers, Amer. Encyclop., II. 331. 

3 Art. Attucks, New Amer, Encyclop., II. 331. Goodrich, 176, 177. 



346 A History of the United States of America. 

Their agreement was neither treasonable nor factious, being sim- 
ply to resist illegal taxes.' 

Their chief opposition was to a tax to be levied for building a 
new executive mansion for Tryon. They openly resisted levies 
under this very objectionable law. The governor was selfishly 
incensed, and took the field, with a considerable force of Royalists, 
against the Regulators. 

A sharp engagement occurred on the Alamance river May i6th, 
1 77 1. The insurgents were overcome by superior forces, and, 
after their ammunition was exhausted, they retreated, leaving- on 
the field a number of their dead and wounded.'' 

Tryon followed up his success with rancor. Several of the 
captured were hanged. The estates of others w^ho sympathized 
with the Regulators were confiscated, and the proceeds divided 
between the governor and his satellites. vSome of the persecuted 
submitted. Others retired westward and were kindly received 
by the Cherokees, who, remembering Lyttleton and his outrages 
on them, granted land to the refugees who had fled from the 
tyranny of another English governor. The Regulators founded 
a republic, which afterwards became the State of Tennessee.^ 

Tryon was soon transferred to New York as governor, and left 
North Carolina with a debt of two hundred thousand dollars 
resting on her, contracted by his illegal and selfish course. 

Thus revolution rolled on to the crisis. When news of the de- 
struction of the tea in the harbor of Boston reached England, the 
Parliament adopted the harshest measures. In 1774 the bill 
known as the " Boston Port Bill " was passed. Her port was 
closed, and her custom-house removed to Salem. The charter of 
Massachusetts was abrogated, and her governor was authorized 
to send her citizens, when accused of crime, either to another 
colony or to England for trial.* 

But all these measures only hastened the overthrow of the Brit- 
ish dominion. The people of Rhode Island had already shown 
their spirit. The Gaspce, a British armed schooner, had made 
herself specially detested because of her activity in enforcing the 
navigation laws and "Acts of Trade." One day, in chasing a Pro- 
vidence vessel, she ran aground. A plan was laid to destroy her. 
An armed body, under Captain Whipple, boarded her at two 
o'clock in the morning (1773), sent the lieutenant commanding, 
with his men and their most valuable effects, ashore, and burned 
the Gaspee and all her stores. Vigilant eff'orts made to detect 
the captors were entirely unsuccessful.^ As might have been ex- 

1 It is given by Stephens' Comp. U. S., 200, note. - Stephens' Comp. U. S., 200. . 

3 Quackenbos'" U. S., 196. * Goodrich, 180. Stephens, 201. ' Goodrich's U. S., 178, 179. 



Tlie Causes of the IVar of Revolution. 347 

pected, the people of Rhode Island extended active sympathy to 
Boston in her distress. 

Marblehead offered her harbor, wharves and warehouses to the 
merchants of Boston free of charge.' Everywhere in the colo- 
nies offers of sympathy and help came to her. Georgia sent 
sixty-three tierces of rice and seven hundred and twenty dollars 
in money. Massachusetts was not discouraged. Town meetings 
were held and fasts appointed. A " League and Covenant," al- 
most as solemn as that of Scotland, was established, and signed 
by thousands, that they would trade no more with England. 

General Gage had become governor. He issued a proclamation 
against this league, declaring it to be treasonable. The Boston 
people quietly replied that his proclamation was treason, and that 
all who refused to sign the league were enemies to their country.^ 

It now became evident to the people of the colonies that armed 
resistance to the claims of England was the only means by which 
they could maintain their rights and save themselves from an op- 
pression fast tending to slavery. They began to collect ammuni- 
tion, arms and military stores, and to organize their men capable 
of bearing arms into companies of " minute-men," who engaged 
to assemble at a minute's warning and to march for defence to any 
point of danger. General Gage, as commander-in-chief in the 
colonies and as Governor of Massachusetts, issued a proclamation 
warning the people to desist from these preparations, and return 
to their duties of loyalty and allegiance. He fortified Boston 
Neck, and seized the military stores collected at Cambridge and 
Charlestown, and brought them to Boston.^ 

When the Boston "Port Bill" and its attendant measures were 
known in Virginia, her assembly was in session. Without delay 
they adopted resolutions expressing the deepest sympathy for 
their oppressed fellow-patrjots ; setting aside the ist of June as a 
day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, and ordering that a suit- 
able sermon should be preached on the occasion. The next day, 
May 25, 1774, Lord Dunniore svmimoned the burgesses to his pre- 
sence, and addressed them thus : " I have in my hand a paper 
published by order of your house, conceived in such terms as re- 
flect highly upon his majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain, 
which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you, and you are dis- 
solved accordingly." * 

Instantly the members repaired to the Raleigh Tavern, in Wil- 
liamsburg, and formed another association. They adopted reso- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 201. sooodrich's U. S., 181. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 206. ^Wirt, 74, 75. Burk, III. 378. Tucker's Jefferson, I. 56. 



2^8 A History of the United States of America. 

lutions condemning strongly the course of England and of the 
East India Company. They recommended that the members to 
be elected for the next assembly should meet " in convention " at 
Williamsburg, on the ist of August, and should then appoint 
deputies to represent Virginia in the " Genei^al Congress " to be 
held this year. This action was signed by eight-nine members.* 
Then, going to their homes, they spread far and wide their spirit 
of resistance to English aggression. 

The convention assembled at Williamsburg on the ist of Aug- 
ust, as recommended. Their action was confined entirely to the 
absorbing topic of the day. Thomas Jefferson had been elected 
a member from Albemarle county, but, being prevented by sick- 
ness from attending, he sent his thoughts in writing, which were 
afterwards published under the title of a " Summary View of the 
Rights of British America." The doctrines sustained in this 
tract were too bold to be adopted even by the patriots of 1774 ; 
but they made a deep impression. The ti^act was republished in 
England, and is said to have gained for its author the honor of 
being included in a bill of attainder for treason introduced into, 
but not passed by, the House of Commons." 

The members appointed as deputies from Virginia to the con- 
gress were Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Wash- 
ington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison and 
Edmund Pendleton. 

This venerable body assembled on the 4th day of September, 
1774, at Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia. Every colony was re- 
presented except Georgia. From New Hampshire came John Sul- 
livan and Nathaniel Folsom ; from Massachusetts, Thomas Cush- 
ing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine ; from 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, .Stephen Hopkins, 
Samuel Ward ; from Connecticut, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sher- 
man, Samuel Johnson, Silas Deane ; from New York, James 
Duane, John Jay, Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Law, 
William Floyd ; from New Jersey, James Kinsey, William Liv- 
ingston, John Dehart, Stephen Crane, Richard Smith ; from 
Pennsylvania, Joseph Galloway, Samuel Rhodes, Thomas Mifflin, 
Charles Humphreys, John Morton, George Ross, Edward Bid- 
die ; from Delaware, Caasar Rodney, Thomas McKean, George 
Read ; from Maryland, Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, 
Matthew Tilghman, Samuel Chase ; from Virginia, the deputies 

1 Tucker's Jefferson, I. 56, 57. Wirt's Henry, 75. 

2 This tract and also Richard Bland's "Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies," 
published in 17fi6, are in the library at Cambridge, Mass. ; also in the Amer. Archives, Vol. I., 
and in Jefferson's Works, I. 100-116. Tucker's Life of Jefferson, I. 58-61. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 349 

already named ; from North Carolina, William Hooper, Joseph 
Hewes ; from South Carolina, Henry Middleton, Christopher 
Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge.' Other delegates 
afterwai'ds appeared and took part. 

Peyton Randolph was chosen president, and Charles Thom- 
son, of Pennsylvania, an Irishman by birth, was elected secretary. 
The congress settled first the question of its own character and 
organization, by voting that it was a congress of separate and 
distinct political bodies. In all deliberations and decisions, each 
colony was to be considered as equal and to have an equal vote, 
without regard to population or the number of the delegates sent 
by the respective colonies. This was fundamental. 

They then adopted a declaration of indefeasible rights, and a 
preamble and series of resolutions which were so dignified in tone 
and strong in fact and logic, that they drew from William Pitt 
(who had been created Lord Chatham) a testimonial to their 
soundness, in words as follows : "Though I have studied and ad- 
mired the free states of antiquity, the master spirits of the world, 
yet, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of 
conclusion, no body of men could stand in preference to this 
congress." ''' 

They were not yet ready for a declaration of independence, but 
were preparing the way. They advised that no commercial inter- 
course should be held with Great Britain until her unjust and op- 
pressive acts were repealed. They recommended also that all the 
colonies should send delegates to another congress to meet INIay 
loth, 1775 ; and on the 26th of October their session ended.* 

Meanwhile, Governor Gage in Massachusetts had been sorely 
perplexed. He had convoked the General Court to assemble at 
Salem on the 5th of October, but finding he could expect nothing 
from them but opposition to the English measures, he issued a 
proclamation, before the day of meeting appointed, dissolving the 
assembly. But they met, appointed John Hancock president, 
addressed a communication to the governor, and adjourned to meet 
in Cambridge on the 17th. Here they appointed committees of 
safety and supplies ; voted the equipment of twelve thousand 
men, and the enlistment of one-fourth the militia as "minute-, 
men," * The war cloud came on. 

Early in 1775 Lord Chatham introduced a bill into Parliament 
making one more effort at reconciliation. But nothing less than 
absolute submission would now satisfy Great Britain. Instead of 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 203. 2 Resolutions, etc., in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 203-20S. 

3 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 158, 150. Stephens, 20G. 
■» Goodrich's U. S., 184. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 206. 



350 A History of the United States of Ai7ierica. 

Chatham's measure of peace, Lord North procured the passage of 
two bills — one restraining the people of New England from fish- 
ing on the banks of Newfoundland ; the other extending similar 
and worse restraints to the people of all the colonies, except New 
York .and North Carolina. These acts united all the colonies. 
Georgia ranged herself with her sisters.^ 

In March, 1775, the Virginia convention assembled in the time- 
honored church known as St. John's, on what is now Church Hill, 
in Richmond, which was then a small town, chiefly of wooden 
houses, rising over hills that ascended from the banks of James 
river. 

The patriots of Virginia were there, but their views were dif- 
fei"ent. Though English fleets were on the coasts of America, 
and English armies quartered in her towns, many yet hoped for 
a peaceful settlement. Their first measures were indecisive. 
They expressed pleasure at having received a petition and memo- 
rial, from the assembly of Jamaica addiessed to the king, and 
making earnest offers of compromise. But they were soon 
aroused from this delusive calm. Patrick Henry presented reso- 
lutions, alluding in direct terms to the presence of British armies 
and the dangers threatening American freedom, and finally pro- 
posing that the Virginia colony should be put in a state of 
defence, and that measures should be immediately taken " for 
embodying, arming and disciplining such a number of men as 
may be sufficient for that purpose."^ 

These resolutions were opposed by the men who were not yet 
prepared for revolution by war. Richard Bland, Robert Carter 
Nicholas, Edmund Pendleton and Benjamin Harrison all argued 
against it. They urged the weakness of America and the strength 
of England ; a country without soldiers, without arms, without 
generals, opposed to the military power that had shaken the civil- 
ized world ; they urged the duty of loyalty, and the advantages 
and comforts the colonies might still enjoy, contrasted with the 
horrors of civil war. 

It was now that Patrick Henry appeared in power. Rising 
slowly from his seat, he made an appeal which, in eloquence and 
strength, and in its effect upon the future of the world, went far 
beyond any etlbrt of oi'atory ever previously made. It ■was the 
demonstration that the coming war was to be a war of ideas and 
principles, and not a mere war of brute force. No perfect repro- 
duction of this speech has been preserved — perhaps none was 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 206, 207. 

2 Wirt's Patrick Henry, 90. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 351 

possible ; yet enough has been preserved to enable the thought- 
ful student to feel something of its inspiration : 

" Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. We 
have done evei'ything that could be done to avert the storm which 
is now coming on. We have petitioned — we have remonstrated — 
we have supplicated — we have prostrated ourselves before the 
throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyranni- 
cal hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have 
been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced additional vio- 
lence and insult ; our supplications have been disregarded ; and 
we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the 
throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond 
hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room 
for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve invio- 
late those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long 
contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle 
in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have 
pledged ourselves never to abandon until the object of our contest 
shall be obtained — we must fight ! I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! 
An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us. 

" There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, 
and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The 
battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the 
active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were 
base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the 
contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our 
chains are foi'ged ; their clanking may be heard on the plains of 
Boston. The war is inevitable, and let it come. I repeat it, sir, 
let it come ! 

" Gentlemen may cry. Peace ! peace ! but there is no peace. 
The war is already begun. The next gale that sweeps from the 
North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our 
brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle.^ 
What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have. ^ Is 
life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of 
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not 
what course others may take ; but as for me, give me liberty or 
give me death ! "^ 

A dead silence followed this speech. The feelings it excited 
were too deep for applause ; but there was no longer any hesita- 
tion or division of opinion. The proposal of Henry was adopted, 
and in a short time Virginia was alive with military preparation. 

1 Wirt's Henry, 95. 



352 A History of the United States of uAnicrica. 

In every county men were to be enrolled, arms prepared, powder 
and ball provided. Special diligence was given in raising com- 
panies of horse, and training them to the sound of firearms and 
the movements of the field. 

Henry's words were prophetic. Early in April, 1775, three 
thousand British soldiers were in and around Boston, and General 
Gage felt strong enough for active movements. Learning that the 
colonists had collected ammunition and other military stores at 
Concord, about sixteen miles from Boston, he prepared to destroy 
them. 

In the night of the iSth of April, eight hundred troops of the 
grenadiers and light infantry, the flower of the British army in 
Boston, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, crossed 
in boats to East Cambridge and marched to Concord, through Lex- 
ington, then a small town ten miles from Boston. In this town 
John Hancock and Samuel Adams then were, on their way to 
the congress. Gage hoped to capture them. But in Boston Dr. 
Joseph Warren remained, than whom no truer patriot lived in 
America. For a week he had been expecting some such expedi- 
tion, and he sent messages by agreed signals to Hancock and 
Adams, under whose orders the most valuable part of the stores 
in Concord were removed.^ 

By ten o'clock of the night of the iSth, Warren had dispatched 
William Dawes through Roxbury to Lexington, and had requested 
Paul Revere to go for the same purpose by way of Charlestown. 
Lord Percy had overheard a remark that the British troops would 
" miss their aim," and by his advice, Gage issued an order that no 
one should be suffered to leave the town.^ Revere stopped only 
long enough to engage a friend to raise concerted signals by lan- 
terns in the " Old North Church " tower. Five minutes before 
the sentinels received the order to stop all egress, he was rowed 
by two friends close by the Somerset man-of-war and across 
Charles river. 

This Paul Revere is immortal in the Revolutionary histor}-. 
He was of Huguenot descent, an engi'aver by occupation, and a 
man in whose bosom a love of freedom burned so warmly that he 
made his art a means of kindling that love in others. He was one 
of the disguised in the "Boston Tea Party." During the Revo- 
lution he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was ceaseless 
in his work for liberty.^ His midnight ride to warn the patriots 
and " minute-men " of his colony was helped by Providence. He 

1 Bancroft, VII. 288, 289. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 162. 

"Bancroft, VII. 289. ^Art. Revere, New Amer. Eneyclop., XIV. 39. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 353 

was intercepted by two British officers on horseback, but escaped 
them by his address and the fleetness of his horse. ^ 

The poet Longfellow has clothed in words of genuine poetry 
the romance of this ride : 

"A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 

That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 

The fate of a nation was riding that night ; 

And the spark struck out by that steed, in its flight. 

Kindled the land into flame with its heat." ^ 

The "minute-men" of Lexington, to the number of seventy, 
under Capt. John Parker, with perhaps half as many boys and 
unarmed men, were assembled on the common at Lexington. 
The British van, hearing the drum and alarm guns, hastened to 
load. The remaining companies came up ; and half an hour be- 
fore sunrise, April 19th, 1775, the light troops moved forward at 
double-quick, closely followed by the grenadiers. 

Major Pitcairn, of the English marine service, rode up within 
thirty yards of the " minute-men," and sternly demanded what 
they meant and whither they were going. The answer came : 
"We are going to Concord." Pitcairn immediately shouted: 
" Disperse, ye rebels ! Throw down your arms, and disperse ! " 
and firing his pistol at them, ordered his soldiers to fire. They 
obeyed, and several of the minute-men fell, killed and wounded. 
The first who fell exclaimed in dying : " I have a right to go to 
Concord." Thus the sacred claim of right was in the heart and 
on the lips of the first man who fell in the war of the Revolution.^ 

The next volley of the British troops was heavy, close and 
deadly. To make a stand with fifty or sixty untrained men before 
eight hundred regulars would have been madness. Parker gave 
command to disperse ; but as they obeyed, some of his brave men, 
under resistless impulse, fired, and Pitcairn's horse was grazed and 
one of the light troops slightly wounded. 

The seven dead and nine wounded minute-men were carried to 
their homes — to the sight of weeping wives and children. But 
though there was grief, there was no dejection. In the presence 
of those bleeding bodies, a spirit of undying resolution to resist 
to the final end the rule of England took possession of every soul 
there, and was soon spread through every colony. 

1 Bancroft, VII. 289. New Amer. Eneyclop., XIV. 39. 

2 " Paul Revere's Ride," Longfellow. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., (note) 132. 

3 Compare Stephens' Comp. U. S., 208, with Bancroft, VII. 293. 

23 



354 -^ History of the United States of America. 

The British troops huzzaed at their inglorious success over the 
little band of men at Lexington, and marched on to Concord. 
Here they spiked two twenty-four-pounders found in a tavern 
yard, broke to pieces sixty barrels of flour and scattered the con- 
tents (but so inefficiently for destruction that one-half the flour 
was gathered up and saved by the Massachusetts men), and threw 
five hundred pounds of ball into a mill-pond.^ They also burned 
a liberty-pole and some artillery carriages, and rifled several pri- 
vate residences. For this insignificant achievement they paid the 
price of a defeated army and a country lost to their dominion for 
ever. 

The minute-men assembled in numbers no longer to be despised. 
The first encounter was at the bridge across the small river on 
which Concord stood. The Americans, under Major John Butt- 
rick, of Concord ; Robinson, of Westford ; Davis and Hosmer, ad- 
vanced on the causeway to prevent the destruction of the bridge. 
The British fired, killing and wounding several. But the fire was 
instantly returned, and with such deadly eflect that the British 
retreated in disorder to their main body.'' 

Now commenced their retreat, and the persistent and destruc- 
tive pursuit and attack with which the Massachusetts minute-men 
followed them during their hurried march of eighteen miles. 
Thirty-one towns and villages and all the intervening country 
poured out their hastily armed men,^ who, with muskets, rifles, 
fowling-pieces and long shot-guns, threw themselves behind every 
stone wall, every post and rail fence, every rock and bush and 
tree, on the road from Concord by \vhich the sorely joressed British 
troops retreated. These colonial farmers, merchants, mechanics 
and professional men were all alike in this : they were all skilled 
marksmen, and hardly a shot they fired failed to take eflect. 

The British officers were perplexed by this novel warfare, and 
could devise no means of meeting it, save the detachment of flank- 
ing parties, who fought the assailants while the main body hur- 
ried on. But gradually these flankers were shot down or worn 
out with fatigue. Major Pitcairn, finding his status on horseback 
to be too dangerous, dismounted and led his men on foot. His 
horse and accoutrements were captured. 

By one o'clock the British army was in a condition very nearly 
desperate. They were greatly exhausted and fatigued ; most of 
their ammunition was expended ; their wounded could hardly 
keep the march ; their flanking parties were either cut to pieces 

1 Bancroft, VII. 300. "- Ibid., 302, 303. 

3The names of these towns are given in Austin's Mass., and in Tlialheimer's Eclec. U. S., 
(note) page 132. 



The Causes of the War of Revolution. 355 

or so worn out that they could no longer protect the line. Yet 
the pursuit and attack never relaxed for a moment. It is no 
longer a question in military history, that if succor had not op- 
portunely arrived, the force under Smith and Pitcairn w^ould have 
been all killed, wounded, or surrendered as prisoners. 

But at two o'clock Lord Percy came in sight with a reinforce- 
ment of twelve hundred fresh British troops and two field pieces. 
They had marched out insolently playing " Yankee Doodle " ; ' 
but they grew silent and grave when they found every house on 
the way deserted, and not a person to give them tidings of the 
troops they came to rescue. When the junction was made, the 
soldiers under Smith fell down for rest on the ground with " their 
tongues hanging out of their mouths like those of dogs after a 
chase." ^ 

After resting for half an hour. Lord Percy continued the re- 
treat, followed all the way to the outskirts of Charlestown by the 
fire of the minute-men. The retreating troops committed brutal 
murders and atrocities on the defenceless families they found.' It 
was after sunset when the survivors of this British army escaped 
across Charlestown Neck. 

In this the opening battle of the Revolution, which we have 
described with some fullness, because it was in many respects 
typical and decisive, the American loss was forty-nine killed, 
thirty-four wounded and five missing. The British loss, in killed, 
wounded and missing, was two hundred and seventy-three ; among 
the severely wounded was Colonel Smith himself. 

The news of this conflict soon spread through all the colonies, 
and with instantaneous effect in producing unity and resolution. 
The war was a fact, and men prepared for it. Israel Putnam, of 
Connecticut, left his horses and plow in the furrow, and has- 
tened with his comrades to Boston. In a brief time twenty thou- 
sand armed colonists beleaguered Boston. Gage and his forces had 
no outlet except by the ocean. 

1 Bancroft, VII. 306. 

2 Stephens, 208. Bancroft, VII. 30G. Thalheimer, 130. Swinton's Cond. U. S., 119. 

3 Details in Bancroft, VII. 308. Quackenbos' U. S., 205. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Washington. — Bunker's Hill. — Canada. 

THE plan of this woi-k has required fulhiess of detail and treat- 
ment, not only of the discovery, early life and colonization of 
the North American colonies, and of the events immediately pre- 
ceding the war of the Revolution, but of the institutions and abuses 
of earlier years, running back for many centuries, yet all bear- 
ing with appreciable weight upon the destinies of the New 
World. This was necessary, to show from what past the great 
republic of the Western Hemisphere has emerged, what obstacles 
she has encountered and overcome, what abuses she has corrected, 
what sinister influences she has thrown oiY, and what wrongs she 
has set right. 

The same plan for the future history dictates a more laconic 
and condensed treatment, for reasons which the student will 
hardly fail to discover and approve. The time of preparation for 
a harvest is long and full of labor. The ground is to be selected, 
fenced in, broken up with the subsoil plow, then gone over with 
the lighter plowing, harrowed and pulverized imtil clods have 
disappeared ; the seed is to be cai'efully inspected and chosen, 
then sown with the hand, or drilled in with adequate implements 
and cautious labor ; enemies and intruders are to be kept out. 
And so the long season passes ; the germs appear ; the stalks 
grow ; the heads form and fill, and at last the time of the harvest 
comes, and the developed fruits are gathered and stored away, in 
far less time and space than that required for the preliminary 
work. 

Another reason will confirm the wisdom and necessity for this 
condensation. The period upon which we are about to enter, 
covering the war, the Revolution, the assumption and gaining of 
independence, the formation of a stable confederated republic, the 
early administrations, the expanse of the American civilization, 
the brief war with France, the second war with England, the 
successive presidencies, the war with Mexico, the enormous addi- 
tions of territory, the growth and Southern development of Af- 
rican slavery, the questions arising therefrom, the gigantic war 

[ 356 ] 



The War and the Revolution. 357 

between the States, the overthrow of slavery, the reconstruction 
of the States, and the subsequent history and growth of the United 
States of North America — all these events have occurred within 
very little more than one hundred years — not one-fifth of the time 
extending from the dawning of light after the dark ages to the time 
when American independence was secured. 

Yet, upon the events of this period of little more than a hun- 
dred years, as they aft'ect America, not less than six hundred vol- 
umes have already been written and published, embracing history, 
biography, political economy, science and art. To give, there- 
fore, a full history of this period, in a work like this, would be a 
task as impracticable as it would be tedious and unprofitable. By 
these considerations we are admonished to seek to give only such 
presentation of facts and inferences as will enable the student to 
understand what this republic has accomplished, in gaining for 
herself and for the world the blessings of self-government, over- 
throw of monarchy in every form, religious and civil liberty, and 
a triitmph over all the most deeply-rooted institutions of evil 
which had existed in the Old World. 

Pursuing this plan, we are met on the very threshold of this 
period by two very distinct subjects for investigation: (i) The 
war ; ( 2 ) The revolution. These are often so confounded and 
fused as to lead to the impression that they are one and the same. 
But they are definitely separable. Had England been wise, and 
just, and magnanimous, and humane, the revolution might have 
taken efi'ect in America without the war ; but no monarchy has 
ever heretofore existed on earth which failed to make war upon 
subjects attempting a revolution, when war was possible to that 
nionarchy. Therefore, Great Britain made war upon her colo- 
nies, because her own persistent oppressions drove them to revo- 
lution ; and the colonies, in the very throes and agonies of the 
war, wrought out and perfected the revolution. We shall, in 
brief form, deal with these two distinct subjects in their order. 

The battle of Lexington, which we have purposely described at 
some length, was strangely representative of the whole subsequent 
war. It was long protracted — lasting from before sunrise till 
after sunset ; it was carried on by a large body of regular British 
troops against untrained provincials ; it was attended by local 
defeats and dispersions of the colonists ; it was accompanied by 
brutal and unmanly atrocities by the king's troops, and it was 
made inemorable by a steady, resolute, persistent, long-continued, 
unflagging pursuit, attack and resistance, which finally drove the 
British soldiers, defeated, worn out, bleeding, from the country 



35^ A History of the United States of America. 

through which they had marched with huzzas of triumph in the 
early morning. It was a panorama of the war. 

At the opening of the contest, the population of the colonies 
was about three million, of whom not less than five hundred and 
seven thousand were African slaves, and, of course, not available 
as soldiers. 

The effect of the news of the battle of Lexington was remark- 
able. The night after the tidings came, the people of Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, took possession of the royal arsenal, and 
distributed twelve hundred stand of arms. The provincial as- 
sembly, headed by Henry Laurens, voted to raise two regiments 
of infantry and one of rangers, and issued seven hundred thousand 
dollars in bills of credit, which long kept at par value. General 
Gage wrote : " The people of Charleston are as mad as they are 
here in Boston."^ 

Georgia had been undecided. She had only a population of 
thirty-two thousand, of whom fifteen thousand v^^ere Africans. 
She was exposed on the coast and on her southern border, and on 
the frontiers held by Indians ; but when she heard of Lexington, 
on the loth of May, she began to move. On the night of the 
I ith, a body of citizens in Savannah, headed by Wimberley Jones, 
Joseph Habersham, John Milledge and Edward Telfair^ took pos- 
session of the king's magazine, in the eastern part of the cit}^ and 
obtained more than five hundred pounds of powder. The royal 
Governor of Georgia wrote : "A general rebellion throughout 
America is coniing on suddenly and swiftly. Matters will go to 
the utmost extremity."^ 

The patriot leaders in New England, knowing that the war 
must go on, hesitated not to prosecute it promptly. They di- 
vined with accuracy what the future campaigns of England 
would be, and saw that the possession of New York, the Hudson 
river and Canada would isolate the Eastern colonies and cost 
years of struggle. The men of Vermont, under Col. Ethan Al- 
len, determined, if possible, to seize the Canadian forts. Samuel 
Adams and John Hancock actively urged the enterprise, and 
Connecticut furnished the needed funds. Fifty volunteers from 
Massachusetts and sixteen from Connecticut joined Allen at Ben- 
nington. One hundred men from Vermont rallied promptly. 
Benedict Arnold, with one attendant, came, bearing a commis- 
sion from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. But the little 
army unanimously elected Ethan Allen their chief.* 

1 Bancroft, VII. 336, 337. 2 Bancroft, VII. 338. Stephens' Comi^. U. S., 209. 

s Bancroft, VII. 339. 



The Second Revolntioiiary Congress. 3<9 

Early in the morning of May loth, 1775, they rushed upon Ti- 
conderoga, Allen leading, but Arnold close by his side. The gate 
was locked, but the wicket was open. Through it the assailants 
passed, uttering a war-whoop such as had not been heard since 
the days of Montcalm. A sentry fired and wounded an officer, 
but, receiving a wound himself, he cried for quarter, and showed 
the way to the room of Delaplace, the commander. Hearing the 
stern summons to surrender, he came out in amazement, half 
dressed, and holding up his small-clothes with his hand. " De- 
liver to me the fort instantly ! " said Allen. " By what author- 
ity? " asked Delaplace. "In the name of the great Jehovah and 
the Continental Congress ! " answered Allen. Resistance seemed 
vain. Delaplace surrendered, ordering his men to be paraded 
without arms. 

Thus was Ticonderoga taken. " What cost the British nation 
eight millions sterling, a succession of campaigns and many lives, 
was won in ten minutes by a fev\^ undisciplined men, without the 
loss of life or limb." ^ 

Seth Warner, with a small detachment, captured Crown Point 
immediately afterwards. Another American party made prisoner 
a dangei'ous British agent named Skeene, and took jDossession of 
the harbor of Skeensborough. These several successes secured 
to the American cause sixty-three prisoners, one hundred pieces 
of cannon, with mortars and swivels, and a considerable quantity 
of ammunition and military stores, which were sorely needed. 

On the loth of May, 1775 — the day on which Ticonderoga was 
captured — the second Revolutionary Congress met in Philadelphia. 
Peyton Randolph was again chosen president and Charles Thom- 
son secretary. Dr. Joseph Warren wrote from Massachusetts : 
"A war has begun ; but I hope, after a full conviction both of our 
ability and resolution to maintain our rights, Britain will act with 
necessary wisdom. This I most heartily wish, as I feel a warm 
affection still for the parent state." 

By a curious anachronism, a historian has placed (in time) the 
battle of Bunker's Hill (in which Warren fell) before the meeting 
of this congress, to which he wrote the above.'^ 

The congress was not prepared for independence — hardly, in- 
deed, for a recognition of open war with England. In viewing 
their indecisive and somewhat timid course, we must bear in mind 
how many elements of inevitable weakness existed in their con- 
stitution. At first they represented only twelve colonies. Geor- 
gia's delegate, Lyman Hall, appeared on the 13th of May. The 
1 Bancroft, VII. 340. 2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 209. 



360 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

colonies were yet dependent, and had not even formed a confede- 
racy. The congress was merely a voluntary assemblage, having 
neither executive nor legislative powers. For the use of the very 
hall in v^^hich they sat, they were indebted to the courtesy of the 
carpenters of the city. They had not a square foot of ground 
over which they could claim jurisdiction ; they had no money, 
and no power to raise money ; they had not a civil officer, not 
one soldier enlisted, not one military officer subject to their com- 
mands. They represented nothing more solid than the unformed 
opinions of an unformed people ; and against them was the or- 
ganized colossal power of England, with her navy, her army, and 
her uncounted wealth.^ We need not wonder if for a time they 
hesitated. 

This hesitation was manifested in advising the people of New 
York not to oppose the landing of British regiments known to be 
under orders for taking possession of the city, but not to permit 
them to erect fortifications ; to act strictly on the defensive, and 
to repel force by force. It was further manifested by the inclina- 
tion shown by this congress to abandon the captures of Ticonde- 
roga. Crown Point and Skeensborough, and to open new nego- 
tiations with the English crown and n^iinistry." 

But a wise Providence hurried their indecision into action. 
George III. showed his obstinate and unmerciful disposition. As 
soon as the tidings of the battle of Lexington reached him, he 
began preparations for crushing the colonies by military force 
unscrupulously obtained and employed. Pie sought first to nego- 
tiate for the services of Russian soldiers and Cossacks, to be paid 
for by British money and employed in America. He sent emis- 
saries to stir up the Highlanders and others in North Carolina, 
supposed to be Tory in sentiment. He sent a small squadron, 
with three thousand stand of arms, two hundred rounds of pow- 
der and ball for each musket, and four pieces of light artillery, to 
Lord Dunmore, to be used against the people of Virginia. And 
as he knew that Dunmore could not enlist white men- in the col- 
ony to use these arms, the king sent him special instructions to 
rouse the negro slaves to insurrection, and arm them against the 
whites, and to urge the Indians, and notably the " Six Nations," 
to make war upon Virginia ! ^ 

In June came an express to the congress, informing them that 
the British generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne had arrived in 
Boston, bringing ^vith them more troops, making the total num- 
ber in that city not less than ten thousand. And on the 12th of 
1 Bancroft, VH. 353, 354. 2 Ibid., 358, 361, 380. ^ lUd., 347-349. 



George Washington. 361 

June, General Gage issued his proclamation, proclaiming piartial 
law in the province, summoning the people to lay down their 
arms and submit to the rule of the mother country, and offering 
pardon and amnesty to all who would do so, except to John Han- 
cock and Samuel Adams, whose criines were declared to be too 
great to be pardoned.^ And yet their only crime was patriotism ! 

The congress hesitated no longer. They adopted the name of 
" United Colonies " for their country. They voted to borrow 
thirty thousand dollars " for the use of America," to be applied 
to the purchase of gunpowder for what was now, for the first 
time, called "The Continental Army." They voted to issue 
three millions of dollars in paper money, and to raise an army of 
twenty thousand men. They instructed the New York patriot 
forces to fortify and keep open a passage of access to Philadel- 
phia ; and they resolved to elect a commander-in-chief^ 

Peyton Randolph having been called home for a season, John 
Hancock, of Massachusetts, had been elected president pro tern. 
He had made exertions and sacrifices for the American cause 
probably greater than those of any other person up to that time. 
It is now known that he aspired to the position of commander- 
in-chief. He had proved himself a good militia officer ; but his 
health was delicate, and he had had no experience whatever in 
the stern duties of actual war service.^ 

Gen. Charles Lee was then in Philadelphia. He was a native 
of Demhall, Cheshire, England, but had adopted America as his 
country, and had his home in Virginia. By many, his military 
skill was ranked very high ; but something was already known 
as to his passionate pride and ambition. Moreover, his birth was 
against him. Gen. Artemas Ward, of Alassachusetts, was al- 
ready in command of the New England army beleaguering Bos- 
ton, and many thought favorably of him as commander-in-chief. 

But George Washington, of Virginia, was the man to whom 
the thoughts of most of the members turned. John Adams is 
entitled to the honor of having first brought his name before the 
congress. He moved that they should adopt the army at Cam- 
bridge as the Continental army ; and in the same speech he de- 
scribed the man in his thought for commander-in-chief, as "a 
gentleman from Virginia, who was among us and very well 
known to all of us ; a gentleman whose skill and experience as 
an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents and excellent 
universal character would command the approbation of all Amer- 

' Taylor's Centen. U. S., IGG. Derrv, 107, 108. Quackenbos, 209. Bancroft, VII. 391, 392. 
2 Holmes' U. S., 106. Bancroft, VII. 379, 391. 3 John Adams' Diary. 



362 A History of the United States of America. 

ica, antl unite the cordial exertions of all the colonies better than 
any other person in the Union." ^ 

Washington arose and retired to the library. Hancock's face 
indicated mortification and resentment. When the subject came 
imder debate, several opposed Washington, because they thought 
that, as the troops were all from New England, Artemus Ward 
was entitled to the highest place. Even Edmund Pendleton was 
" clear and full " against the expediency of appointing Washing- 
ton.^ 

But before the day of election all opposition vanished. On 
the 15th of June congress adopted the army, and proposed to 
fix the pay of the commander-in-chief at five hundred dollars 
per month. They designated the army under General Gage 
in Boston as the "Ministerial army" — still clinging to the loyal 
idea. 

At this stage, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, arose and nominated 
George Washington as commander-in-chief.* The election was 
by ballot, and was unanimous. 

He accepted the high position thus tendered, but in the very 
act of acceptance manifested the vinassuming modesty and unself- 
ish patriotism of his character. He said : 

" But lest some unluck;/ event shall happen unfavorable to my 
reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in 
the room, that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do 
not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. As 
to pay, I beg leave to assure the congress that, as no pecuniary 
consideration could have tempted me to accept of this arduous 
employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, 
I do not wish to make any profit of it. I will keep an exact ac- 
count of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, 
and that is all I desire." * 

The commission issued to Washington by authority of the con- 
gress, signed by John Hancock as president and countersigned by 
Charles Thomson as secretary, and dated Philadelphia, June 19th, 
1775, is noteworthy in this, that it gives the name and authority 
of each colony separately, describing one as " New Castle, Kent 
and Sussex on Delaware," and leaving out Georgia, which was not 
yet fully represented.* 

The congress elected Artemus Ward, Charles Lee, Philip 
Schuyler and Israel Putnam major-generals ; Horatio Gates adju- 
tant-general ; and Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David 

1 John Adams' Diarv. Irving's Washington, I. 411, 412. 

2Irving's Washinsrtou, I. 411, 412. 3 Compare Irving, I. 413, with Bancroft, VII. 393. 

1 Irving, I. 413. Bancroft, VII. 401, 402. ^ Sparks, III. 482, 483. Stephens, 210, 211. 



Bunker's Hill. 363 

Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John 
Sullivan and Nathaniel Greene brigadier-generals. 

This same congress adopted an address to George III., which 
he refused to receive.^ Thus he shut them up to independence 
with his own hand. 

Meanwhile momentous events occurred near Boston. The 
American troops beleaguering the city were about fifteen thou- 
sand in number, but were distributed into at least four divisions. 
Massachusetts had about ten thousand, under Ward ; New Hamp- 
shire had her men, under Col. John Stark ; Rhode Island had 
hers, under Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and Connecticut hers, under 
Putnam. All were animated by patriotism, and all, by tacit con- 
sent, followed the lead of Massachusetts. There was a regi- 
ment of artillery, with nine pieces, under Colonel Gridley, a 
skillful officer ; but most of the men were poorly armed, and 
without military dress or accoutrements. 

The British soldiers and officers in Boston were galled and hu- 
miliated by being closely hemmed in and straitened in luxuries by 
this rustic army. Considering prelacy as the only loyal and royal 
faith, they openly desecrated the Puritan places of worship. One 
church building was turned into a riding school for cavalry, and 
the fire in the stove was kindled with books from the library of 
its pastor. The provincials retaliated by turning the Episcopal 
church at Cambridge into a barrack, and melting down its organ- 
pipes into bullets.^ 

The army under Ward needed action to keep them together. 
Charlestown Neck connected Boston with the main-land. On 
this neck rose several hills, the most prominent of which was 
" Bunker's Hill." Works on it, armed wnth artillery, would 
command the city. Putnam urged that the hill should be in- 
trenched. He said : " The Americans are never afraid of their 
heads ; they think only of their legs ; shelter their legs and they'll 
fight forever." General Pomeroy, a veteran of the French war, 
a hunter, and a dead-shot with the rifle, seconded Putnam. But 
Ward and Warren doubted the prudence of the move, chiefly 
because of the scarcity of powder.^ Col. William Prescott, of 
Pepperell, turned the scale. He commanded a regiment of 
minute-men, had seen service in the French war, was fifty years 
old, tall and commanding, with the port of a soldier, and, more- 
over, with a military blue coat with white facings and lapels 
on the skirts, and with a thi-ee-cornered cocked hat. He coun- 
selled the movement. His counsel prevailed. 

> Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 1H. 2 Irving's Washington, I. 421. 3 Ibid., 422. 



364 -^ History of the United States of America. 

A rumor came that General Gage intended to seize and fortify 
Dorchester Heights on the night of the iSth of June. The rumor 
was probably unfounded, but precipitated the American move- 
ment. Orders were given. Colonel Gridley was the engineer. 
A little before sunset twelve hundred troops assembled before 
General Ward's headquarters. President Langdon, of Harvard, 
offered a fervent prayer ; after which the silent march com- 
menced. 

Colonel Prescott was the leader. They left Cambridge at 
nine o'clock. At Charlestown Neck they were joined by Gen- 
eral Putnam and Major Brooks, with Bridges' regiment ; and 
here several wagons loaded with intrenching tools made the 
first disclosure of the purpose of their march. The British had 
a battery on Copp's Hill, opposite to Charlestown. The utmost 
caution and silence were needed. 

Arrived near Bunker's Hill, a question arose. Breed's Hill 
was nearer to Boston, and better commanded the town and ship- 
ping. Putnam urged that they should intrench Breed's, but have 
a minor work at Bunker's as a protection to their rear ; but 
Ward's written orders specified Bunker's, and a short time of 
hesitation occurred. The night was waning. Every moment 
was a loss. Colonel Gridley was impatient. Breed's was deter- 
mined on. The lines were marked ofi', and the men threw off" 
their coats and seized the tools. 

Never was work more rapid. Before dawn a strong redoubt 
arose, flanked on the left by a breastwork nearly cannon-proof, 
extending down the crest of Breed's to a marsh. The sailors on 
the British war-ship Lively first gave the alarm. Without wait- 
ing for orders she put a spring on her cable, brought her guns to 
bear, and opened fire. The work went on. One man, incau- 
tiously exposing himself, was killed. Colonel Prescott directed 
that he should be buried at once, for he saw that his death had 
agitated the nerves of his comrades. A few of the more timid 
quietly left the hill and did not return.^ 

To restore composure to his men, Prescott calmly mounted the 
redoubt and walked up and down. General Gage saw him 
through his glass. "Who is that officer in command?" he asked 
of Counsellor Willard, Prescott's brother-in-law. Willard told 
him. "Will he fight?" asked Gage. "Yes, sir! he is an old 
soldier, and will fight to the last drop of blood ; but I cannot 
answer for his men." "The works must be carried ! " exclaimed 
Gage, and issued his orders. 

1 Irving, I. 427. Bancroft, VII. 410, 411. 



Bunker's Hill. 36=5 

A council of war was held. Clinton and Grant advised that a 
force should be landed on Charlestown Neck, under protection of 
their batteries, so as to attack the rear of the Americans and cut 
oft' their retreat. To this Gage objected that it would place his 
attacking force between two armies — one at Cambridge, suj^erior 
in numbers, the other on the heights, strongly fortified. He 
therefore determined to land his force in front of the works and 
push directly on them, trusting to the firmness and discipline of 
his regulars against untrained militia, who, he believed, would 
fly before him. His confidence cost his army dearly. 

The sound of drum and trumpet and the hoofs of artillery 
horses on the morning of Saturday, the 17th of June, warned the 
men behind the intrenchments on Breed's Hill of the coming 
attack. They were tired and hungry, but they firmly bore the 
artillery fire from the ships and from Copp's Hill. At noon 
twenty-eight barges crossed from Boston in parallel lines. They 
carried two thousand chosen British ti'oops, under Generals Howe 
and Pigot. Percy, under plea of sickness, let his regiment go 
without him. No opposition was made to their landing. On 
reaching Moulton's Point, a little north of Breed's, Howe halted. 
He saw the New Hampshire troops, under Stark, marching 
to reinforce Prescott. He sent back to Gage for more troops, 
and for artillery ammunition. He delayed nearly two hours, re- 
freshing his men with "grog" and provisions. This enabled 
Stark to come up, and a novel intrenchment of two lines of post 
and rail fence, packed in with stra\v, was hastily run to protect 
Prescott's exposed flank. Putnam hurried on the works on 
Bunker's Hill, and was everywhere, encouraging the men and 
advising them not to fire until they could " see the whites of their 
eyes." After the British passed through Charlestown, they set 
fire to the town by order of General Gage, who had threatened 
that if the provincials threw up works on the hills he would 
burn Charlestown.-^ 

The British infantry marched steadily up the incline to Breed's 
Plill, firing as they advanced. The Americans made no attempt 
to reply to this fire, nor to that of the enemy's light artillery ; but 
when the serried red ranks came within fifty yards Prescott gave 
the command to fire. Nothing in musketry and rifle-shooting 
was ever more destructive than the fire that followed. The 
ranks of the British went down like wheat before the reaper. 
They could not stand it, but broke and retreated in disorder down 
the hill. Their officers rallied them, pushing them on, in some 

1 Bancroft, VU. 421. 



366 A History of the United States of America. 

cases, with their swords. Again they advanced, again to meet that 
desolating fire and again to retreat. Men fell, officers fell, dead 
or wounded. Major Pitcairn fell into the arms of his son, mor- 
tally wounded. The attempts to rally the men failed for a time. 

But reinforcements were hurried over from Boston. Again an 
attack was organized. And now came to the brave Prescott and 
the officers surrounding him the disheartening report that their 
ammunition was failing. The fire during the two attacks had 
been marvelously rapid and sustained. The' men were so high 
in spirits that they stood their ground, many of them without 
powder, ball or bayonet. The third attack was made with great 
superiority of numbers. Yet such of the provincials as had am- 
munition mowed all down before them, both at the dirt and the 
straw intrenchments. The men without powder fought with 
clubbed guns. The heroic Warren, who had come over and taken 
his place in the ranks with his musket, was mortally wounded 
just as the retreat commenced. Reluctantly, Prescott gave the 
command to retire. The Americans retreated, first to the works 
at Bunker's Hill. The English made no attempt either to follow 
or to flank them. Their victory, though gained, was too bloody 
and too dearly bought for an advance. 

In this bravely fought battle the loss of the British, by their 
own admission, was one thousand and fifty-four. Thirteen com- 
missioned officers were slain, seventy were wounded. At one 
time the attacking troops stood and staggered on in the face of 
a fire which was not intermitted one second for half an hour. 
The oldest soldiers had never seen the like. The American loss 
was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and three 
hundred and four wounded.^ 

This defence of Bunker's Hill wrought a permanent eflect on 
the minds of British soldiers and officers, especially in Boston. 
They began to doubt whether they could hold the city. They 
might also have had doubts whether they could, by arms, subdue 
a people who lived in villages and in the country, and who, in 
six hours, had thrown up intrenchments from which it had cost 
half a British army to drive them. It was soon known that had 
they had plenty of powder and ball they could not have been 
dislodged. Dr. Benjamin Franklin expressed a growing convic- 
tion when he wrote to his friends in*England : " Americans will 
fight ; England has lost her colonies forever." ^ 

Meanwhile George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the 
American armies, was approaching from Philadelphia. He trav- 

1 Bancroft, VII. 431, 432. 2 la Bancroft, VII. 435. 



Bunker's Hill. 367 

eled on horseback, accompanied most of the way by Generals 
Schuyler and Lee. Twenty miles from Philadelphia they were 
met by a courier bearing dispatches to congress from the army 
around Boston, and especially tidings of the battle. Washington 
eagerly inquired how the militia had behaved. When told of 
their conduct, a weight of doubt and solicitude seemed to be 
rolled away from his breast. He exclaimed : " The liberties of 
our country are safe.'" 

As they approached New York, the sentiments of the people of 
that important province became a subject of anxious discussion. 
It is true, many of the oldest and richest families — the Jays, Ben- 
sons, Beekmans, Hoffmans, Van Homes, Roosevelts, Duyckincks, 
Pintards, Yateses and others — \vere known to be warm and self- 
denying patriots ; but many were of doubtful position. Among 
them were the families inheriting wealth and influence from Sir 
William Johnson. We have seen how England had honored him ; 
yet when the Revolutionary struggle came he felt his sympathies 
divided, and when dispatches came to him from England instruct- 
ing him to enlist the Indians against the colonists, his conflict of 
feeling brought on a stroke of apoplexy, from which he died July 
nth, 1774, leaving his son, Sir John Johnson, and his sons-in-law, 
Col. Guy Johnson and Colonel Claus, as his male representatives. 

They felt none of his scruples, and were soon busy drawing 
Scotch Highlanders of the Roman faith and other Tories around 
the old stone-house family mansion on the Mohawk, which was 
armed with swivels. They also used their influence with violent 
men, such as the Butlers, of Tryon county, and Brandt, the Mo- 
hawk sachem. With armed retainers they went about the coun- 
try breaking up patriotic assemblages, and threatening an Indian 
war. Moreover, Governor Tryon was known to be a strong Tory. 
He was absent in England, but his return was hourly expected. 
In fact, by a curious series of time-serving instructions, the New 
York assembly sent its committee to pay honor either to Wash- 
ington or to Tryon, tvliomsoever of the txvo iniglit Jirst arrive. 
Washington arrived first, and was cordially greeted at Newark by 
the committee. At eight o'clock the same evening Tryon arrived, 
and the same committee met him with due honors ! '^ It was not 
the first instance in the history of the world in which the impos- 
sible deed " to serve God and mammon " was attempted.^ Wash- 
ington appointed General Schuyler to supreme command in New 
York. He could not have made a better appointment. 

' Irving's Washington, I. 445. - Irving's AVashington, I. 446-449. 

3 " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." — Matt. vi. '24. 



368 A Historv of the United States of America. 

As Washington approached, the Provincial Assembly of Mas- 
sachusetts made preparation for him by appointing the president's 
house at Cambridge as his residence, except one room reserved 
for the head of the college. On the 2d of July, 1775, at Water- 
town, the assembly met Washington and delivered to him a con- 
gratulatory address, in vs^hich, however, they frankly stated the 
undisciplined and unsupplied condition of the army.^ 

The same evening Washington proceeded to his headquarters 
at Cambridge, and took command of the army. He was received 
with shouts and the thunders of artillery, which reached the ears 
of enemies and friends in Boston, exciting very different emotions. 
His fine person, dignified manner and splendid horsemanship 
aroused universal enthusiasm.^ 

The accomplished wife of John Adams saw the commander-in- 
chief on this occasion, and wrote to her husband : 

"Dignity, ease and complacency, the gentleman and the sol- 
dier, look agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line 
and feature of his face. The lines of Dryden instantly occurred 
to me : 

"'Mark his majestic fabric ! He's a temple 
Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine ; 
His soul's the deity that lodges there; 
Nor is the pile unworthy of the God.' " ' 

But heavy cares soon pressed on Washington. He found the 
army numerous enough, but daily disintegrating. In the ardor of 
patriotism the men had come together, and had fought gallantly 
when fighting was to be done ; but they were little more than 
volunteers at will, and many soon grew weary of the camp and 
went to their homes. Washington soon introduced regular en- 
listments for the war, or for stated periods, longer or shorter. 
Thus the " Continental lines " of the different States were formed. 
There was scarcity of gunpowder ; but a happy event partially 
supplied this. In July a British vessel arrived at Tybee Island, 
below Savannah, Georgia, with thirteen thousand pounds of 
powder for the use of the royal troops. Thirty volunteers, under 
the lead of two commanders, naval and military, Commodore 
Bowen and Colonel Habersham, seized this prize. The powder 
was secured in a magazine in Savannah. Five thousand pounds 
of it were sent to the army around Boston.* 

By patient industry and skill Washington organized and sup- 
plied his army, so that by the beginning of winter he had four- 

1 Irving's Washington, I. 452. 2 Thatcher's Military Journal. 

8 Extract from Mrs. Adams' letter, in Irving's Washington, I. 453. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 111. 

♦Derry'sU. S., 109. 



Canada. 3^9 

teen thousand troops of high spirit and good discipline besieging 
Boston. The British army made no attempt to break his lines. 
The winter was severe, and the suffering in the city from cold and 
want of fuel and proper food was very great. 

The efforts of the Americans to possess themselves of all the 
strong points in Canada continued. Col. Ethan Allen, the hero 
of Ticonderoga, made an attempt with an inadequate force on 
Montreal. He was defeated and captured, and sent a prisoner in 
iron handcuffs to England to be tried for treason. He was subjected 
to ignominious and inhuman treatment.^ But the question of trea- 
son was too dangerous for tampering. English prisoners of rank 
were held by the Americans. Allen was returned to a prison- 
ship in New Harbor, and finally exchanged. 

In August, 1775, General Schuyler projected an expedition 
against St. Johns and Montreal, with Qiiebec as the final object- 
ive point. Gen. Richard Montgomery, a native of Ireland, but 
now a daring and devoted friend of America, commanded. Sir 
Guy Carleton commanded the British forces in Canada. He was 
stirring up the Indians, and making preparations to send out 
armed vessels from St. Johns into Lake Champlain by the Sorel 
river. Montgomei-y saw that no time was to be lost, and hastily 
embarked with about a thousand men and two pieces of artillery 
to take possession of Isle-aux-Noix, which commanded the Sorel. ^ 
General Schuyler, though suffering from the effects of bilious 
fever, traveled in a covered bateau, and on the 4th of September 
overtook Montgomery, and on the same day their force occupied 
Isle-aux-Noix, thus defeating a part of Carleton's plan. 

In October, Fort Chamblee, a small work within five miles of 
St. Johns, was captured by fifty Americans and three hundred 
Canadians who sympathized with the Americans, commanded by 
Majors Brown and Livingston. A large quantity of powder and 
military stores were thus secured. Montgomery pressed the siege 
of St. Johns with vigor. The garrison were already suffering for 
provisions, but their brave commander. Major Preston, held out, 
hoping for promised relief from .Sir Guy Carleton. 

That English officer had with him a motley force of a hundred 
regulars, several hundred Canadians and a number of Indians. 
He hoped for help from Colonel Maclean, " a veteran Scot, brave 
and bitterly loyal," who, with three hundred of his countrymen, 
listed as " The Royal Highland Emigrants," was to come from 
Quebec, land at the mouth of the Sorel, and join Carleton in 
raising the siege of St. Johns.' 



> Goodrich's U. S., 190, 191. " living's Washington, II. 47, 48. 

8 Irving' s Washington, II. S3, 84. 



24 



370 A History of the United States of America. 

But this concerted union was prevented by stern war. On the 
2ist September, Carleton embarked his forces at Montreal in 
thirty-four boats. As they approached the right bank of the St. 
Lawrence, at Longueil, a destructive fire of artillery and mus- 
ketry was opened vipon them by Col. Seth Warner's Green 
Mountain boys and New Yorkers. Some of the boats were dis- 
abled ; some were driven ashore on an island. Carleton retreated 
to Montreal with loss in killed and wounded. Colonel Maclean 
fared no better. He landed at the mouth of the Sorel, and 
recruited, at the point of the bayonet, a number of Canadians in 
the neighborhood.' He was in march for St. Johns, when Brown 
and Livingston encountered him with their successful troops from 
Chamblee, reinforced by dauntless Green Mountain boys. Mac- 
lean was forced back, with loss, to the mouth of the Sorel, where, 
hearing of Carleton's defeat, and deserted by the Canadians, he 
thought it wise to continue his retreat down the river to Quebec. 
The Americans took possession of the mouth of the Sorel, and 
erected batteries to command the St. Lawrence. 

The resolute Preston was now in extremity. Yet, in answer to 
General Montgomery's demand for surrender, he asked for four 
days. This was refused. He capitulated, and delivered up five 
hundred regulars and a hundred Canadians, among whom were 
some who claimed to be of noble families.^ Though the provi- 
sions were nearly exhausted, the cannon, small arms, and am- 
munition captured were considerable in quantity, Montgomery, 
who had been an officer in the British service, treated Preston 
and the captured garrison with considerate courtesy. 

On the I3th of November the American forces invested Mon- 
treal. Sir Guy Carleton had embarked, with his garrison and a 
number of the civil officers, on a flotilla of small vessels, carrying 
away the powder and important stores to a point above the 
mouth of the Sorel. The town surrendered on the 13th, and 
Montgomery gained the goodwill of the people, both English 
and French, by his urbanity and kindness.* 

General Washington had corresponded with Schuyler, and 
actively concurred in all the measures for the capture of the 
Canadian posts. Qiiebec was chiefly coveted, as in all previous 
wars, because of her strength and commanding position. Wash- 
ington ordered a detail of eleven hundred picked troops to go by 
way of the Kennebec river and a march through the wilderness 
to attack Quebec, in co-operation with Montgomery. 

1 Irving's Washington, II. 87. 2 Ibid., 86. » lUd., 91. 



Canada. 371 

For the command of this dangerous and exposed expedition 
Col. Benedict Arnold was selected. His indomitable courage 
and skill were already known. And with this body went Aaron 
Burr, afterwards so brilliantly notorious, and Daniel Morgan, 
with a corps of riflemen from the Valley of Virginia, afterwards 
to gain undying reputation in the war. 

The expedition went first in vessels to the mouth of the Ken- 
nebec river ; thence they made their way up that river. Part 
marched on land ; part pushed the boats, with immense labor 
and difficulty, up the stream. They had to contend with swift 
currents, to unload at rapids, and transport boats and lading on 
their shoulders to the next practicable water passage. Days 
passed in making their way around rushing cataracts ; several 
times the boats were upset and filled with water, to the loss and 
damage of arms, ammunition and provisions. 

Those on the land scrambled over rocks and precipices ; strug- 
gled through swamps and fenny streams ; cut their way through 
tangled thickets, which almost tore their clothing from them. 
From four to ten miles a day was all they could make. 

Fatigue and swamps began to prey on their health. By the 
time they reached the portage between the Kennebec and Dead 
rivers, barely nine hundred and fifty men remained effective. It 
was determined to send the sick and disabled back under an escort, 
and Colonel Enos, who commanded the rear division, probably 
misinterpreting his orders, turned over all the provisions he could 
spare to the main army, and returned with the sick and with his 
whole command of three hundred men to Norridgewock.' He 
was afterwards tried for desertion, but the court-martial acc[uit- 
ted him because the orders were not entirely definite, and because 
many of his men would have starved had they remained. 

Through the wilderness the remaining men pressed, with Ar- 
nold at their head. Starvation was on them ; they were driven 
to eat dogs, and even to boil and chew the leather of their moc- 
casins and cartouch-boxes. For thirty-two days they saw not a 
human dwelling. They embarked in boats on the Chaudiei'e 
river, and at length reached Sextigan, the nearest French settle- 
ment. The kind people saw with wonder this small army of men, 
so gaunt and thin that they looked like living skeletons, coming 
up from their boats ; but they received them cordially. Arnold 
bought provisions, and soon his men were restored to health. 

Montgomery hoped to capture Sir Guy Carleton. He would 
have been a prisoner worth having. But after making several 

1 Irving's WashiiiRton, TI. 88. Goodrich's U. S., 202, 203. 



372 A History of the United States of America. 

abortive attempts to pass with his flotilla by the batteries, Carle- 
ton abandoned such hope, and, disguised as a Canadian boatman, 
slipped by the batteries in a boat with muffled oars, and made his 
way to Quebec. The flotilla surrendered to Montgomery, and 
among the prisoners was the British General Prescott, late com- 
mander of Montreal.^ A large supply of flour, beef, butter, can- 
non, ammunition, and military stores was secured. 

Montgomery now prepared to join Arnold before Qiiebec ; but 
a large number of his troops refused to go with him. They had 
been greatly dissatisfied with his covn'se in permitting the cap- 
tured oflScers and men to retain their private stores, clothing and 
property. They regarded these as spoils of war. Their insub- 
ordination so greatly discouraged Generals Schuyler and Mont- 
gomery that they both proposed to resign their commissions ; 
but Washington, by wise appeals to their patriotism, appeased 
them.'' 

With numbers much reduced, Montgomery joined Arnold early 
in December. The siege was pressed for several weeks. But the 
season v^as advancing. It was resolved to attempt to carry those 
formidable works, defended by two hundred cannon and more 
than two thousand troops, by escalade. The assault was made 
with conspicuous courage on the 31st day of December. Mont- 
gomery was in the lead, and fell dead ; his aid, McPherson, fell 
at his side ; Arnold was severely wounded in the leg. The 
assault failed. The troops retired with a loss of a hundred killed, 
and three hundred wounded or prisoners. Among the prisoners 
was the brave Morgan. The whole attacking army was barely 
twelve hundred in number. 

Thus, on the last day of the year in which her war for freedom 
commenced, America received her first decisive lesson, repeated 
again and again since that time, that Canada was not to be 
wrested from the English dominion by force of arms. If ever 
gained, she must be gained by love. Colonel Thomas, who suc- 
ceeded to the command, because Arnold's wound compelled him 
to retire, continued in the neighborhood of Quebec until the 
spring, and then withdrew his force from Canada. 

i Taylor's Centen. U. S., 172. Irving's Washington, II. 91, 92. "- Irving, II. 86, 93, 97. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The War of Revolution Continued. 

THE first day of the year 1776, in which the United States 
of America declared their independence, was signalized by 
events vividly representative of the kingly government about 
to expire in Virginia. Lord Dunmore was the last, and in many 
respects the worst, royal governor. 

He saw in the spirit of the House of Burgesses, the conven- 
tions, and the words of Patrick Henry, enough to satisfy him that 
the people of the colony meant to resist by force the measures 
of England. On the day after the battle of Lexington, a corps of 
marines from the armed English schooner jSIagdalen^ under orders 
from Dunmore, came up to Williamsburg in the dead of night 
and carried from the public magazine twenty barrels of gun- 
powder, which they stored before daybreak in the hold of their 
vessel. Thus on the 20th of April, 1775, the war of the Revolu- 
tion commenced in Virginia. 

This act caused great irritation and excitement. The people 
began to arm themselves. A meeting of six hundred men, well 
armed, was held in Fredericksburg, and on the 39th of April, 1775, 
passed resolutions approaching, in spirit, a declaration of inde- 
pendence. Patrick Henry marched from Hanover at the head of 
a military compan}-. John Tyler (afterwards governor of the 
State), at the head of another company, marched from Charles 
City county. They met at Doncaster's ordinary, in New Kent 
county, and formed a battalion, -with Henry in command.' Dun- 
more was startled by these promjDt movements. He sent Richard 
Corbin, the king's receiver-general, who paid to Patrick Hemy 
three hundred and thirty pounds sterling for the powder, and 
gave him a written acknowledgment of all the facts. Thus for a 
time the storm was stilled.'' 

But its mutterings were soon heard again. Dunmore carried on 
a surly correspondence with the burgesses. But the people were 
arming in every county, and fearing that he might be seized and 
detained as a hostage, on the night of the 8th of June, 1775, Dun- 
more fled from his palace and took refuge aboard the British 

1 Skelton Jones, 14. Wirt, 108, 109. MS. note to author from J. Tyler, Jr. 
2 Wirt, 110. Burk, III. 421, 422. 

[ 373 ] 



374 ^ History of the United States of America. 

frigate Powey at Yorktown, He was accompanied by his wife 
and some of his domestics, and by Foy, his secretary, who was 
specially hated by the patriots. 

From this time, for more than a year, this fugitive royal gov- 
ernor carried on a predatory warfare against Virginia. He went 
first to Norfolk, which was then a flourishing to\vn of about six 
thousand inhabitants, many of whom were true to their country ; 
but many also were English and Scotch merchants, who loved 
money more than freedom. 

Dunmore carried out the king's instructions. He proclaimed 
the negro slaves to be free, and sought to rouse them to insurrec- 
tion against their masters. He employed agents to visit the 
Indian tribes and organize them for war on the whites. He 
had now under his command the frigate Fcvcey^ the Mercury., 
of twenty-four guns, Kingfsher, of sixteen, and Otter., of four- 
teen, with two companies of regulars, and a rabble of negroes and 
Tories Avho followed his standard. 

He made an attack upon Hampton on the 35th of October, 
1775, but was beaten oft' by riflemen under Captain Woodford. 
This action was singular in this : that the men on armed ships 
were so constantly reached and slain or disabled by rifle bullets, 
that they were compelled to withdraw. Two tenders, with pris- 
oners, six swivels, and a quantity of muskets, pistols, sw^ordsand 
other weapons, were captured by the Americans.^ 

The Virginia convention had appointed a " Committee of 
Safety," who conducted the military operations. Dunmore at- 
tempted several raids from Norfolk, but was driven back with 
loss. At Great Bridge, across the Elizabeth river, twelve miles 
from Norfolk, a sharp skirmish occurred on the 9th of December. 
The Virginians were about three hundred in number, under 
Adjutant-General Bullet, Colonel Stevens and Major Marshall. 
The English force was commanded by Captain Fordyce, a brave 
officer, who had one hundred regulars and more than three hun- 
dred Tories, convicts and negroes. At the head of a selected 
force Fordyce charged gallantly across the bridge, but fell dead 
with fourteen rifle bullets in his body. His force was completely 
routed, and fled precipitately, leaving behind them their killed, 
wounded and prisoners. The fort defending Norfolk ^vas at- 
tacked, and Major Leslie abandoned it, having lost one hundred 
and two men and two pieces of artillery. Lord Dunmore is said 
to have raged like a madman when he heard of these successes 
of the patriots.^ 

1 Skelton Jones, 63, &i. Burk, III. 434, 435. Howe, 249, 250. - Girardin, 88, 96, 97. 



The War of Revolution Continued. jy^ 

The road to Norfolk was now open, and Colonel Woodford, 
after sending a message to the mayor and town authorities that he 
had no hostile intents towards them, and would use no violence 
unless opposed, marched in on the night of the 14th of December 
and took possession. Dunmore fled, and a ^vretched train of 
traitors and Tories accompanied him to the war-ships. 

An American force of twelve hundred and seventy-five men, 
under Howe and Woodford, now held the town. Dunmore made 
no attempt to recapture it. He resorted to the most inhuman 
form of warfare. On the first day of January, 1776, the frigate 
Leopard^ the ship Dunmore, and two sloops of war were moored 
with their batteries bearing on the town, and at half-past three in 
the afternoon opened a tremendous fire. Under its cover sailors 
and marines, well armed, landed in boats and set fire to the ware- 
houses and other buildings on the wharves. The contents were 
turpentine and pitch, and all burned with frightful rapidity. Not- 
withstanding the almost intolerable heat, the American riflemen 
drew near, and with deadfy fire drove back these incendiaries, 
with severe loss, to their ships. ^ But the fii^e raged, and as the 
ships kept up a storm of balls and shells it could not be extin- 
guished ; for part of three days and nights it burned ^vithout in- 
termission. Nine-tenths of the town were reduced to ashes ; 
property worth a million and a half of dollars was destroyed. It 
is true a large proportion of this loss fell on those disaflected to 
the cause of freedom ; but Dunmore's revenge was blind. He 
had the satisfaction of knowing that out of six thousand residents, 
at least four thousand were deprived of their homes and driven 
out to seek shelter in the counties above. ^ 

Dunmore was now in a wretched condition. His fleet consisted 
of the ships of war and more than fifty transports, carrying a 
crowd of miserable Tories, men and women, a great many negroes 
enticed from their masters, and a rabble of convicts and odious 
characters. With these he cruised up and down the bay and the 
rivers, burning and marauding, yet scantily supplied with food, 
and suff'ering more and niore from sickness among his crowded 
followers. 

At this time Gen. Charles Lee was appointed to the command 
of the southern division of the united colonies. He arrived at 
Williamsburg on the 39th of March, 1776, and took in at a glance 
the military condition of Virginia. His orders were stern and 
peremptory. Under them Colonel Woodford removed the in- 

1 Letter from Howe and Woodford to Convention, Virginia Gazette, Sup., Januarys, 1776, 
Burk, III. 450. Girardin, 101. 

2 Girardin, 101, 102. Woodford and Howe in Virginia Gazette, January 6, 1776, 



3y6 A History of the United States of America. 

habitants of Norfolk and Princess Anne counties into the interior 
with all their live stock and provisions ; and if any were found 
in correspondence with the enemy they were to be sent hand- 
cuffed to Williamsburg.^ 

Dunmore was reduced to great straits for food. He took pos- 
session of Gwynn's Island on the 24th of May, landed his forces 
and formed an intrenched camp. This island lies just in the 
mouth of the river Piankatank, is about four miles in length and 
two in width, and before the coming of Dunmore had abounded 
in grain, cattle, fruits and vegetables, in good water and abund- 
ant verdure ; but his disorderly rabble soon made it a scene of 
want and disease. 

Moreover, the " Committee of Safety " sent General Andrew 
Lewis to attack him. On the 8th of July this efficient officer 
took possession of a point opposite Gwynn's Island, and soon had 
two batteries ready, one mounting two eighteen -pounders and 
the other several lighter guns. Lewis himself pointed one of the 
eighteens at the Dunmore, in which \f-as the governor. The first 
shot passed through her hull ; the second cut the boatswain in 
twain and Avounded three other men ; the third narrowly missed 
Dunmore himself, wounded him with splinters and dashed some 
of his china to pieces. He was heard to cry out in alai^m : " Good 
God ! that ever I should come to this ! " ^ 

The fire was too hot to be borne. The war-ships cut their 
cables, and the whole fleet in confusion sought the more distant 
waters. ' The island was abandoned. When Lewis' troops crossed 
over and took possession, they found sad evidences of the ravages 
of disease and want. At least five hundred of Dunmore's fol- 
lowers had perished. Among the graves \vas found one more 
carefully prepared and turfed than the others ; and an English 
nobleman. Lord Gosport, was supposed to rest there. 

Lord Dunmore's career in America was now closed. After 
committing some ravages on the shores of the Potomac and burn- 
ing the beautiful residence of William Brent, of Stafford county, 
he sailed to Lynnhaven Bay and dismissed some of his ships to 
St. Augustine, some to the Bermudas, and some to the West In- 
dies. He himself joined the British naval force at New York, 
and about the close of the year sailed in the Foxvey for England, 
never to return to America. 

During the fall and early winter season of 1775, Washington was 
still employed in organizing, drilling and disciplining his army. 
He longed to undertake some active enterprise against the enemy, 
> Lee's Instructions, in Girardin, 143, 144. 2 Virginia Gazette, July 29, 1776. Girardin, 174. 



The War of Revolution Continued. 377 

but was delayed by considerations of prudence and the doubts of 
councils of war. He was also greatly in want of heavy artillery, 
without which no works would be effective against the enemy in 
Boston. 

At this time Henry Knox (afterwards so eminent as an artillery 
officer, a warm and trusted friend of Washington, and a member 
of his cabinet) approached him with a proposition to go to New 
York and Canada and transport heavy cannon and mortars from 
the captured works there to the lines around Boston. Knox had 
been a thriving bookseller in Boston, but had thrown up his busi- 
ness to take part in the battle of Bunker's Hill, and afterwards to 
aid in the defences of the American camp.^ He had shown so 
much of aptitude for this work that Washington was glad to em- 
j^loy him, and to issue orders giving him all the facilities in his 
power for his heavy undertaking. 

Some months were needed ; but at length, early in February, the 
camp was rejoiced by the arrival of Colonel Knox with his long 
train of sledges, drawn by oxen, bringing more than fifty heavy 
cannon, mortars and howitzers, besides ample supplies of lead and 
flints. 

No time was lost. Washington's plan was to erect batteries at 
Lechmere Point and other favorable positions for occupying the 
attention of the enemy by the appearance of attack ; to throw up 
his heaviest and strongest works on Dorchester Heights and plant 
there his most effective cannon and mortars, and to organize an 
actual assault on the troops in Boston by a large force under Gen- 
eral Putnam, in case the British should repeat their disastrous 
policy at Bunker's Hill. 

The work all went forward with energy and swiftness. Gen- 
eral Gage, who had not gained reputation by his military move- 
ments from Boston, had been quietly recalled to England, and 
Sir William Howe was in command. He was resolute, but 
somewhat lethargic and slow. Notwithstanding the cold, hunger 
and sufferings of many of the people, the British officers managed 
to amuse themselves with dramas and farces, in some of which 
Burgoyne appeared, and which were often efforts to ridicule the 
Americans.^ 

The evening of Monday, the 4th of March, was fixed by Wash- 
ington for the occupation of Dorchester Heights. The ground 
was frozen, and as digging was not easy, fascines, gabions, and 
bundles of screw -pressed hay were collected to form breastworks 
and redoubts. The American cannon at other points opened 

1 m-ing's Washington, II. 79. 2 Ihid., 1G4-167. 



378 A History of the United States of Ajtierica. 

fire ; the English replied, and thus the attention of the enemywas 
completely diverted, and the ceaseless roar of artillery drowned 
the rumbling of wagons and ordnance. 

General Thomas was to manage the ^vork ; the veteran Grid- 
ley was again the engineer. First came a covering party of eight 
hundred preceding the carts with intrenching tools, then a work- 
ing party twelve hundred strong, then three hundred wagons 
with the fascines, gabions, and packages of pressed hay, each of 
seven or eight hundred pounds weight. At eight o'clock the 
work began. It was severe, but the men worked w^ith more than 
■wonted spirit ; for Washington himself was there, and his eye 
was on them.^ 

Before the dawn a formidable-looking fortress frowned along 
the heights. A British officer has described the impression of 
wonder made on him : " This morning at daybreak we discovered 
two redoubts on Dorchester Point, and two smaller ones on their 
flanks. They were all raised during the last night, with an expe- 
dition equal to that of the genii belonging to Aladdin's wonderful 
lamp. From these hills they command the whole town, so that 
we must drive them from their fort or desert the place." Howe, 
also, gazed at the fortress with amazement. " These rebels," he 
said, " have done more work in one night than my whole army 
would have done in one month." ^ 

His first purpose was to attack. He had written several letters 
to the English niinistry scouting the idea of " being in danger 
from the rebels." He had " hoped they would attack him." Now 
they were preparing to attack him ; but he was not so confident. 

He ordered that all his batteries that would bear should be 
opened on the works. This was done, but obviously with little 
efiect. He planned a night attack. Lord Percy was to lead, 
with twenty-five hundred men ; but a storm came on from the 
east. The boats could not reach their landing place. The attempt 
was to be renewed the next night ; but the storm continued with 
torrents of rain. The movement was again postponed ; and, in 
the next twenty-four hours, the American works were so strong 
that Howe abandoned the intent to advance on them. 

No alternative remained but to evacuate Boston. The cannon 
and mortars on Dorchester Heights could reach effectively not 
only every part of the city, but the ships in the harbor. 

On Sunday, March 17th, 1776, at four o'clock in the morning, 
the movement began. Seventy-eight ships and transports were 
casting loose for sea, and twelve thousand soldiers, sailors, and 

1 Irving's Washington, n. 174. 2 jfyid., 175. 



The War of Revolution Continued. 379 

Tory refugees hurrying to embark — the latter with their families 
and personal effects. The American batteries did not open fire, 
probably because Howe had given a written intimation that if they 
did he would cause the city to be burned ; and, although Wash- 
ington had made no reply to this intimation, he was too humane 
and considerate to subject the helpless people to such suffering.^ 

General Putnam, with his troops, first entered the city. He 
took command, and hoisted over all the forts the flag of thirteen 
stripes, the standard of the Union, although independence was 
not yet declared. On Monday, the i8th of March, Washington 
himself entered, and was joyfully welcomed by nearly every class 
of the people. The country was more than satisfied. In con- 
gress, on motion of John Adams, a vote of thanks to the com- 
mander-in-chief was unanimously adopted, and it was ordered 
that a gold medal be struck commemorating the evacuation of 
Boston, and bearing the efiigy of Washington as its deliverer.^ 

Early in this year the attention of England was drawn to the 
Southern provinces of Georgia and South Carolina ; but her 
efforts had no effect except to arouse the revolutionary spirit. 
On the i2th of January, 1776, two British ships of war, with 
troops, under Maitland and Grant, arrived at Tybee. Appre- 
hending a repetition of the outrages by Dunmore, the Committee 
of Safety in Savannah determined on the bold step of arresting 
Sir James Wright, the royal governor. Maj. Joseph Habersham 
promptly undertook this duty. Entering the council chamber 
while a meeting was in progress, he advanced upon the governor, 
and, laying his hand on his shoulder, said : " Sir James, you are 
my prisoner ! " Instantly the laiembers of the council, knowing 
Habersham, and believing he was backed by an armed force, 
began to escape by dooi's, windows, and every practicable pas- 
sage.^ The governor's person was secured. No indignity was 
offered to him, but he was confined to his house, and no inter- 
course was allowed between him and the royalists. He managed 
to escape, and on the i ith of February reached the British war-ship 
Scarborough. This prompt action probably saved the coast of 
Georgia from predatory war. The English authority ceased, and 
was never permanently restored. 

A British fleet under vSir Peter Parker, with a large body of 
troops under Sir Henry Clinton, had sailed from Cork to America, 
and the point of their attack had been a subject of anxious con- 
sideration by Washington and his oflicers. It was made apparent 

1 Irving's Washington. Compare II. 177, 179, 182. 
^ Irving, 11. 185. Berry's IL S., 110. Stephens, 218. 
3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 219. 



380 A History of the United States of America. 

early in June, 1776. They approached the harbor of Charleston. 
Gen. Charles Lee was at hand to meet them, and was received 
with enthusiasm by the people, who were in high spirits and 
determined to fight to the last. Lee's military eye saw much to 
alarm him in the defenceless state of the land approaches to the 
city ; but, fortunately, the enemy were intent on mastering the 
approach by water.' 

On Sullivan's Island, below the city, was a fort built of pal- 
metto logs, earth and sand, with twenty-six heavy guns, and a 
garrison of three hundred and seventy-five regulars and about one 
hundred and fifty militia, commanded by a resolute officer. Col. 
William Moultrie, of South Carolina. The fort afterwards bore 
his name. On the other side of the island was an earthwork for 
land defence, with a force under Colonel Thompson. General 
Lee encamped at Haddrell's Point, on the main-land, ready to 
succor any point that was hard pressed. Clinton landed with 
troops, but could not pass the batteries of Thompson, and his men 
suffered severely- by the heat and brackish water of the island, 
and scanty and bad provisions. They depended on the success of 
the naval attack. 

This was made on the 38th of June. The Thunder Bomb 
commenced throwing shells at the fort, and by eleven o'clock the 
ships of the fleet had taken position. For twelve hours the bat- 
tle raged. Lee was so uneasy that he at one time thought of 
ordering Colonel Moultrie to spike his guns and retreat;'^ but he 
sent his aide-de-camp. Captain Byrd, to see how the officers and 
men in Moultrie bore themselves, and when this gallant youth re- 
turned, his account of the high spirit in the fort was such that no 
retreat could be thought of. 

The tremendous fire of the fleet did very little harm ; the pal- 
metto wood, being soft, did not rend and splinter, and the earth 
and sand buried balls and shells. The fire of the fort was cool 
and deliberate and bloodily destructive. An English officer thus 
describes its effects: "They stuck, with the greatest constancy 
and firmness, to their guns ; fired deliberately and slowly, and 
took a cool and effective aim. The ships suffered accordingly ; 
they were torn almost to pieces, and the slaughter was dreadful. 
Never did British valor shine inore conspicuously, and never did 
our marine in an engagement of the same nature with any foreign 
enemy experience so rude an encounter.'" 

1 living's Washington, II. 273. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 220. 

2 Gen. Charles Lee's letter to Washington. Irving, II. 274. Stephens, 220. Thalheimer's 
Eclec. U. S., 139, (note) 142. 

3 Civil War in America, An. Register, Dublin, 1779. Irving, II. 275. 



The War of Revolution Continued. 381 

One of the ships became disabled ; the admiral oi-dered that her 
crew should set her on fire and leave her. The guns were left 
loaded and the colors flying. But hardly had the crew left before 
the patriots boarded her, turned her guns on the other ships, and 
carried oft' flags and balls and three boat-loads of stores before she 
blew up.'^ 

In the hottest of the fire the flag-staff* of the fort was shot 
away, and the banner fell down on the beach. Sergeant William 
Jasper leaped down, and, exposed to a storm of balls, snatched 
up the broken staff* and flag, and returned with them safely to 
the inside of the fort, over which the flag was soon again fly- 
ing. For this heroic deed Governor Rutledge, of South Caro- 
lina, presented him a sword, and offered him a commission 
as lieutenant ; but the brave sergeant, not being able to read or 
write, with singular modesty and good sense, declined the com- 
mission." 

At one time the fire of the fort slackened, and hopes rose in the 
fleet. But it was only for want of ammunition. General Lee 
hastened to supply it from the city, and the fort's fire became 
hotter than before. The fleet drew off* with a loss of more than 
three hundred and fifty officers and men killed and wounded. 
Captain Scott, of the Experimoit frigate, lost an arm ; Captain 
Morris, of the Actiron, and Lord Campbell, late governor of the 
province, who was serving as a volunteer in the fleet, were slain. 
The American loss did not exceed ten killed and twenty-two 
\vovmded. Seven thousand cannon balls were gathered up on 
Sullivan's Island after the battle.* 

The land attack under Clinton was abandoned. The troops 
re-embarked, and the whole fleet sailed northward. The Southern 
coast was freed for nearly two years from hostile approach. 

As the summer wore on, Washington inferred from many 
movements that the British fleets and armies contemplated a 
descent upon New York. He therefore concentrated his forces 
in and around that city and upon Long Island. 

On the 37th of August the decisive advance was made. Sir 
Henrj Clinton was chief in command, under whom were Earls 
Cornwallis and Percy, General Grant and Sir Thomas Erskine. 
George III., having been disappointed in his attempts to obtain 
Russians, had hired from the Landgrave Prince of Hesse-Cassel, 
the Duke of Brunswick, and the Count of Hanau, in Germany, 
four thousand three hundred Brunswick troops and thirteen thou- 

1 Stephens, 220, 221. 

2 Goodrich, 207. Stephens, 220. Derrv, n2. Thalheimer, 139, (note) 141, 142. 

» Taylor's Centen. U. S., 177. Irving's Wash., II. 276. Stephens' U. S., 220, 221. 



382 A History of the United States of America. 

sand Hessians, to serve against America. Count Donop com- 
manded a large body of these Hessians, and they, with two 
battalions of light infantry and six field-pieces, were under Lord 
Cornwallis, who already manifested the military talent and vigor 
which afterwards made him so formidable to America. General 
Greene had been ill and could not render effective service. 

The American commanders were Generals Putnam, Sullivan, 
and Lord Stirling, under whom were Smallwood, Williams and 
Atlee. 

With every disadvantage, the American defence was, for a 
long time, resolute and eftective, and the result of the battle 
would have been indecisive but for one unfortunate oversight. 
The roads by which the left of the American position could be 
approached had not been thoroughly reconnoitered and guarded ; 
consequently, while pressing hard on their front and right with 
highly disciplined troops, Sir Henry Clinton was enabled to turn 
their left flank with an overwhelming force. Sullivan, hearing 
the British cannon, knew^ that his left was defenceless. He was 
obliged to leave his redoubt and order a retreat, almost surrounded 
by De Heister and the Hessians. The battle here was sanguinary 
and disastrous to the Americans. Hemmed in between British 
and Hessian^, they made a brave fight, but were cut down in 
numbers. Some broke through and escaped ; some were made 
prisoners, and among them General Sullivan himself.' 

Broken and defeated, the Americans retired behind their line of 
redoubts at Brooklyn. The British lines were so near to them 
that their grenadiers were within easy musket range. Washing- 
ton prepared to meet an attack ; but Sir Henry Clinton, thinking 
the Amei'ican army now so entrapped that they must fall into his 
hands, forbore to march on the intrenchments. 

In this unfortunate battle the American loss in killed, wounded 
and prisoners was not less than two thousand out of a total of 
five thousand engaged. The enemy acknowledged a loss of only 
three hundred and eighty killed and wounded.^ 

On the night of August 29th, Washington performed one of the 
great deeds of the war and of his own patient and self-denying 
career. A fog on the sound and the broad river aided him. Flat- 
boats and tow-boats were assembled. As fast as one regiment 
was embarked another took its place. Silently and securely the 
whole movement was made. The fog hung on the south, but 
cleared on the north side so as to facilitate the retreat ; the adverse 
wind died down ; the water became so smooth that the row-boats 

» Ining's Washington, II. r.Ol , n04. 2 j^jd., 307, 308. 



The War of Revolution Contintied. 383 

could be laden almost to their gunwales ; a gentle breeze helped 
the sail and tug-boats. Glover's Marblehead seamen and water- 
men were more than efficient. Before daybreak the whole army, 
with artillery, ammunition, provisions, cattle, horses, carts and 
wagons, were safely in the city of New York. Only a few 
of the heaviest and most unmanageable guns were left to fall 
into the enemy's hands. Washington crossed in the last army 
boat.' 

This retreat was one of the great achievements of the war. 
The British were amazed. Captain Montresor, aid to General 
Howe, followed by a few men, climbed cautiously over the works 
and found them deserted. Advance parties hurried down to the 
ferry only to catch a sight of the rear boats nearly over. One 
single boat, still within musket shot, was compelled to return. 
In it were three vagabond outlaws, who had lingered to plunder. 
Washington and the American army were safe. 

To hold the city of New York was now obviously inexpedient. 
It would not long have been possible. The British were as strong 
on the water as on the land. They had only to invest the city 
and to land a large force on the upper part of the island, and the 
surrender of the patriot army was a mere question of time. A 
council of war decided for evacuation. On the 14th of September, 
Washington, with his army, left the city and retired towards the 
upper part of the island. General Putnam commanded the rear- 
guard. He was followed and hard pressed by British and Hes- 
sian troops. The day was sultry. A well sustained tradition 
relates that as they passed INIurray Hill, the residence of a family 
of the religious society of " Friends," the British generals halted 
their trooj^s and rested for a time. Mrs. Murray set before them 
cake and wine and other refreshing viands. They were so pleased 
that they remained for hours. The prey escaped ; and always 
afterwards it was a common saying among the American officers 
that Mrs. Murray had saved Putnam's division of the army.'^ 

The fate of Capt. Nathan Hale here demands our notice. It is 
sad, but had its effisct at the time and in a critical after-point of 
American history. He was a native of Coventry, Connecticut : 
graduated with distinction at Yale College in 1773, in his nine- 
teenth year ; was highly esteemed for his inanly character, gene- 
rous qualities, and handsome person ; entered warmly into the 
cause of his country, and was a captain in Knowlton's regi- 
ment at the battle of«Long Island. After this battle Washington 

1 Irving's Washington, II. 313, 317. Scudder's U. S., 209. Goodrich, 212. 
2 Thatcher's Militarj' Journal, 70. 



384 A History of the United States of America 

desired Colonel Knowlton to indicate to him some trustworthy 
officer who might be willing to enter the enemy's lines and bring 
information as to his positions and strength, and, as far as possi- 
ble, his plans. Captain Hale volunteered for this hazardous and 
unenviable work. 

Having taught school in that region, he was familiar with it. 
He passed over safely from the Connecticut shore, penetrated the 
enemy's lines, took drawings, and made written memoranda in 
Latin of all the positions and forces. He made his way back to 
the Long Island shore at Huntington, expecting to meet a boat ; 
but, unhappily, a British guard-ship, at anchor out of sight, had 
just sent in her boat for water. Mistaking this for his boat. Hale 
offered to come aboard. He was seized and- stripped, and the 
papers found fatally compromised him. 

He was conveyed to New York, where he landed on the 21st of 
September, the day of a great fire in the city. He was taken to 
General Howe's headquarters, and, after a brief examination, \vas 
adjudged to be a spy and ordered for execution at daybreak the 
next morning. The provost-marshal, Cunningham, brutally re- 
fused him the use of a Bible, and destroyed a letter he had written 
to his mother, stating afterwards as his reason " that the rebels 
should never know they had a man who could die with such firm- 
ness." Captain Hale met his death on the gibbet with calm reso- 
lution. His dying words were : " I only regret that I have but 
one life to lose for my country."^ 

Washington was now strongly intrenched in the upper part of 
Manhattan. The enemy made some attacks on his outposts, which 
were defeated with spirit. But the times of many of his recruited 
soldiers would soon expire. He ^vrote earnestly to the congress, 
and obtained action from them under which eighty-eight battal- 
ions were to be furnished by the separate States according to their 
respective populations and ability. The pay of the officers was 
raised, and the troops who volunteered to serve through the war 
were to have a bounty of twenty dollars and a hundred acres of 
land and a yearly suit of clothes while in service. Under these 
and other wise arrangements the efficiency of the army was much 
increased.^ 

On the morning after the destructive fire in New York, Cap- 
tain Montresor, aid to General Howe, came to Washington's 
camp, under flag of truce, to treat concerning exchange of prison- 
ers of war. The cartel was not then agreed on, but after much 

1 Note in Irving's Wash., IV. 131, 132. Scudder's U. S., 209, 210. 

2 Irving's Wasliington, II. 343, 344. 



The War of Revolution Continued. 385 

correspondence was effected. Lord Stirling and General Sullivan 
were restored ; so was Col. Daniel ISIorgan, who, at the head of 
his rifle corps, became more efiicient than ever before.' 

New York was sadly neutralized by Tories, at the head of 
whom was Oliver De Lancey, member of a wealthy family of 
Huguenot descent. He employed under-ofticers, of whom Robert 
Rogers, of New Hampshire, was most notorious, and enlisted 
royalists on Long Island and in many parts of the interior, and 
drove away stock and impressed provisions for their support. 
Hostile encounters, becoming more and more wild and barbarous, 
resulted.^ 

On the mornnig of the 9th October the British frigates Roebuck 
and Plioenix^ each of forty-four guns, and the Tartar^ of twenty, 
got under way, broke through the inadequate barriers, passed 
the fire of the batteries and drove before them the few galleys and 
ships can-ying supplies for the American army. They were con- 
siderably injured in masts and rigging, and lost three officers and 
six men killed and eighteen wounded f but they accomplished 
their purpose, and obtained command of the river. 

Military men now began to fear for the safety of the patriot 
army, and the congress shared in these fears. Gen. Charles Lee 
had come on from the South ; many held him in exaggerated es- 
teem as a great soldier. He counseled strongly against retaining 
the army in a position which, however strong and well intrenched, 
might be isolated by the naval and military forces of Great Brit- 
ain. A council of war, with the exception of Gen. George Clin- 
ton, agreed with him.* Washington moved with his army across 
the Spyt den Duivel, and occupied the White Plains, twenty-seven 
miles above New York, where he formed a fortified camp ; but 
by express direction of congress Fort Washington was maintained 
with a full garrison. It was on a high and rocky part of upper 
Manhattan Island. 

On the 2Sth of October the British army advanced and attacked 
the Americans at White Plains. Sir Henry Clinton commanded 
the right column of the enemy ; the Hessian general, De Heister, 
the left. A hill in the American lines, known as Chatterton's, 
was important. It was held by General McDougall with a militia 
brigade. A tremendous artillery fire was opened by the British 
from twenty field-pieces, under cover of which they advanced. 
General Leslie attempted to construct a bridge for his attacking 
troops, but he was severely handled by two cannon on Chatter- 



1 Irving's Washington, II. 344. - Ibid., 344, 347 

3 Lord Howe's Report to Eng. Admiralty. Ir\-ing, H. 348. 

* Irving's Washington, II. 358-361. 



25 



386 A History of the United States of A?nerica. 

ton's, managed with great skill by Alexander Hamilton, a young 
artillery officer for whom Washington had already conceived a 
high regard. Smallwood's Maryland battalion also kept up a 
destructive fire ; but Colonel Rahl, with his Hessians, by a cir- 
cuitous move, flanked the militia, and they gave way. Still, Haz- 
let, Ritzema and Smallwood, from the summit of the hill, kept up 
a fire which swept many down. The advance of numbers com- 
pelled them sullenly to retreat ; but General Putnam reinforced 
them, and the British advance was everywhere arrested. Each 
army held its ground. In this short, but severe, battle the Ameri- 
cans lost about three hundred in killed, wounded and prisoners. 
The British loss was fully as great ; but they were soon reinforced, 
and Washington retired with his army to North Castle, five miles 
from his former position.' 

The British did not pursue him. They were employed in 
measures to attack Fort Washington. On the night of the 4th of 
November they began to fall back from White Plains, and in 
three days had disappeared. 

Washington wrote on the 8th of November to General Greene, 
who commanded in lower New York and the Jerseys, giving 
him discretionary power to evacuate Fort Washington. On the 
night of the 5th, a British frigate and two transports, with sup- 
plies for Howe's army at Dobb's Ferry, on the Hudson, had broken 
through the barriers and passed the batteries, " not, however," as 
Greene wrote, " without having been considerably shattered by 
the American fire." Washington then wrote : " If we cannot 
prevent vessels from passing ujd the river, and the enemy are pos- 
sessed of all the surrounding country, w^hat valuable purpose can 
it answer to hold a post from which the expected benefit cannot 
be had? I am, "therefore, inclined to think that it will not be 
prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount Washington ; 
but, as you are on the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders 
as to evacuating Mount Washington as you may judge best, and 
so far revoking the orders given to Colonel Magaw to defend it 
to the last."' 

It would have been well had these prudent views prevailed. 
But General Greene thought the post could be maintained, and 
Colonel Magaw was quite confident that it would take the enemy 
until the last of December to reduce it.* Meanwhile, if danger- 
ously pressed, the garrison could be withdrawn ; but in delay 
was the fatal error. Washington sent a large part of his army 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 213. 2 Letter in Irving, II. 378. Amer. Archives, 5th Series. 

2 Greene's Letter, Am. Archives, 5th Series, III. 618. 



The War of Revolution Cojitiniied. 387 

into the neighborhood of Fort Lee, in the Jerseys ; left about 
seven thousand troops under General Lee at North Castle, and 
with the rest established strong posts in the Highlands, especially 
at Fort jSIontgomery and West Point. He appointed General 
Heath to command in this region, and went himself to Fort Lee. 

The garrison of Fort Washington, having been reinforced by 
Greene with the regiment of Colonel Rawlings and part of that 
of Colonel Durkee, was at least two thousand strong. Though 
most of them w^ere militia, they were spirited and brave. Wash- 
ington doubted whether Howe's purpose was an attack on the 
fort ; but he was soon undeceived, and more reinforcements were 
sent, which raised the garrison to three thousand. Only one 
thousand could be employed in the fort itself; the rest were in. 
the outworks and approaches. 

Howe encamjDcd with a heavy force on Fordham Heights, not 
far from King's Bridge. On the night of November 14th thirty 
flat-bottomed boats stole quietly up the Hudson and made their 
way through Spyt den Duivel creek into Harlem river. From 
them a heavy British and Flessian force landed on the weakest 
side of the beleaguered fort. 

On the 15th General Howe sent in a summons for surrender, 
with a threat ot extremities if he was obliged to carry the place 
by assault. Colonel Magaw firmly replied, intimating a doubt 
whether Howe would execute a threat " so unworthy of himself 
and the British nation," and declaring his purpose to defend the 
post to the very last extremity.^ 

On the i6th of November the attack was made by a simulta- 
neous movement of four powerful attacking columns : on the 
north by the Hessian General Knyphausen ; on the east by four 
battalions of light infantry and the guards under Mathew and 
Cornwallis ; on the west by a feint of the Forty-second regiment 
under Colonel Sterling, and on the south by the heaviest column 
of the English and Hessian troops under Lord Percy. 

The defence was obstinate and bloody, but unavailing. Militia 
could not continue to stand up against regulars and mercenary 
soldiers. Baxter and Cadwalader made a heroic stand ; Baxter 
fell, but Cadwalader and Rawlings, with Pennsylvanians and 
Marylanders, continued to fight, cutting down whole ranks of 
Hessians with their fire, until their guns became foul, and they 
were assaulted furiously with the bayonet by the Hessians. 
Washington saw this part of the battle from the opposite side of 
the Hudson, and wept " with the tenderness of a child " as he 

1 Irving's Washington, II. 394. 



388 A History of the United States of America, 

looked on the brave conduct of his troops and their butchery by 
the brutal mercenaries.^ 

The outworks were now everywhere in possession of the attack- 
ing forces. The Americans, who were able to do so, retreated into 
the fort, which was so crowded that the guns could not be worked. 
Shot and shell from the outworks would have been murderous on 
this crowd. To hold out would have been to lose hundreds of 
lives without hope of rescue. Colonel Magaw surrendered his 
garrison as prisoners of war, the men being permitted to retain 
their baggage and the officers their swords. 

This prize cost the British a loss of a thousand men in killed 
and wounded. The American loss in killed and wounded was 
about four hundred ; but they lost two thousand eight hundred 
and eighteen prisoners, of whom not less than two hundred were 
officers.* This was terrible, and disheartening to the patriot 
cause. 

General Lee had been left in command of about seven thousand 
men at North Castle. Washington wrote, telling him of the dis- 
aster of Fort Washington, and instructing him to join him in the 
Jerseys. Lee answered, and, commenting on the disaster, ended 
his letter with words characteristic of the man : " Oh, general, 
why would you be over-persuaded by men of inferior judgment 
to your own? It was a cursed aflair."^ 

After their success at Fort Washington, the British moved with 
vigor. Cornwallis advanced to invest Fort Lee ; but Greene pru- 
dently evacuated the fort, withdrawing in time to save his gar- 
rison and most of the armament and stores. 

The American cause was now beclouded with gloom. Wash- 
ington's letters to his brother reflect the depressing shadows. He 
wrote : " In ten days from this date there will not be above two 
thousand men, if that number, of the fixed established regiments 
on this side of Hudson river, to oppose Howe's whole army, and 
very little more on the other to secure the Eastern colonies and 
the important passes leading through the Highlands to Albany 
and the country about the lakes." And it increased his distress 
to record his own efforts to secure long enlistments and the thor- 
ough support of the country, and his failure to do so ; but his 
great heart did not break under this growing pressure. 

At the head of his small and discouraged army he retreated 
across the Jerseys. Cornwallis gave up the pui'suit and retvirned 
to New York, intending soon to sail for England. Washington 

1 Irving's Washineton, II. 398. 

* Derry, 117. Goodrich, 213. Irving's Washington, II. 401. 

8 Letter in Irving, II. 400. 



The War of Revolution Continued. 389 

crossed the Delaware at Trenton, and removed all his baggage 
and armament to the west of the river. Sir William Howe 
sought to profit by this period of dismay and despondency by 
issuing a proclamation, dated November 30th, commanding all 
persons in arms against his majesty's government to disband and 
return home, and all congresses to desist from treasonable acts ; 
and offering a fi"ee pardon to all who would comply within fifty 
days. 

Many who had been eminent in the patriot cause hastened to 
take advantage of this proclamation. Those who had most prop- 
erty to lose were most unfaithful to their country. The middle 
classes and the poorer people generally remained true.^ 

In this dark hour of peril Washington's grand spirit appeared. 
He looked calmly at the worst, and prepared for it. Gen. Hugh 
Mercer, of Virginia, was with him. Washington asked him : "If 
we should retreat to the back parts of Pennsylvania, would 
the Pennsylvanians support us.'' " Mercer replied : " If the lower 
counties give up, the back counties will do the same." "Then," 
said Washington, " we must retire to Augusta county, in Virginia. 
Numbers will repair to us for safety, and we will try a predatory 
war. If overpowered, we must ci'oss the Alleghanies." Such 
was the unconquerable spirit, rising under difficulties and buoy- 
ant in the darkest moment, that kept the tempest-tossed ship of 
American freedom from foundering.^ 

Gen. Charles Lee complied very tardily with Washington's re- 
peated orders to join him with his troops from North Castle. He 
made various lateral movements, and wrote letters in a tone of evi- 
dent disparagement of the commander-in-chief. General Heath, 
in command on the upper Hudson, was steadfast in duty to his 
country and obedience to Washington. How much mischief Lee 
might have done had his power continued at this crisis, must be 
matter of conjecture. He was suddenly halted. After advancing 
with his troops to Morristown, he had taken up his quarters in a 
tavern at Baskingridge, about eleven miles from Morristown. A 
Tory revealed his movements to a British cavalry force about 
twenty miles distant. On the morning of December 13th Lee lin- 
gered late in bed, and did not breakfast till ten o'clock. A party 
of British dragoons, under Colonel Harcourt, surrounded the 
house, captured him, and bore him ofT in triumph.' 

Some thought this a heavy blow to America ; others thought 
differently. Subsequent events have made it clear that these Eng- 

1 Gordon's Amer. War, II. 129. = Irving's Washinj^ton, II. 420, 421. 

8 Wilkinsou'.s Narrative, Amer. Archives, III. 1201. Irving, II. 432, 435. 



390 ^ History of the United States of America. 

lish dragoons did good service to the cause of freedom. The 
patriot troops whom Lee had commanded promptly joined Wash- 
ington. The impression gained ground that the British would 
advance immediately on Philadelphia. The congress thought it 
best to adjourn, but, fortunately, before doing so passed a resolu- 
tion that " until they should otherwise order. General Washing- 
ton should be possessed of all power to order and direct all things 
relative to the department and to the operations of war." ^ This 
was a near approach to the power of a dictator ; but it was never 
abused. 

Knowing that Trenton was occupied by a force of about fifteen 
hundred Hessians, a troop of British light-horse and a body of 
chasseurs under Colonel Rahl, and that General Howe's forces 
were quartered loosely through New Jersey, not within easy sup- 
port of each other, Washington planned an attack, to be com- 
menced on Christmas night, December 25th. He was himself to 
lead the chief movement, but troops under General Ewing and 
the veteran Putnam were to march simultaneously in co-operation. 
The night of the 35th was intensely cold; the wind was high, 
the current strong, the river full of floating ice. Undeterred by all 
these obstacles, Washington, with his attacking force of twenty- 
four hundred men and a train of twenty light cannon, assembled at 
McKonkey's Ferry by twelve o'clock. They began to cross at sun- 
set. A powerful painting of this scene has been produced. That 
the movement should have been effected at all was a marvel. 
Colonel Rahl and many of his men are said to have indulged in 
a high carouse that night ; yet he had been warned to expect an 
attack, and by some events, never fully explained, an attack by a 
small hostile body had actually been made and had been easily 
repulsed. Believing this was all, the Germans returned to their 
revels.^ ; 

So bitter was the cold that two men in Washington's force were 
frozen to death. A storm of sleet and snow beat in their faces ; 
some of the musket locks became wet and useless. General Sul- 
livan, who led the advance, sent back the news to Washington. 
His reply was a stern order : "Advance and attack," They 
obeyed. 

P^ahl and his troops were in a flun-y ; yet he did not lose cour- 
age. The advance of the Americans was led by Capt. William 
A. Washington and Lieut. James Monroe, afterwards President 
of the United States. '■'■Dcr feind/ der feind^ Iterans, herans f^ 

1 Irving' s' Washington, II. 439. 

2 Life and Correspondence, Colonel Reed, I. 277. Note in Irving, II. 450. Justin Winsor's 
Amer., VI. 374-376. 



The War of Revolution Contimied. 391 

shouted the sentries. The Hessians were caught between two 
advancing cohimns ; retreat was impossible. Colonel Rahl or- 
dered a charge. He was on horseback, and as he rode forward a 
fatal bullet struck him and he fell from his horse. 

By this time the American artillery had unlimbered in position. 
Washington urged on the attack ; the Hessians, in bewilderment, 
attempted to escape up the bank of the Assunpink river. Colo- 
nel Hand's corps of Pennsylvania riflemen met them, and a Vir- 
ginia regiment gained their right. They were brought to a stand. 
Thinking they were forming for battle, Washington ordered a fire 
of canister ; but it was not needed. Colonel Forest exclaimed : 
" Sir, they have struck." " Struck ! " said Washington. " Yes, sir, 
their colors are down." These soldiers, fighting for hire, knew 
that the time for surrender had come. The light horse and chas- 
seurs escaped by reason of General Swing's inability to cross the 
Delaware. They thundered across the bridge over the Assunpink, 
and escaped to Count Donop's command at Bordentown. 

The American victory was complete. Washington exclaimed, 
in the presence of a subaltern : " This is a glorious day for our 
countiy."^ Small as was the force overcome, when compared 
with Howe's army, the commander-in-chief felt, by intuition, 
that this victory was decisive for freedom. It was the crisis of 
the war. 

Colonel Rahl died the next day. His body lies buried in the 
grave-yard of the Presbyterian church. One of his subordinate 
officers, though he has written a satirical account of his last days, 
has made a just estimate of the import of his death, and of the 
American victory. He wrote : " The Americans will hereafter 
set up a stone above thy grave with this inscription : 

" Hier liegt der Oberst Rahl 
Mit ihm ist alles all!"^ 

1 Ir\'ing's Washinafton, II. 455. 

2 Tagebuch des Johannes Reuber. Irving, II. •ll'i, 444, 458. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
Princeton. — Brandy wine. — Germantown. — Valley Forge. 

WHEN tidings of the success at Trenton reached the country, 
universal joy was excited. The people realized that their 
cause was hopeful ; and in proportion as the British king had 
been hated for employing hired soldiers from Germany, and the 
Hessians had been hated for their excesses, in the same proportion 
the triumph over them was an inspiration. Men were recruited ; 
money was raised. The committee of congress wrote to Wash- 
ington, transmitting resolutions passed on the 37th of December, 
which invested him with power in all military matters, even more 
thoroughly dictatorial than that previously noted herein. They 
wrote : " Happy is it for this country that the general of her 
forces can safely be intrusted with the most unlimited power, 
and neither personal security, liberty, nor property be in the 
slightest degree endangered thereby."^ Washington's reply was 
worthy : " I find congress have done me the honor to intrust me 
with powers, in my military capacity, of the highest nature and 
almost unlimited extent. Instead of thinking myself freed from 
all civil obligations by this mark of their confidence, I shall con- 
stantly bear in mind that, as the sword was the last resort for the 
preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid 
aside when those liberties are firmly established."^ 

The congress had adopted the " Declaration of Independence" 
of the united colonies on the 4th day of July of this year. It will 
need more attention when we narrate the " revolution " as distinct 
from the war. After the success at Trenton, it was hoped that 
the great monarchy of France might be induced to recognize the 
thirteen confederated republics as among the sovereign nations 
of the world. Louis XVI. was on the throne, having become 
king May loth, 1774, by the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. 
Though he had married, in 1770, Marie Antoinette, Archduchess 
of Austria, all of whose influence and that of her family were in 
favor of absolutism, yet Louis was moderate and sensible, and was 
yielding more and more to reforms required by the growing spirit 
1 Amer. Archives, 5th Series, III. 1510. 2 Jrv-ing's Washington, II. 469. 

[ 392 ] 



Commissioners Sent to France. 393 

of freedom. Moreover, American statesmen could not ignore, as 
an element favorable to their hopes, the long continued wars 
between France and England, and the seven years' contest which 
had obliterated New France. The independence of the United 
States, if established, would be a heavy blow to British pride and 
power. But the military events following the Declaration of In- 
dependence were not immediately encouraging. The new hopes 
inspired by Washington's decisive success at Trenton determined 
the congress to make an earnest effort to obtain aid and recogni- 
tion in France. 

Early in 1776, Silas Deane, of Connecticut, had been sent to 
France to solicit aid for the belligerent colonies. He had done 
what he could, but had obtained very little direct aid. On the 
30th December, 1776, by a resolution of the congress, Benjamin 
Franklin, of Pennsylvania ; Silas Deane, of Connecticut, and 
Arthur Lee, of Virginia, were appointed commissioners to repre- 
sent the United States in Paris, and seek from France recognition 
and alliance. Thomas Jefferson had been nominated, but had de- 
clined. Arthur Lee was so eminent that he has been designated 
as " the scholai", the writer, the philosopher and the negotiator." ^ 

The commissioners were informally received, but met with no 
immediate success. The court and the French nobles regarded 
the Americans as insurgents against a legitimate government ; and 
France was too much occupied with her own internal ebullitions to 
desire a war with England. Nevertheless, secret aid was quietly 
given. A French sloop-of-war of twenty-four guns slipped into 
an American port and landed eleven thousand stand of arms and 
a thousand barrels of powder.^ Money, in considerable amount, 
was also advanced. For all this the commissioners agreed that the 
States would pay, through a mercantile house, by remittances of 
tobacco and other produce. 

The move of Washington on Trenton had created a great stir 
among the British powers in New York. Howe instantly recalled 
Cornwallis, who was about to sail for England, and started him 
with a heavy force to overwhelm and capture the detached Amer- 
ican wing that had done this deed. After securing his prisoners 
and spoils, Washington, reinforced by Cadwalader, had returned 
to Trenton ; and again, early in 1777, by the exercise of great 
strategic talent and energy, he gained another brilliant success. 

As Cornwallis marched towards Trenton he found his flanks and 
rear constantly beset by the armed militia of the country, who had 

> Thalheimor's Eclec. U. S., 153, note p. 160. D. B. Scott's U. S., 177 
2 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 218. 



394 ^ History of the United States of America 

"been thoroughly aroused by the outrages of the hated Hessians. 
He was also attacked with inferior forces by General Greene and 
Colonel Hand ^ ; but he pressed on, and by the evening of Jan- 
uary 2d the head of his anny entered Trenton. Washington was 
now in a critical condition. Seven thousand men faced him on 
the other side of the little river Assunpink. To retire again across 
the Delaware was impracticable, because of floating ice and the 
pressin-e of the enemy. Cornwallis was quite confident of suc- 
cess. It is said that Sir William Erskine urged him to attack 
Washington that evening, even after sunset ; but his lordship de- 
clined the uncertainties of a night battle, assuring Erskine, how^- 
ever, that he would "bag the fox in the morning." ''' 

Washington now conceived and executed a movement w^hich 
was as masterly as it was successful. He kept his camp-fires 
burning and his sentries w^alking and relieving each other regu- 
larly all night. He sent off" his heavy baggage towards Burling- 
ton. A sudden freeze hardened the roads and helped him. On 
the 3d of January, 1777, avoiding the rear-guard of Cornwallis' 
army, which, under General Leslie, v\^as approaching, Washing- 
ton, with the body of his army, marched silently on another road 
towards Princeton, directing the sentries to retire quietly at day- 
break. 

Three British regiments with three troops of dragoons had been 
quartered all night at Princeton, under orders to join Cornwallis 
in the morning. Colonel Mawhood, with the Seventeenth regi- 
ment, was already on the march ; the Fifty-fifth was to follow. 
Mawhood had crossed a bridge on his road, when, gaining the 
summit of a hill, he was surprised to see the glitter of arms on 
the Quaker road. This was the force of General Mercer, Dela- 
w^ares, Marylanders and Philadelphians, about three hundred and 
fifty in number, hastening to secure the bridge. Mawhood sup- 
posed they ^vel■e broken parts of the American army flying before 
Cornwallis. He faced about and made a retrograde movement 
to cut them off", sending, at the same time, messengers to hurry 
the regiments in Princeton, so as effectually to pen in the fugi- 
tives. 

A sharp encounter followed between the forces under Mercer 
and Mawhood. The Americans gained a rising ground near the 
house of a Mr. Clark, of the " Friends," and, throwing themselves 
behind a hedge, opened w^ith their rifles a destructive fire. Maw- 
hood's inen, though suffering severely, returned the fire with 

1 Irving, II. 472, 473. Thalheimer, 147, 148. Quackenbos, 23.3 
" Ir\-ing's Washington, II. 473. 



Pri?iceion 395 

spirit, and charged with the bayonet. The Americans, having 
few bayonets, and being pressed by numbers, gave wav. Mer- 
cer's horse had been crippled by a musket ball. He dismounted, 
and on foot attempted to rally his men. A blow from the butt of 
a musket struck him down. He rose and defended himself with 
his sword until he was surrounded, bayoneted repeatedly, and 
left for dead.' 

Meanwhile a large force of Pennsylvania militia advanced to 
the rescue. Washington, seeing Mercer's men retreating and the 
Pennsylvanians brought to a stand, galloped at full speed from a 
by-road to the front, waving his hat and cheering his men. His 
commanding figure and white horse attracted all eyes. The 
Pennsylvanians, with loud cheers, rallied and pressed forward. 
The Seventh Virginia regiment rushed on the enemy. Captain 
Moulder, with his artillery, opened on Mawhood's troops. Col- 
onel Fitzgerald, aid to Washington, seeing him in imminent 
danger, drew his hat over his eyes to shut out the sight of his 
fall ; but he was not hurt. " Away, Colonel Fitzgerald ! " he 
shouted, " and bring up our troops." ^ 

The day was gained. Mawhood, instead of pressing a flying 
foe, found his regiment beset on all sides, and with the loss of 
more than half his numbers in killed, wounded and prisoners, 
retreated with the remnant on the road to Trenton. The Fifty- 
fifth regiment, marching rapidly out of Princeton, was encoun- 
tered by the Americans under Genera! .St. Clair, and, after some 
sharp fighting, broke and scattered with heavy loss, the fugitives 
making their v/ay towards Brunswick. The remaining British 
regiment -was successfully encountered by the now victorious 
patriots. Part of them fled towards Brunswick; the rest took 
refuge in the college buildings. Artillery was promptly brought, 
and, finding their case desperate, they surrendered. 

In these several encounters the American loss was not more 
than thirty ; but among their slain was the heroic General Mercer. 
He w^as removed to the residence of Mr. Clark, and died on the 
12th of January, nine days after the battle. Dr. Benjamin Rush, 
afterwards so eininent as a physician, was with him when he died. 
The British loss was about one hundred killed, two hundred 
wounded, and three hundred prisoners, fourteen of \vhom were 
officers.^ 

Cornwallis, instead of "bagging the fox," was amazed early 
the next morning to hear the sound of the cannon and musketry 

1 Irving's Washington, II. 477. - Ibid., 478, 479. 

3 Compare Irving II. 479^ with Stephens, 234. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 118. 



396 A History of the United States of America. 

at Princeton. Erskine instantly grasped the situation. He cried 
out : "To arms! General Washington has outgeneraled us. Let 
us march to the rescue of Princeton.'" 

But it was too late. Rapidly securing his prisoners and the 
spoils of war, Washington marched with his army to the heights 
of Morristown. Here he was soon intrenched so strongly that 
Cornwallis ventured not to attack him. But the American com- 
mander was unceasing in enterprise, sending out detachments and 
assaulting or driving out the scattered bodies of English and Hes- 
sian troops, until only two posts in the Jerseys — Brunswick and 
Amboy — remained in the hands of the enemy.* 

These successes had the happiest effect on the American cause. 
They encouraged patriot hearts, and satisfied them that in their 
military leader they had one as courageous and enterprising as 
he was prudent. The name of " the American Fabius," applied to 
Washington, originated not in America, but in Europe.' 

General Howe had formed the plan of weakening the American 
cause by destroying their military stores. He sent a force against 
Peekskill, a point on the east side of the Hudson, which Howe 
termed " the port of that rough and mountainous tract called the 
Manor of Courtlandt." Here provisions and stores had been col- 
lected ; but, fearing an attack, the patriot officers had removed 
most of them to Forts Montgomery and Constitution, in the High- 
lands. On the morning of the 23d of March, 1777, a squadron 
of war vessels and transports, with five hundred British soldiers 
under Colonel Bird, came to anchor in Peekskill bay. Colonel 
McDougall, the patriot commander, set fire to the barracks and 
empty store-houses, and retreated two miles to a strong post com- 
manding the entrance to the Highlands, which Washington had 
noted as a place where a small force could maintain its stand by 
hurling down rocks on the assailants. Col. Marvin Willet, at 
Fort Constitution, hastened to McDougall's assistance. 

The British found their object defeated. They advanced to- 
wards the Highlands, but were met and roughly handled by 
Colonel Willet, and driven back with loss. Finding the country 
people arming in their rear, they hastened back, and the whole 
force retreated down the river in their ships.* 

This disappointment only whetted Howe's appetite for destruc- 
tion of American stores. Ex-Governor Tryon, after losing his 
power in New York, was commissioned as major-general of pro- 
vincials (that is, Tories) in the British army. He organized a 

1 Note in Barnes <fe Co.'s TJ. S., 118. 2 Stephens' Com p. U. S., 234 

'Washington, bv Irving, II. 486. 

* living's Washington, III. 29, 30. Stephens, 236. Goodrich, 219. 



Marauding Exf editions. 39^ 

mongrel force of two thousand — American, Irish and British ref- 
ugees — from various parts of the country, and, accompanied by 
General Agnew and Sir William Erskine, sailed in twenty-six 
vessels for the shores of Connecticut on the sound. Landing on 
the 36th of April near the mouth of Saugatuck river, he marched 
upon Danbury, twenty-three miles distant, where a considerable 
quantity of patriot stores had been collected. General Wooster 
commanded this department. He was old, but full of fire and 
daring. The militia were not organized. General Arnold, how- 
ever, happened to be in the neighborhood. He had been passed 
over by congress, and several officers junior to him in service had 
been made major-generals over him ; ^ but now, forgetting his 
injuries, he threw his whole energy into the work of organizing 
a force to oppose Tryon. 

The British force reached Danbury with little opposition, 
destroyed eighteen houses, eight hundred ban-els of pork and beef, 
eight hundred barrels of flour, two thousand bushels of grain, 
and seventeen hundred tents intended for the patriot army. A 
few houses belonging to Tories were spared.^ 

But on their return they found the road blocked before them by 
the daring Arnold with five hundred men. The veteran Wooster, 
with General Silliman as volunteer, attacked their rear, and 
inflicted severe loss ; but while leading and encouraging his men, 
Wooster received a mortal wound by a musket ball. He fell 
from his horse, and his discouraged troops retreated.* 

Arnold continued to opjDose the enemy. His barricades enabled 
him. to hold his position for a time, and to inflict heavy blows ; 
but the flanking parties of the enemy were threatening to gain 
his rear, and he ordered a reti'eat. His horse was shot under him, 
and while Arnold was entangled by the stirrups, a Tory advanced 
on him with fixed bayonet, exclaiming : " You are my prisoner !" 
" Not yet," cried Arnold, who had drawn a pistol from his holster, 
and taking careful aim he shot the Tory dead, and, leaping into 
the adjoining thickets, escaped. He continued, with increased 
forces, to harass the wearied foe under Tryon until they were 
protected by the cannon shot of their ships, and re-embarked.* 
They lost nearly three hundred men. The patriot loss was small 
in numbers, but it included General Wooster. 

For this raid the Americans speedily devised retaliation. Col- 
onel Meigs, who had accompanied Arnold to Quebec, and had 
caught some of his unconquerable spirit, set out from Guilford, in 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 46, 47. 2 Goodrich's U. S., 219. 

8 Irving, III. 49. * Goodrich, 219. Stephens, 236. 



39^ A History of the United States of Atfierica. 

Connecticut, on the 33d of May, 1777, and crossed Long Islandj 
Sound with one hundred and seventy men in whale-boats, con- 
veyed by two armed sloops. He carried his boats over the neck 
of land near the eastern end of Long Island, and, before day' 
attacked and overcame the British garrison at Sag Harbor, 
burned a dozen armed brigs and sloops, destroyed all the stores, 
and carried away ninety prisoners, officers and men. Washington 
was highly pleased with this feat, and publicly returned thanks 
to Colonel Meigs. The destruction of forage w^as very damaging 
to the enemy, who found it difficult to maintain their cavalry and 
artillery horses.^ 

In July, 1777, the British General Prescott, who had made him- 
self especially hateful by his treatment of Col. Ethan Allen and 
his arrogance in dealing with Americans, was quartered in Rhode 
Island at a country house near the western shore of the island 
on which lies the town of Newport. He was not dreaming of 
danger, though it was near. Colonel Barton, of the Rhode Island 
militia, with forty resolute men, embarked at Warwick Neck, and 
pulled with muffled oars across the bay, undiscovered by the 
ships of war or guard-boats. Avoiding the guard'near the house, 
they captured the sentry, secured the persons of General Prescott 
and his aid, and safely returned to Warwick. Washington was 
glad afterv/ards to exchange Prescott for Gen. Charles Lee, but 
whether anything was thus gained for the American cause is doubt- 
ful.^ Congress voted a sword to Barton, and appointed him col- 
onel in the regular army. 

But larger movements were now in progress, requiring all the 
penetration and caution of the American commander-in-chief in or- 
der to meet them successfully. It became evident that a formidable 
descent in great force was to be made from Canada down the line 
of the Hudson, and that the British would call to their aid the 
savage Indians, and use them with no scruples as to their merci- 
less warfare. Washington corresponded with General Schuyler, 
and detached Morgan with five hundred riflemen for service in 
the northern patriot army. He also sent all the other troops he 
could spare, with Arnold in command. 

Howe from New York manoeuvred to deceive him, but was baf- 
fled in every effort.^ It was soon known that a large fleet of war 
ships and transports, with an eff'ective army, had sailed from New 
York. To what point they were going was a question which 
kept the American commander and his officers in perplexity for 

1 Irving, III. 52, 53. Stephens, 236. Berry's U. S., 121. 

2 Stephens, 236. Derry's U. S., 121. Irving, III. 112, 113. 
^Irving's Washington, III. 76-79. 



Arrival of Distinguished European Officers. 399 

several weeks, and compelled movements in very hot weather be- 
tween the Jerseys and the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

Washington and the congress were also troubled as to the 
proper position to be assigned to a number of European officers 
who came to America to embrace her cause. Some of them had 
received injudicious promises from Silas Deane in Paris. Among • 
these, two need special mention. One, Mons. Ducoudray, on the 
strength of Deane's pi'omises, expected to be commissioned as 
major-general, and to have the command of all the American 
artillery. Washington earnestly deprecated this, as it would put 
the very life of the army in the hands of a foreigner, and would 
endanger the loss of the invaluable services of General Knox. 
The congress, therefore, declined to ratify the asserted promise 
of Deane.' Another of his favorites was one Colonel Conway, 
an Irish officer, who, by his own claims, had been thirty years in 
the service of France, and wore the decoration of the order of St. 
Louis. He was highly commended by Deane. He was appointed 
a brigadier-general, but the only notoriety he ever gained was 
that of having actively moved in a disgraceful cabal against 
Washington." 

Very different men from these were Thaddeus Kosciuszko, from 
Poland ; Count Pulaski, from the same brave people ; Baron Steu- 
ben, from Prussia ; the Baron DeKalb, from France ; and, above 
them all, the Marquis Gilbert Alotier De La Fayette. He was only 
twenty years old when he came to America. He had been mar- 
ried nearly three years to a lady of rank and fortune, whom he 
tenderly loved. His government and nearest relatives opposed 
his going to America ; but such was his enthusiasm for liberty, 
excited by hearing the Declaration of Independence read, that he 
evaded all obstacles, and purchasing a vessel with his own means 
he landed in Charleston and came to Philadelphia.^ Here he was 
first met by Washington in 1777. A friendship arose between 
them which was never broken. 

The mystery of Howe's movements was solved in August. 
His objective point was Philadelphia. His shortest water route 
was by the capes of Delaware. His fleet took a week to reach 
those capes. There they learned that obstructions in Delaware 
river and two forts on its banks would oppose their ascent. They, 
therefore, adopted a longer route of approach ; they sailed for the 
capes of Virginia, and made their way slowly up to the head of 
Chesapeake Bay. 

ilrving, III. 41. = Irving', III. 42. Marshall's Washington. 

3 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note 119, 120. Irving, III. 133, 134. 



400 A History of the United States of America. 

Washington advanced with his army to meet them ; he had 
with him Pulaski, Deborre, Conway and La Fayette. Col. Henry 
Lee, from Virginia, then in his twenty -second year, had also joined 
him with his cavalry corps. He was afterwards celebrated as 
"Light Horse Harry" in the Southern campaigns. General Sul- 
livan had also reinforced Washington with three thousand men.^ 

The Brandyv^^ine creek has two branches, which unite into one. 
Flowing from west to east, it empties into the Delaware about 
twenty-five miles below Philadelphia. It has several fords ; the 
best, and the one in the most direct line from the enemy's camp 
to Philadelphia, was called " Chadd's Ford." Here Washington 
expected the weight of the attack. He made it, therefore, the 
centre of his position, and stationed at it the main body of his 
army, consisting of the brigades of Wayne, Weedon and Muhlen- 
berg, and the light infantry under Maxwell. A rising ground 
immediately above the ford was intrenched during the night of 
September loth, and occupied by Wayne and Proctor's artillery. 

The battle fought September nth, 1777, has been by some his- 
torians called the battle of " Chadd's Ford ;" ^ but this is a pal- 
pable misnomer. Had the battle been really fought there, the 
Americans would have been victorious. A force under General 
Knyphausen, supposed to be the main body of the British army, 
did, indeed, advance upon Chadd's Ford, drive Maxwell's light 
troops from the south side of the river, and, taking its stand on 
advantageous ground, keep up a heavy fire of artillery and feint 
of immediate crossing and attack.* 

But this was only to conceal the real and decisive move. The 
main body, under Lord Cornwallis, marched by a circuitous route 
silently up the river and crossed at a ford far above Chadd's. 
Washington heard rumors of this march, and sent Col. Theodoric 
Bland with a troop of horse to reconnoiter the upper fords. Un- 
fortunately, conflicting stateinents were brought. Washington 
contemplated a counter-move with his whole force to crush 
Knyphausen ; but he did not know the truth until it was too late. 
Cornwallis crossed, and fell on the right flank of the American 
army with terrible energy. The Long Island strategy had been 
repeated with perfect success. Sullivan opposed Cornwallis with 
vigor, but could not resist the numbers. La Fayette exposed 
himself gallantly in this part of the battle, but, receiving a mus- 
ket ball through his leg, was disabled. Greene marched with his 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 182. 

s Ex. Scudder's U. S., 213. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 193. Swlnton's Cond. U. S., 132. Prof. 
Jolinston's U. S., its Const, and Hist., 71. 
8 Irving's Washington, III. 187-190. 



Brandywine. 401 

division four miles in fifty minutes to help Sullivan, and together 
they stemmed the surging tide. But the battle v^^as lost. Wash- 
ington ordered a retreat. Wayne had stubbornly resisted Knyp- 
hausen's attempt to cross, and when he withdrew the British 
troops were too much wearied to follow. The American loss 
was three hundred killed, six hundred wounded and one hundred 
taken prisoners. The British loss was about ninety killed and 
five hundred wounded and missing.^ 

Washington felt keenly the mortification of this defeat. To 
save Philadelphia to the patriot cause, he prepared, under the ad- 
vice of congress, to fight another battle on the i6th of Septem- 
ber ; but an unexpected and heavy rain so moistened the powder 
in the cartridge-boxes of his troops that he could not hazard an 
engagement.^ Congress retired from Philadelphia, first to Lan- 
caster and afterwards to York, in Pennsylvania ; but before leav- 
ing they summoned the militia of that and the neighboring States 
to join the main army without delay, and ordered down fifteen 
hundred Continental troops from Putnam's command on the Hud- 
son. They also conferred on Washington power to suspend any 
officer for misbehavior, and to impress provisions or articles needed 
for the army, paying or giving certificates for them. These ex- 
traordinary powers were limited to seventy miles around head- 
quarters and to sixty days in time, unless sooner revoked by the 
congress.* 

Washington was too wise to shut up his army in the intrench- 
ments of Philadelphia, where he would have soon been surrounded 
by the British army and the Tory forces, and starved into a sur- 
render, which would have lost the patriot cause. Such military 
blunders had been made before his day, and have been made since. 
He abandoned Philadelphia for a time, and retreated under a cold 
and pelting rain to Warwick, on French creek. 

Here General Wayne was detached with his division to get in 
the rear of the enemy, form a junction with Smallwood and the 
Maryland militia, and, keeping themselves concealed, watch for 
an opportunity to cut oft' Howe's baggage and hospital trains. 
Wayne marched at night, and, by a circuitous route, reached a 
point near Paoli, within three miles of Howe's left wing. The 
British were encamped — kept quiet by the inclement weather. 
Wayne mistook their quiet for supineness and incaution, and 
wrote to Washington : " The enemy are very quiet, washing and 
cooking. I expect General Maxwell on the left flank every mo- 
ment, and as I lay on the right, we only want you in their rear to 

1 Compare Quackenbos, 249. D. B. Scott's U. S., 282. Swinton, 132. 
a Goo<frich, 221. Irving, III. 198. » Irving, III. 195. 

26 



402 A History of the United States of A?nerica. 

complete Mr. Howe's business. I believe he knows nothing of 
my situation, as I have taken every precaution to prevent any in- 
telligence getting to him, at the same time keeping a watchful 
eye on his front, flanks and rear." ' 

But at this very time Sir William Howe had received through 
Tories accurate information as to Wayne's position and force, and 
sent General Grey with a strong British force to make a night 
attack. Late in the evening of September 20th a countryman 
informed Wayne of the meditated assault. He doubted it, but 
strengthened his pickets and ordered his men to sleep on their 
arms. 

At eleven o'clock the attacking column under Grey drove in 
Wayne's pickets, and rushed on with the bayonet. Colonel 
Hampton, second in command under Wayne, was tardy, and ab- 
surdly paraded his men in front of their fires, so as completely to 
expose them to view. Without firing a shot the British regulars 
charged with deadly steel. Nearly three hundred of Hampton's 
men fell, killed or wounded. The Americans fired some dam- 
aging volleys, and then, under Wayne's orders, retreated, and 
formed again ready for defence. The enemy, however, content 
with the severe loss they had inflicted, retired with eighty prison- 
ers and eight baggage wagons heavily laden. ^ 

Wayne, as daring as he was efficient, was deepl}- mortified by 
this affair, which was a subject of severe criticism in the army. 
He demanded a court of inquiry, which pronounced his conduct 
everything that was to be expected from an active, brave and 
vigilant officer, and laid any blame involved in the matter on the 
tardiness and unskillful dispositions of his second in command. 

On the 26th of September, 1777, the British army occupied 
Philadelphia. Here they remained for nine months, feasting, 
dramatizing and carousing during the winter, spring and part of 
the summer, and so dissipating their time and energy, and doing 
so little towards the conquest of the country, that Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin afterwards truthfully remarked that " though Howe and 
his army claimed to have captured Philadelphia, in fact Phila- 
delphia had captured Howe and his army.'" 

Sir William Howe had encamped the larger part of his foixes 
at Germantown, about seven miles from Philadelphia. Anxious 
to ©pen the Delaware for the war ships of his brother, the admi- 
ral, he detached, early in October, a large part of his force to 

1 WajTie to AVashington, 1777. Irving, III. 200. 

2 Art" Wavne, Amer. Eocvclop. Irviog's Washiugton, III. 201. 

3 Taylor's" Centeu. U. S., "191. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., (note) 120. Washington to Congress, 
Sparks, V. 71. 



Germantoivn. 403 

operate in the Jerseys, and, if possible, reduce the forts on the 
river. Being informed of this weakening of the force at Ger- 
mantown, Washington formed a plan of attack. Germantown 
was then a straggling village of a single street, with a large and 
strong dwelling-house of stone a little outside of the town, the 
residence of Benjamin Chew, Chief-justice of Pennsylvania pi'e- 
vious to the Revolution. It had ornamented grounds, statues, 
groves and shrubbery. 

The American plan of attack was somewhat elaborate, involv- 
ing the necessity for concert of several large bodies and on several 
roads. Nevertheless, it came near to being an entire success. 
About dusk on the 3d of October the army of Washington left its 
encampment at Alatuchen Hills by the different routes indicated 
in orders. The march of fifteen miles, though wearying, was 
cheerfully borne. Wayne opened the battle by throwing his 
troops upon the light infantry who formed the enemy's advance. 
They bi'oke and retired, but soon formed again, and a well di- 
rected fire was sustained on both sides. Wayne's men pressed 
forward impetuously, and the ranks of the foe were again broken. 
The grenadiers came to their aid. Sullivan's division and Con- 
way's brigade joined in the attack. The British infantry were 
routed, and retreated, leaving the artillery behind. Wayne hotly 
pursued them. His troops remembered the bloody work at Paoli, 
and fully retaliated it. In the language of Wayne: "They 
pushed on with the bayonet, and took ample vengeance for that 
night's work." The whole of the enemy's advance troops were 
driven from their camping-ground, leaving their tents and all 
their baggage. But Colonel Musgrave, with six companies of 
the Fortieth regiment, threw themselves into " Chew's house," 
barricaded the doors and lower windows, and took post above 
stairs. Part of Wayne's division passed them, pursuing the flying 
foe towards the village.^ 

But as the rest of the division came up, Musgrave's men opened 
a fire of musketr}' on them from the upper windows. This halted 
them ; and here commenced the fatal error of the battle. Some 
of the oflicers were for pushing on, leaving a few companies and 
some light artillery to deal with Musgrave should he attempt to 
pursue ; but General Knox insisted on the old military canon 
(not applicable in this case) of never advancing into a hostile 
country leaving an unreduced fortress behind. His advice pre- 
vailed. A young lieutenant. Smith, of Virginia, went forward 
under a flag to summon the garrison to surrender ; he received 

ilrving's Washington, III. 262, 263. 



404 A History of the United States of America, 

a mortal wound. Artillery was opened, but it was too light to 
make much impression on the massive stone walls. A patriot 
soldier made an attempt to set fire to the basement ; he was shot 
dead from a grated window. Thus an hour of precious time 
was lost. Finally a regiment was left to watch the garrison, and 
the rest of the division pressed on ; but the delay of nearly half 
the American army was never recovered from. 

Sullivan, with N?,sh's North Carolina troops and Conway's 
brigade, broke the left wing of the enemy and pushed them a mile 
beyond Chew's house. Green and Stephen pressed sternly upon 
the right wing, drove the light troops before them, and took a 
number of prisoners. The impetuosity of their attack caused the 
enemy to waver. Forman and Smallwood, with the Jersey and 
Maryland men, were just pouring in on the right flank. Every- 
thing indicated a rout of the British troops. 

But at this moment a panic, never fully explained, spread 
thi-ough the patriot army. Sullivan's troops had expended their 
cartridges, and saw the enemy gathering on their left. Wayne's 
men had pushed all before them for nearly three miles, but were 
alarmed by the approach of a large body of Americans, whom 
they mistook for foes. They retreated, and disordered Stephen's 
men. All was confusion ; the fog was so thick that movements 
could not be clearly discerned ; no concert of attack could be 
secui"ed. 

The British General Grey rallied their left wing and advanced. 
Lord Cornwallis arrived with a squadron of light-horse from Phil- 
adelphia and joined in the pursuit. The battle, after being gained, 
was lost. The Americans retreated, but carried with them all 
their cannon and their wounded. They lost one hundred and fifty 
killed, five hundred and twenty-one wounded, and about four hun- 
dred prisoners. General Nash was among the killed. The Brit- 
ish loss was stated by them at seventy-one killed, four hundred 
and fifteen wounded, and fourteen missing. Their General Agnew 
was killed. 

In this battle Washington exposed himself and encouraged his 
troops amid the hottest fire. General Sullivan rode up to him, 
and implored him to take a safer place. He yielded for a time, 
but was soon again in the midst of the combat.^ 

Though this battle of Germantown was not a complete success, 
it was encouraging to America and depressing to her enemies. A 
contemporary British historian said : " In this action the Ameri- 
cans acted upon the oftensive, and, though repulsed with loss, 
1 Irving's Washington, III. 263-266. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 191. 



Germantoivn. 405 

showed themselves a formidable adversary, capable of charging 
with resolution and retreating with good order. The hope, there- 
fore, entertained from the effect of any action with them as deci- 
sive, and likely to put a speedy termination to the war, was ex- 
ceedingly abated." ^ 

Howe removed all the troops from Germantown to Philadel- 
phia ; but he persevered in his efforts to capture the American 
forts on the Delaware river. The most important of these were 
Fort Mifflin, on a low, green, reedy island below the mouth of the 
Schuylkill and a few miles below Philadelphia, and Fort Mercer, 
a strong work at Red Bank, on the Jersey shore. Chevaux-de- 
frise, difficult either to be weighed or cut through, were planted 
in the channel between the forts, and ffoating batteries, galleys 
and fire-ships, under Commodore Hazelwood, were stationed un- 
der the forts for further defence. 

Tlie Red Bank fort was garrisoned by four hundred of General 
Varnum's Rhode Island Continentals. Col. Christopher Greene, 
a brave officer who had accompanied Arnold through Maine to 
Quebec, was in command. He was efficiently aided by Col. Man- 
duit Duplessis, a young French engineer of much merit. 

On the 32d October, 1777, a body of twelve hundred Hessians ap- 
proached, under command of Count Donop. Greene kept his men 
out of sight as far as practicable. The outworks were yet unfin- 
ished. Thinking the garrison weak, Donop sent a drummer and 
a flag, and summoned them to surrender, with a threat of no quar- 
ter if they resisted. Greene replied that the fort would be de- 
fended to the last extremity. 

Donop's men advanced gallantly in two columns under the fire 
of their artillery. They were severely galled as they approached 
by a flanking fire from the American galleys, and artillery and 
musketry from the outworks ; but with heavy loss they pressed 
forward on two points. By previous order from Greene and Du- 
plessis, the outworks were now abandoned, the men retiring 
within the deep moat and intrenchments of the fort. 

Thinking their success certain, the Hessians cheered loudly and 
advanced on the inner works. A tremendous discharge of grape- 
shot and musketry burst from the embrasures in front and a half 
masked battery on the left. The slaughter was horrible ; the 
attacking columns were driven back in rout. Count Donop, at 
the head of one column, had actually passed the abattis when a 
similar tempest of artillery and musketry burst upon them. They 
fell like leaves before the storm. Donop was wounded and fell. 

1 civil War in America, I. 2(59. Irving, 111. 267, 268. 



406 A History of the United States of Aynerica. 

His second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel Minigerode, was 
also dangerously wounded, Linsing, the senior officer remaining, 
tried to withdraw the troops, but in retiring they were again cut 
to pieces by a merciless fire/ The survivors retreated. 

In this short assault the defeated Hessians lost four hundred 
men killed and wounded ; the American loss was eight killed and 
twenty-nine wounded. Count Donop was drawn by Duplessis 
out of a bloody heap of the wounded. He was humanely cared 
for, but died in three days. He was but thirty-seven years old. 
His last words were : " I die the victim of my ambition and of 
the avarice of my sovereign."^ 

At the same time an attack by water was made on Fort Mifflin. 
The naval force attacking was the Augusta, of sixty- four guns, the 
Roebuck, of forty-four, two frigates, the JSIerlin, sloop of eighteen 
guns, and a galley ; but though they broke through the lower line 
of chevaux-de-frise, they could not capture the fort. The Augusta 
and Merlin got fastened on the second line. The American bat- 
teries opened, and a red-hot shot set the Augusta on fire. The 
flames could not be extinguished, and she blew up, with her second 
lieutenant, chaplain, gunner and many men yet aboard. The 
Merlin was set on fire and abandoned. The other ships retreated. 
The attack had failed.* 

These repulses greatly cheered the country. Congress voted 
thanks and a sword to Colonel Greene, Colonel Smith, of Mary- 
land, who commanded at Fort Mifflin, and to Commodore Hazel- 
wood. 

But Howe, though slow, was persistent. The forts on the Del- 
aware had already cost him dearly in lives and means. They 
were to be captured at any cost. In November he succeeded in 
arraying against them such naval and military forces that first 
Fort Mifflin was abandoned and the garrison retired to Fort Mer- 
cer, which was in like manner evacuated on the 17th of Novem- 
ber, 1777. The works were destroyed. Part of the American 
galleys escaped up the river in a fog ; part were set on fire by 
their crews and abandoned. 

Thus the Delaware was open to the enemy. They could not 
immediately remove the obstructions, but they opened a sufficient 
channel for transports and vessels of moderate burden to bring 
provisions and supplies for their army in Philadelphia. 

Resisting all rash advice from General Wayne (Mad Anthony, 
as he was familiarly called). Lord Stirling and other high Amer- 
ican officers, to attack the British in their intrenched camps around 

1 Irving, III. 272, 273. ^De Chastellux, I. 266. ^irving, III. 274. 



Valley Forge. 407 

Lhat city, and resisting the daring impulses of his own nature, 
which seconded such advice, Washington prepared for his dreary 
inarch and winter encampment at Valley Forge, in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, on the west side of the Schuylkill river, about 
twenty miles from Philadelphia. 

Hungry and cold, the soldiers, who had been so long keeping 
the field, marched along roads sometimes marked with blood from 
their wounded feet. Provisions were scant, clothes worn out, 
shoes worthless ; yet at that very time the cominissariat was so 
deranged by the depreciation of the Continental money that we 
are told, " hogsheads of shoes, stockings and clothing were lying 
at different places on the roads and in the woods, perishing for 
want of teams, or of money to pay the teamsters."^ 

The Ainerican army reached Valley Forge on the 17th of De- 
cember. Winter had set in with severity ; yet they were obliged 
to shelter themselves only in tents till they could cut down trees 
and construct the huts of their camp. Here Washington remained 
with his men during this sad and gloomy winter. We need not 
be surprised that sometimes a spirit approaching mutiny apjDeared 
among the inen, which could only be quelled by his commanding 
influence.^ The Pennsylvania legislature complained to congress 
because Washington went into winter quarters ; and some of the 
Pennsylvania farmers withheld food and forage, preferring to sell 
for gold to the English army.^ 

The sufferings of his men, the derangement of the public 
finances, and the depression of the patriot cause were not the 
only burdens bearing on his heart. A disgraceful conspiracy 
had been gradually formed, to which high officers of the army 
and a few members of congress were parties, to injure his reputa- 
tion and displace him from the chief command. With this con- 
spiracy the names of Gates, Conway, Miflflin and Wilkinson are 
inseparably connected.* It was exposed and defeated, and it 
brought out from Washington no expression of impatience — • 
nothing, in fact, save the grand words which embody his sublime 
character : " But it is to be hoped that all will yet end well. If 
the cause is advanced, indifferent is it to me ivhere or in ivhat 
quarter it happens.'''' " 

It was while he was endin-ing these multiplied burdens that 
we find him seeking strength for himself and for his country from 
Divine Power and Providence. He had his headquarters in the 

1 Gordon's Amer. War, II. 279. -Ibid., 309-311. living's Washington, III. 30". 

3 Irving' s Washington, III. 308-312. * Ibid., 276-283. 

5 Letter of \Vashington to Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, quoted in Irvlng's 
Life of Washington, III. 282, 283. 



4o8 A History of the United States of America. 

house of Isaac Potts. One day, when Potts was making his way 
through a wood up the waters of a creek, and near to a secluded 
spot, he heard a voice of one evidently in prayer, and yet prayer 
intended to be secret prayer. Drawing silently nearer, he discov- 
ered Washington on his knees, saw his signs of deep emotion, and 
heard his words as he prayed for the success and freedom of 
America. Potts retired to his home, and, narrating what he had 
seen and heard to his wife, said, with earnest feeling : " If there 
is any one to whom the Lord will listen, it is George Washington ; 
and under such a commander our independence is certain."* God 
was on his side. 

Mrs. Washington visited his camp and remained for some time, 
sharing all the privations of his life. His dinner consisted often 
of a few potatoes and some salted herring, and his dessert was a 
plate of hickory nuts.^ 

It was during this winter- that Baron Steuben, of Prussia, ren- 
dered invaluable service to the American cause by drilling and 
manoeuvring the army according to the best methods of his own 
warlike country. The effects of his labors were permanently 
favorable. 

1 Ellis' Prim. U. S., 115. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, p. 126. 2 Scudder's U. S., 219. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
General Burgoyne's Campaign. 

WHILE Washington was yet striving to make successful 
resistance to Howe and save Philadelphia, he had felt him- 
self compelled to weaken his forces in order to strengthen the 
patriot army on the Hudson that was resisting the advance of 
Burgoyne. To these movements we must now attend. 

King George III., Lord George Germain, and Genei'al Burgoyne 
had concocted a military plan by which they hoped to separate 
New York and New England from the Middle and Southern col- 
onies, and speedily to reduce all to submission.^ 

This plan involved the advance of a large army of English, 
Germans and Indians from Canada and the lakes ; the capture of 
all posts held by the patriots ; the progress of this army under 
Burgoyne down the Hudson, aided by loyalists and Tories under 
Sir John Johnson ; the simultaneous advance of British forces 
from New York, and thus the complete subjugation of all this 
part of the united colonies. 

General Burgoyne left St. John's on the i6th of June, 1777, 
with one of the finest armies ever gathered in America. He had 
about three thousand eight hundred British, rank and file ; three 
thousand Germans, chiefly Brunswickers ; two hundred and fifty 
Canadians, and four hundred Indians, besides four hundred and 
seventy-three artillerists, with their fine brass cannon — in all, 
nearly eight thousand men. Under him were General Phillips, 
of the artillery, who had gained much reputation in the Ger- 
man wars ; Brigadier-Generals Eraser, Powel and Hamilton, and 
Major-General the Baron Riedesel, a Brunswicker, who com- 
manded all the German troops. 

General Schuyler commanded all the American troops in the 
department. He was indefatigable in fortifying and reinforcing 
weak points, blocking roads, and impeding water passages in the 
way of the enemy, and in preparing to contest the progress of 
Burgoyne. Washington corresponded constantly with him ; sent 
him General Arnold as one of the most efficient of his subordi- 
nates, and also Morgan and his riflemen to meet the Indians in 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 86. 
[ 409 ] 



4IO A History of the United States of America. 

their own modes of warfare, and remove the dread of them felt by 
the ordinary American militia. He also advised that the " Green 
Mountain boys" of New Hampshire and the Vermont regions, 
under Stark and other officers, should be assembled as soon as 
possible to assail Burgoyne's flanks, cut off' his detached parties, 
and threaten his rear as he advanced. Coming events proved the 
wisdom and sagacity of those counsels of the commander-in-chief.^ 

Burgoyne's plan conteinplated a separate movement of Colonel 
St. Leger, with a motley force of about seventeen hundred men — 
British, Hessian, Royalist, Canadian and Indian — embracing a 
corps who had gained notoriety as " St. Leger's Rangers," and 
a body of Tories called " Greens," under Sir John Johnson, and 
their savage allies, under the famous Brandt. They were to march 
by w^ay of Oswego to capture Fort Stanwix (afterwards called 
Fort Schuyler), push down the Mohawk valley, carrying teiTor 
into all that region, and join Burgoyne before he reached Albany.' 

On the 3 1st of June, Burgoyne encamped at the river Boquet, a 
few miles north of Crown Point. Here he gave a war feast to 
his Indian allies, and made them a speech full of poetic flights. 
He sought to excite their ardor, but also to restrain them from 
barbarous warfare — a double task never yet accomplished, and in 
which Burgoyne was soon made conscious that he had failed.^ 
The savages were led by St. Luc, and when they saw the well- 
equipped British army they were loud in their enthusiasm. 

Gen. Arthur St. Clair commanded in Ticonderoga and its 
outworks with a force of three thousand five hundred men, of 
whom nine hundred were militia. He was a native of Scotland, 
brave and devoted to the patriot cause, but not far-seeing or 
fertile in military ideas. His troops were not well equipped, but 
he believed he could hold the fort, and so informed General Schuy- 
ler ; but as Burgoyne's large force drew near and began to invest 
him he became discouraged, and evidently neglected vital points. 
Maj. Henry Brockholst Livingston, aid to General Schuyler, was 
with St. Clair at Ticonderoga, and sought to keep up his confi- 
dence.* 

The extreme left of Ticonderoga was weak, and a post had 
been established for more than a year to strengthen it. St. Clair 
neglected to secure it. Burgoyne sent a strong force under Phil- 
lips and Fraser, who seized it, mounted heavy guns and turned 
them on the works. But this was not the worst oversight. 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 118, 119, 132-134. ... 

2 Scudder's U. S., 215. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 189. Irvinrr, III. 150. 

3 Stephens, 236, 237. Irving, III. 90. 

* Compare Art. Saint Clair, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 264, with Irving III. 94, 95. 



General Burgoyne" s Campaign. 411 

Sugar Hill, a rugged height south of Ticonderoga, was tlie end 
of the mountain range which separates Champlain from George, 
and was six hundred feet high. If gained, it commanded the 
fort ; and Colonel Trumbull, aid to Washington, had, a year be- 
fore, proved its importance by throwing a shot from a six-pounder 
in the fort nearly to the summit, and by climbing with Arnold 
and Wayne to the top and ascertaining that a road practicable 
for artillery could be readily made. On this hill a small, but 
strong, fort, with twenty-five heavy guns and five hundred men, 
would be as eflicient as one hundred guns and ten thousand men 
in the works of Ticonderoga ■} but General St. Clair had wholly 
neglected it. 

The British General Phillips promptly saw its importance, 
and took measures to occupy it. A road was cut and prepared, 
and during the flight of the 4th of July, guns, ammunition and 
stores were carried up. The next morning the Americans were 
amazed to see the new work (Fort Defiance) frowning with guns 
and filled with British soldiers. 

General St. Clair immediately evacuated Ticonderoga. Part of 
his forces went with a flotilla up the lake towards Skeensborough, 
now Whitehall. The main body, imder St. Clair, was to push 
for Skeensborough by a circuitous route through the woods on 
the east side of the lake. Both of these retreating bodies were 
attacked by the enemy and subjected to heavy loss. 

On the t^th of July, Burgoyne took j^ossession of Ticonderoga. 
On the 20th he reached Fort Edward, which was abandoned by 
the Americans at his approach. No sufficient force seemed now 
in his front to contest his march to Albany. 

Meanwhile St. Leger was moving, but not with the same suc- 
cess. As he drew near to Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler) he w^as 
encountered by a militia force under General Herkimer, a resolute 
veteran of Dutch descent, under whom weie Colonels Cox and 
Paris. A fierce battle took place near Oriskany on the 6th of 
August. General Herkimer received a musket ball in the leg 
just below the knee, but, requiring his men to place him on his 
saddle, supported by the trunk of a tree, he continued to give his 
orders. 

The few regulars in St. Leger's force attempted to charge with 
the bayonet, but were steadily repelled by the New Yorkers, who 
ranged themselves in circles, back to back, and drove back the 
assailants with bloody loss. The patriot woodsmen met the 
Indians with their own methods. They supported each other in 

1 Trumbull's Autobiography, 32. Irving, III, 102. 



412 A History of the United States of America.. 

pairs and trios. When one fired and a savage dropped, another 
Indian would rush forward hoping to find an easy victim, but 
only to fall himself by the fire of the covering party. The Indians 
began to retire. Johnson's " Greens " came up, and the sternest 
contest of the day came on — a strife in which personal hatreds 
gave the character of separate duels to the battle, and duels fought 
to the death. " The bodies of combatants were afterwards found 
on the field, grappled in death, with the hand still grasping the 
knife plunged in a neighbor's heart." ^ 

A combat so deadly could not be long. The Indians gave way 
first, crying " Oanah! Oanah/ " and retreating through the woods. 
The " Greens " followed, carrying oft' some prisoners to their camp. 
The Americans did not pursue, but putting their wounded on 
litters made with the branches of trees, returned to Oriskany. 
Each side lost about three hundred in killed, wounded and 
prisoners. 

General Herkimer, against his own judgment, had been precip- 
itated into an advance by the taunting urgency of Colonels Cox 
and Paris. Cox and a son of Paris were shot down in the 
first volley ; Paris was taken prisoner, and was slain by a chief 
afterwards known as "Red Jacket." Herkimer himself was 
borne to his residence on the Mohawk, and, nine days afterwards, 
sank under the effects of an unskillful amputation, and died with 
Christian composure and with his Bible open before him.'' 

The fort was an old square work, witli bastions and bomb- 
proof magazines, built originally in 1756, but repaired by General 
Schuyler, whose name it received. It was commanded b}' Colonel 
Gansevoort, of Dutch descent and of the New York line. 

By his sanction. Colonel Willet made a spirited and successful 
sally, attacking the camp of Johnson and the Indians when many 
were absent on ambuscades, routing the defenders and carrying 
off* prisoners, camp equipage, clothing, blankets and stores.^ 

St. Leger, coming up with all his force, resorted to threats of 
extermination and Indian massacre to induce Gansevoort to sur- 
render, but in vain. Colonel Willet, at great personal hazard, 
bore a message to General Schuyler from Gansevoort, asking for 
aid. Arnold was sent, with all the men that could be spared, 
eight hundred in number. This daring and efficient officer showed 
as much skill and stratagem as vigor in action. He sent on before 
him small swarms of emissaries, who reached St. Leger's camp in 
succession, and spread such alarming reports of the number and 

ilrving's Washington, III. 154. 

« Narrative of Mrs. Paris. Ir\ing, III. 155, 156. s Irving, III. 156. 



General Burgoyne' s Campaign. 413 

nearness of Arnold's troops that, before he was near, St. Leger's 
army was utterly disheartened. He had been throwing up 
intrenchments and working with the spade, which the savages 
hated. They deserted in numbers. Those who remained seized 
the spirituous liquors of the officers, and soon the camp was like 
a mad-house. vSt. Leger and Sir John Johnson had no longer 
control of their men. They retreated in hurry and confusion, 
leaving tents, artillery, ammunition, baggage and stores to fall 
into Arnold's hands. A detachment from the garrison pursued 
them and harassed them almost to Onondaga Falls.^ 

In the meantime General Burgoyne had left Fort Edward and 
was marching upon Albany, but very slowly because of the ob- 
stacles which Schuyler had skillfully thrown in his way. Still 
hoping that St. Leger would capture Fort Stanwix and join him 
at Albany, he desired to press rapidly on. But how was this 
possible when he was deficient in horses, wagons and forage? 
It was just then that the royalist Colonel Skeene, in whose know- 
ledge of the country and the people Burgoyne had great confidence, 
advised him to detach an expedition against Bennington, twenty- 
four miles east of the Hudson, where the Americans had a great 
depot of horses, vehicles, forage and supplies of all kinds, intended 
for their northern armies. Skeene assured Burgoyne that these 
Were guarded by only a small militia force, and could be easily 
captured.^ 

Burgoyne sent out a detachment of five hundred men, under 
Colonel Baum, to seize this prize, and scour all the adjoining 
country for horses, forage and provisions. They had two hundred 
light dragoons. Captain Fraser's marksmen, all the Canadians, 
one hundred Indians and two light cannon. This seemed an am- 
ple force. 

But Washington had sent General Lincoln to organize the 
patriot forces in that region ; and the veteran Stark was at hand. 
He had thought himself slighted in the distribution of military 
honors by the congress after the battle of Bunker's Hill, and had 
retired to his home ; but, learning of this attempt on Bennington, 
he was energetic in rousing the " Green Mountain boys " for de- 
fence. 

He was already at the threatened point with eight hundred men 
in good spirits, but with no artillery and few bayonets. During 
the night of the 15th of August, Colonel Symonds, with a small 
force of Berkshire militia, joined Stark. Among them came a 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 172. 171. 

2 Irving, III. 149. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 689. Goodrich, 225. 



414 -^ History of the United States of America. 

fighting preacher, named Allen, perhaps related to Ethan Allen. 
He said to Stark : " General, the people of Berkshire have been 
often called out to no purpose ; if you don't give them a chance 
to fight now^, they will never turn out again." It w^as dark and 
raining. Stark said : " You w^ould not turn out just now, would 
you?" "No, not just now," was the reply. "Well," rejoined 
.Stark, "if the Lord should once more give us sunshine, and I 
don't give you fighting enough, I'll never ask you to turn out 
again." ^ 

Colonel Baum soon learned from retreating Indians that he had 
a resolute enemy between him and Bennington. He halted and 
began to intrench, and sent back to Burgoyne for reinforcements. 
Stark also prudently sent a message to General Lincoln, who 
promptly detached Col. Seth Warner with his militia regiment 
to aid him. They marched all night in a drenching rain. Stark 
ordered them to stop in Bennington, dry their clothes, sleep, re- 
fresh themselves with food, and get their ammunition in good 
order. These wise precautions told on the result.^ 

The morning of August i6th was bright and clear. Stark's 
dispositions were all made. Without cannon and almost without 
bayonets, he yet intended to attack the intrenched foe. He sent 
two hundred men, under Nichols, to attack the rear of the enemy 
on their right, and three hundred, imder Herrick, to assault their 
rear on the left ; Hubbard and Stickney, with two hundred men, 
were to occupy their attention in front, while he advanced with 
his remaining force. His words have been often quoted, and 
though a question has been raised about them in modern times,^ 
their substance is authenticated : " Now, my men ! there are the 
red-coats ! Before night they must be ours, or Molly Stark will 
be a widow ! " * 

When the men under Nichols and Herrick were seen emerging 
from the woods in the rear, right and left, the infatuated Tory, 
Colonel Skeene, assured Baum that they were royalist people 
flocking to the king's standard. But the Indians were not de- 
ceived ; they cried out, " The woods are full of Yengese ! " and 
began to retreat. 

Immediately the attack was made on all sides. For two hours 
the discharge of cannon, muskets and rifles was incessant. Stark, 
in his dispatches, compared it to a " continued clap of thunder." 
It was the hottest fight he had ever been in. The Americans 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 165, 166. "- Ibid., 164, 168. 

3Bv Prof. Holmes' School U. S., note, p. 123. 

4 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 123. Derry, V2i. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., note, p. 159. Irving's 
Washington, III. 167. 



G enteral Bur goyne' s Campaign. 41^ 

fought \vith resistless impetuosity ; they drove the royalist troops 
upon the Hessians ; they pressed up within eight paces of the 
loaded cannon to shoot down the artillerists. Tlie pieces were 
captured. The Tories and Canadians took to flight. The Ger- 
mans fought bravely till their ammunition was exhausted ; then 
they surrendered. Baum, with his dragoons and infantry, tried 
to cut their way out with sabres and bayonets, but in vain. Baum 
was wounded, and his men were made prisoners. 

While Stark's men were scattered and intent upon spoils, Col- 
onel Breyman, who had been sent in haste by Burgoyne to rein- 
force Baum, with five hundred Hessian grenadiers and infantry 
and two six-pounders, arrived on the field at four o'clock in the 
afternoon. Most fortunately for Stark, Colonel Warner's regi- 
ment had arrived — the men dry, comfortable, refreshed and ready 
for fight. The new battle did not last long. Breyman's troops 
began to retreat, and the combat was fought from wood to wood 
and hill to hill until sunset. At Van vSchaick's mill the Hessians, 
having expended all of the forty rounds of ball cartridge brought 
by each man, broke and retreated in disorder, leaving their two 
field-pieces and all their baggage in the hands of the Americans. 
Stark declared that another hour of daylight would have enabled 
him to captui'e them all. 

But his victory was sufficiently complete. Four brass field- 
pieces, nine hundred dragoon swords, a thousand muskets and 
rifles, and four ammunition wagons were his spoils. His whole 
loss had been only a hundred killed and wounded. The enemy 
lost about two hundred in killed and wounded and five hundred 
and ninety-six prisoners, of whom thirty-two were officers. Col- 
onel Baum died of his wounds in a few days.^ 

This was a fearful blow to Burgoyne ; but nearly at the same 
time came another, which, although of a different kind and appa- 
rently local and limited in its sphere, was really one of the most 
efficient causes of his final overthi-ov\^. 

Near Fort Edward had lived a family, consisting of the son and 
daughter of a deceased Presbyterian minister, named AlcCrea. 
The son was a stanch American patriot ; the daughter, Jane 
McCrea, was a well-known and beautiful girl, with rich auburn 
hair, falling in waves and curls. In the neighborhood was a 
family named Jones. Young David Jones had become attached 
-to Jane McCrea, and they were engaged to be married. When 
the war came on, David Jones espoused the royalist side, and had 
received the appointment of lieutenant in one of the royalist com- 

1 Schlozer's Briefwechel, Th. III., Heft. XIII. Imng, III. 168. Stephens, 238, 239. 



4i6 A History of the United States of America. 

panics in General Fraser's division of Burgoyne's army. When 
the Americans retreated from Ticonderoga and the British ad- 
vanced, young McCrea made preparations to w^ithdraw^ his sister 
from the dangerous neighborhood of Fort Edward to the safety 
of Albany. He urged her to join him ; she hesitated and delayed, 
under conflicting emotions. Had she complied with his urgent 
requests her life might have been spared for happier times for her 
lover and herself; but she was with a lad}-, Mrs. O'Neil, who was a 
royalist in sentiment, and who probably influenced her to remain. 

Before Fort Edward was occupied by the British troops, prowl- 
ing bodies of Indians were around it. One of these burst into 
the house of Mrs. O'Neil and carried off' her and Jane McCrea as 
prisoners, but by separate parties. In a mood of fright and be- 
wilderment, Miss McCrea promised to some of the savages a large 
reward if they would spare her life and take her to the British 
camp. They consented, and took her with them ; but, halting at 
a spring, a quarrel arose among them as to the reward. They 
were already inflamed with intoxicating liquor, and in a paroxysm 
of fury one of the savages slew the unhappy girl. He completed 
his fiendish act by cutting her scalp, with its luxuriant tresses, 
from her head and bearing it away with him ! ^ 

The accounts which represent Lieutenant Jones as having 
sent these Indians to bring her to Burgoyne's army are untrue ; * 
equally false were the statements of the savages that, the party 
who carried oft' Jane McCrea being pursued and fired on by 
Americans, she had been undesignedly killed by one of these 
shots, and that the Indians had scalped her only to obtain the re- 
ward offered for white scalps ! Some writers give apparent cre- 
dence to this savage fiction, but its incongruity is fatal.* 

What is certain in history is that when the scalp, with its 
tresses of hair, was seen by Mrs. O'Neil, she recognized it as cut 
from the head of Jane McCrea, and when this gory trophy was 
exhibited in the camp of Burgoyne, horror was excited in the soul 
of every white officer and man, from the commander-in-chief to 
the private in the ranks. 

Now was the time for prompt action on the part of Burgoyne. 
Had he caused the murderer to be arrested and, after proper trial, 
to be capitally executed, he would at least have saved himself 
from execration. That this was his first impulse we know from 
history.* He summoned a council of the Indian chiefs and de- 
manded that the culprit should be given up. 

> Irving's Washington, III. 142, 143. 2 Ex. Goodrich's U. S., 225. 

3 Compare Holmes' School U. S., (note) 123, Quackenbos, 241, with Irving, m. 143. 

* Irving, III. 143, 144. 



General Burgoyne s Campaign. 4iy 

This caused an intense excitement. The murderer was not only 
a great v.'arrioi", but a chief of high name. His brother sachems 
rallied to his side. St. Luc, the commander of the Ottawa and 
other tribes most reliable for fighting, was a French partisan 
officer who had been notorious for his unscrupulous modes of war- 
fare in the war of 1756, had been a terror to English colonists, 
and was even reported to have in his possession a great store of 
"old English scalps."^ 

He took Burgoyne aside and entreated him not to push matters 
to extremity as to the murder of Jane IMcCrea, assuring him that 
the Indians would abandon his army if he did. Strange to tell, 
British officers also interfered, representing the danger which 
would come if the Indians should quit them with their wrath 
awakened, and return to Canada, or go over to the Americans.^ 

And so the fated Burgoyne yielded, and spared the murderer. 
All he did was to issue general orders that no party of Indians 
should be permitted to go on a foray except under command of a 
British officer, or some known leader, who should be responsible 
for their conduct.' 

Even this slight limitation gave great offence to the Indians. 
Their theory of war was the theory really suggested by the unre- 
newed depravity of human nature ; and they claimed the right 
to plunder, torture, kill and scalp men, women and chikh'en as 
opportunity offered. Thev soon began to desert Burgoyne's 
army secretly, but in such numbers that before the fatal crisis 
came he had no Indian allies to help him. 

Lieut. David Jones was a broken-hearted man. He never 
recovered even a common level of cheerfulness. He tendered his 
resignation ; the British war authorities refused to accej^t it. He 
secretly retired. He had obtained the scalp with the locks of hair 
of his betrothed. He went to Canada and became a recluse, sad 
and silent, and never relinquishing the memories awakened by 
the relic in his possession.* 

But Jane McCrea did not die in vain. From her blood, shed by 
Indians and unavenged by Englishmen, American armies sprang 
up and took the field against Burgoyne. The facts went far and 
wide through the land. Men theretofore neutral, or even inclined 
to the king, instantly threw aside their Toryism and rushed to the 
field in defence of home and civilization. Soon the patriot forces 
were surrounding the English army on every side, and ready to 
fight to the death. 

1 Burgo\Tie's Reports. Irving, III. 141, 103. - Irving's Washington, III. 144. 

8 Ihid., 144. •'Barnes & Co.'s U. S., (note) 121, 122. Irving, III. (note) 145. Stephens, 238. 

27 



4i8 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

General Schuyler had oi-ganized victory, and was ready to reap 
the fruits for which he had toiled so patiently and amid so many 
disappointments and reverses ; but just at this time his opponents 
in the congress induced that body to displace him, and call him 
and St. Clair to answer before them for the loss of Ticonderoga 
and the attendant disasters. 

Gen. Horatio Gates was appointed to command the army 
against Burgoyne, and reached the American camp early in Au- 
gust. With patriotic self-denial, Schuyler offered all the infor- 
mation in his possession.' 

Under Gates was Gen. Benedict Arnold. He had been so dealt 
with by the congress that his rank was doubtful, and Gates had 
some cause for not assigning him to the command of a division ; 
but such was his daring and enthusiasm that he inspired the 
army, and became its soul in the battles at hand. Morgan was 
there with his riflemen, and Lincoln had been appointed to urge 
on the New England men. 

Burgoyne began to feel the pressure of the dark cloud envelop- 
ing him. He wrote to his government : " The great bulk of the 
country is undoubtedly with the congress in principle and zeal, 
and their measures are executed with a secrecy and dispatch that 
are not to be equaled. The Hampshire Grants, in particular, 
a country unpeopled and almost unknown last war, now abounds 
in the most active and most rebellious race of the continent, and 
hangs like a gathering storm upon my left."^ 

With his rear already endangered, his left beset by a swarm of 
" Green Mountain boys," and his front opposed by an army fast 
growing in numbers and efliciency, he might well pause. Had 
any discretion been left to him, he would have fallen back to Fort 
Edward and re-established his communications through Lake 
George ; ^ but his orders were definite. He was to push on with 
his army to Albany, where he was to be joined by British forces 
from New York sent up the valley of the Hudson by Sir William 
Howe to co-operate with him. 

This movement from below had been delayed by the slow sail- 
ing of Dutch ships across the Atlantic with reinforcements. 
Meanwhile General Putnam, in command of the defences of the 
Hudson, had made some preparations to meet them. Sir Henry 
Clinton had assumed command in New York. 

Spies had been sent up the river to ascertain the American 
positions and forces. One of these, named Edmund Palmer, had 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 122, 129, 159, 160. 

-Burgoyne's dispatches, Irving, III. 205. sieving, III. 206. 



General Burgoyne' s Campaign. 419 

been captured within Putnam's lines at Peekskill, and after due 
trial, in which his guilt was fully proved, had been condemned to 
death as a spy. A British sloop-of-war came up the river in great 
haste, and, under flag of truce from Verplanck's Point, sent to 
Putnam a missive from Sir Henry Clinton, claiming Edmund 
Palmer as a lieutenant in the British service. General Putnam re- 
plied in a brief note as follows : 

"Headquarters, 7/// August, i777- 
" Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy 
lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, 
and shall be executed as a spy ; and the flag is ordered to depart imme- 
diately. 

"Israel Putnam. 
' P. S. — He has accordingly been executed." 

Sir Henry Clinton thus learned that a foe not to be cajoled or 
daunted would oppose his movement up the Hudson. He made 
no move until early in October. Then he moved with some vigor 
and success. Forts Clinton and Montgomery were in the High- 
lands of the Hudson, near the Dunderberg. Col. George Clinton 
had special charge of their defences, but thought them safe, and 
was attending the New York legislature at Kingston (then Eso- 
pus), in Ulster county, in his official character as governor of the 
State.^ 

On the 4th of October, 1777, Sir Henry Clinton came up the 
river with a large force. He landed first at Tarrytown, and after- 
wards made demonstrations from Verplanck's Point. All this 
was to deceive General Putnam and conceal his real movement, 
which w^as to march, with a heavy force and by difficult mountain 
defiles, around the Dunderberg, and approach Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery in the rear, where they were weak and assailable. 
He captured both forts on the 6th of October, but not without 
considerable loss. Governor Clinton had come to his militarv 
post, and did what he could to save the fort bearing his name, but 
the garrison was weak, and it was carried by assault. Some es- 
caped, and among them Clinton himself, who leaped down the 
rocks to the river's side, crossed the Hudson in safetv, and by mid- 
night had joined General Putnam at Continental village.^ 

Sir Henry Clinton had completely outmanoeuvred the Ameri- 
can commandei's. The loss in the two forts was two hundred 
and fifty in killed, wounded and prisoners. The enemy's force 
was not less than two thousand. They lost Colonel Campbell, 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 132. Irving's Washington, III 131. 
3 Irving, III. 222. » I(nd., 228. 



420 A History of the United States of America. 

their commander. He was succeeded by Col. Beverly Robinson, 
of the American loyalists. Major Grant was killed, and Count 
Gabrouski, the Polish aide-de-camp of Sir Henry Clinton, was 
mortally hurt. He received his death-wound at the foot of the 
ramparts. Lord Rawdon saw his first American service in this 
assault. When Gabrouski fell, he sent his sword to Rawdon with 
the message that "the owner died like a soldier."^ In privates 
the British loss was severe. 

The patriot forces evacuated Forts Independence and Consti- 
tution ; the chevaux-de-frise in the river were removed, and the 
Hudson was open to the enemy. Sir Henry Clinton returned to 
New York, leaving the expedition to be prosecuted by Sir James 
Wallace and General Vaughan, with a large body of troops and 
a squadron of light frigates.^ 

From Fort Montgomery, Sir Henry Clinton wrote, October 8th, 
on a slip of thin paper to Burgoyne : '■'• Nous y void (here we 
are) and nothing between us and Gates. I sincerely hope this 
little success of ours will facilitate your operations."' This slip 
was put in a small silver bullet, and taken by a man who tried to 
niake his way through the American lines. He was captured, 
and, being seen to swallow something, Colonel Clinton ordered 
an emetic to be administered to him. The bullet was vomited, 
and the slip discovered and read. The man was tried and con- 
victed as a spy, and was afterwards hung on an apple-tree in 
sight of the burning town of Esopus.* 

The enemy, under Wallace and Vaughan, made their way 
rather slowly up the Hudson, often pausing to send ofl' marauding 
parties into the country. They destroyed the residences of con- 
spicuous patriots at Rhinebeck, Livingston Manor and other 
places, burned the home of the widow of General Montgomery, 
ravaged the country, and finallv drove before them a small body 
of about one hundred and fifty militia, who disputed their march 
to Esopus, the capital of the State. They burned the town, con- 
suming a large quantity of stores, and then retreated to their 
ships, expecting to make their way up to Albany and there unite 
in triumph with General Burgoyne. Evidently they did not 
regard his army as in danger, for they made no hurried move- 
ments for his relief; but on the way up they received tidings 
which turned their triumph into ashes, and caused them to 
retreat to New York as fast as possible, having accomplished 
nothing for the help of Burgoyne, the reduction of the country, 

1 fitedman's Amer. War, I. 364. - Irving, III. 230. 

s Letter from Gov. Clinton to N. Y. Council of Safety. Prov. Cong. Journal. 

< Journal of Prov. Cong., I. 1064. 



General Burgoyne' s Campaign. 421 

or the establishment of their own reputation as soldiers and men 
of honor.' 

On the nth of September, 1777, General Burgoyne, having 
thrown a bridge of boats across the Hudson, passed with his army 
to the west side of the river to fight his way to Albany. His 
movements were cautious and silent, made without morning or 
evening guns, beat of drum, or the usual stir of military anima- 
tion ; but his advance was soon known in the camp of General 
Gates, and preparations were made for stern battle. As the Brit- 
ish were obliged to make the attack, the Americans chose their 
own ground for receiving it. General Arnold, with the Polish 
engineer, Kosciuszko, selected the ridge of hills called " Bemis 
Heights," which begin abruptly from the flat bordering the west 
side of the river. This flat was intrenched, as were also the 
ridges of the hill, and even some elevated spots east of the river, 
which is quite narrow at that point.^ 

Gates commanded on the right, next to the rivei", with Glover's, 
Nixon's, and Patterson's brigades. The centre, on the ridge, was 
held by New York and Massachusetts troops. Arnold com- 
manded on the left farthest from the river. He had Poor's New 
Hampshire brigade, Van Courtlandt's and Livingston's New 
York militia regiments, Connecticut troops, Dearborn's infantry, 
and Alorgan's riflemen. 

Arnold was the hero of this day. The British and Hessians 
advanced slowly, being obliged to repair bridges. Arnold met 
them with fifteen hundred men, and fought them pertinaciously. 
A Hessian officer wrote : " The enemy bristled up his hair as we 
attempted to repair more bridges. At last we had to do him the 
honor of sending out whole regiments to protect our workmen." * 

On the morning of vSeptember 19th, Burgoyne advanced with 
his army to give battle. His plan was to occupy Gates with a 
serious demonstration on his front, while Riedesel, Phillips, Era- 
ser, and Breyman, with a large body of picked troops, marched 
to the left and sought to penetrate to the rear of that part of the 
American line. But here they encountered the daring and inde- 
fatigable Arnold. With difliculty he obtained, about noon, per- 
mission from Gates to detach Dearborn's light troops and Mor- 
gan's riflemen to meet the Canadians and Indians and other 
advancing parties of the enemy. They soon encountered them, 
and drove them back with loss ; but Morgan's men, following up 
their advantage too eagerly, were met by a strong reinforcement 
of royalists, and, in their turn, were compelled to give way. 

1 Irving's Washington, III. 233, 256, 257. "^ Ibid., 209-211. ^Schlozer's BriefwecheL 



422 A History of the United States of America. 

Arnold now came up with all the troops he could obtain. 
Finding Eraser's front too strong for direct assault, Arnold made 
a movement through the woods, and fell on the British line with 
a boldness and impetuosity which threatened to break it in twain 
and divide their army. Their grenadiers and Breyman's riflemen 
hastened to the support of the hard pressed line. Phillips broke 
his way through the woods with artillery, and Riedesel came up 
with his heavy dragoons. But Arnold's force now numbered 
about three thousand men, and with these he fought, almost hand- 
to-hand, the whole right wing of the enemy. The American 
sharp-shooters, having the advantage of the woods, did fearful 
execution. Burgoyne ordered a charge with bayonets. His 
troops rushed forw^ard with huzzas ; but the Americans, dropping 
back into their intrenchments, repelled the charge with a rolling 
fire. But when they advanced into the plain they were again 
driven back, and thus the surging lines continued to assault and 
repel each other, but with manifest advantage to the Americans. 

Arnold sent courier after courier to Gates, begging for rein- 
forcements ; but, fearing to weaken his own lines, the commander- 
in-chief declined to send them. Night put an end to the battle. 
The British army remained on the field, but their attack had 
failed. Their purpose was defeated ; their advance v^^as stopped.' 

In this battle, the most stubbornly fought of the war, and in 
which veteran officers of the British and Hessian army declared 
that " they had never seen so hot a fire continued so long," the 
loss of the enemy waS about five hundred, and that of the Amer- 
icans about three hundred and nineteen in killed, wounded and 
missing. 

Probably, in either army, none endured more of heart-suffei'ing 
than the group of women, now well known in history, who were 
accompanying the British army. They were Lady Harriet Ack- 
land, daughter of the Earl of Ilchester and wife of Major Ack- 
land, of the grenadiers ; the Baroness de Riedesel, wife of the 
Hessian general, and the wives of Major Harnage and Lieutenant 
Reynell, of the British army. At the time the battle opened they 
were in a small hut in the rear, of which the surgeons were soon 
obliged to take possession. Writing of Lady Ackland, Burgoyne 
said : " She had three female companions — the Baroness of Ried- 
esel, and the wives of two British oflScers, Major Harnage and 
Lieutenant Reynell ; but, in the event, their presence served but 
little for comfort. Major Harnage was soon brought to the sur- 

1 Stephens, 239, 240. Barnes, 123, 124. Derry, 126. Goodrich, 228. Quackenbos, 244, 245' 
Irving, III. 212-215. 



General Burgoyne^s Campaign. 423 

geons very badly wounded, and in a little time after came intelli- 
gence that Lieutenant Reynell was shot dead. Imagination 
wants no helps to figure the state of the whole group." ^ 

Arnold was indignant at Gates' refusal to send him reinforce- 
ments in the crisis of this battle. He wished to renew the action 
the next morning, but Gates again refused, not then disclosing his 
reason. He afterwards stated as his reason the deficiency of 
powder and ball in the camp. He properly kept this a secret 
until he obtained a full supply from Albany." But a feeling of 
coolness and hostility arose between these officers, and showed 
itself in the shameful omission by Gates of the heroic conduct 
and even of the name of Arnold in his dispatches to the govern- 
ment.' And Wilkinson, Gates' adjutant-general and sycophantic 
follower, withdrew from Arnold's division Morgan's riflemen and 
Dearborn's light troops, which were its arm of strength ! 

From the 3oth of September to the 7th of October both armies 
remained so near to each other that firing was frequently ex- 
changed. Gates was reinforced by two thousand New England 
troops under General Lincoln. Burgoyne's condition was becom- 
ing daily more desperate. His army was dwindling by desertions ; 
his forage was failing ; his artillery and cavalry horses were 
beginning to suffer ; his hopes of a successful diversion from the 
south by Sir Henry Clinton were fading away. 

He determined on a grand movement on the 7th of October on 
the left of the American army, with the hope of breaking it and 
pressing through, or of securing a safe line of retreat, and, above 
all, of obtaining forage for his horses.* 

His plan was an advance of fifteen hundred of his best troops 
with two twelve-pounders, two howitzers, and six six-pounders, 
all led by himself, with Phillips, Riedesel and Fraser to second 
him. His camp was to be guarded on the heights bv Brigadiers 
Hamilton, Specht and Gall. 

His advance was concealed by forests, and he sent a large body 
of rangers, provincials and Indians to skulk through the woods 
and gain the rear of the American left. But this movement was 
discovered ; the American drums beat to arms. Morgan was 
soon out with his riflemen, and Poor, with his New York and 
Hampshire troops, hastened to assault the British left. 

Instead of surprising his enemy, Burgoyne was astonished to 
hear a roar of artillery and a rattling fire of rifles on his left. 
Although Gates had deprived Arnold of his command, and had 

1 Burgoyne's letter, In Irving, III. 215. ^Irving's Washington, III. 215, 216. 

3/61U, 217. <Irving's Washington, III. 235. Civil War in Amer., I. 302. 



4'24 ^ History of the United States of America. 

even forbidden him to leave the camp, he could not keep that 
Warlike s^^irit within bounds when battle was at hand. Mount- 
ing his horse, Arnold galloped at full speed to the front. He 
seemed like one inspired, shouting to the men, rallying them to 
the point of danger, and leading them in furious charges. Wil- 
kinson afterwards asserted that he was intoxicated ; but if he 
was, it was not with liquor, but with the frenzy of battle.^ The 
men caught his spirit. 

Poor's troops fought with resistless courage. They charged 
first on Ackland's grenadiers, who resisted steadily ; but as detach- 
ment after detachment rushed on them they were broken, and 
could not pi^otect the artillery. Ackland was wounded in both 
legs, and taken prisoner. The Hessian artillerists afterwards 
spoke with amazement of the daring charges of the Americans, 
who ran upon the guns at the very moment when they were pour- 
ing out torrents of grape-shot. The guns were taken and retaken 
sevei'al times, but at last remained with the patriots. Colonel 
Cilley leaped upon a gun, Avhich had changed sides five times, and, 
shouting that it was dedicated to the American cause, wheeled it 
round and fired upon the enemy with their own ammunition.^ 
Their best ofiicers ■were down, and the British gave way. 

But in the meantime General Fraser with his division had fallen 
upon the American flank. It was here that the brunt of the com- 
bat took place. Arnold and his men met and returned every 
charge ; for a time the result wavered in the balance. Mounted 
on an ii'on-gray charger, and wearing the full uniform of a field 
officer, Fraser was everywhere, encouraging his men and main- 
taining his attack. Now occurred an event which has been 
thought to bring something of discredit upon the chivalrous 
courage and magnanimity of Col. Daniel Morgan ; but it was in 
strict accordance w^ith the stern laws of war, and brought prompt 
victory to the Americans. 

Calling aside several riflemen known to be dead shots, Morgan 
pointed out to them General Fraser, and said : " That officer is 
General Fraser. I respect him as a brave man, but he must die. 
Take your stands and do your duty ! " ' In a short time a rifle 
bullet cut the crupper of Fraser's saddle ; another bullet grazed 
his horse's mane. " You are singled out, general," said his aide- 
de-camp ; "I beg you will shift your ground." "My duty is 
here," was the reply. In a few moments a bullet, sent by a rifle- 
man posted in a tree, inflicted a mortal wound. Two grenadiers 

ilrving's Washing-ton, III. 238. Quackenbos, 247. sQuackenbos, 247. 

3 Taylor's Ceuten. U. S., (note) 191, 192. Barnes, (note) 124. Quackenbos, 247. 



Qeneral Burgoyne^ s Campaign. 425 

bore him to the camp. His fall was the death-blow to Burgoyne's 
hopes. His troops began to waver everywhere, and, to avoid a 
rout, he ordered a retreat and the instant occupation of his in- 
trenched lines. Arnold had received a severe wound and had 
been borne from the field ; but the American victory was com- 
plete. They had routed the enemy ; killed, wounded and cap- 
tured nearly eight hundred men, with a loss of one hundred and 
fifty to themselves ; had taken nearly all the field artillery brought 
against them, and had gained possession of a part of the British 
works, which laid open the right and rear of their camp.^ 

While exultation was prevailing in the American lines, sad 
scenes occurred on the other side. In the house where the Bar- 
oness De Riedesel was quartered, Generals Burgoyne, Phillips 
and Fraser were that day to dine with her and her husband. 
As the day passed and the lady was sitting with her children, she 
observed large movements of troops, but was told it was only a 
reconnaissance ; but soon she saw Indians, painted and with arms, 
and shouting " War ! War ! " And then came the ominous roar 
of cannon and rattling fire of small arms. The din increased, and 
she was, in her OAvn words, " more dead than alive." At one 
o'clock came one of the generals, Fraser, not to dine, but to die. 
He was borne on a hand-barrow, mortally wounded. She tells 
of the scene : "The table, which was already prepared for din- 
ner, was immediately removed, and a bed placed in its stead for 
the general. I sat terrified and trembling in a corner. The noise 
grew more alarming, and I was in a continual agony and tremor 
while thinking that my husband might soon also be brought in, 
wounded like General Frasez'. That poor general said to the sur- 
geons : ' Tell me the truth — is there no hope? ' There ,was none. 
Prayers were read ; after which he desired that General Burgoyne 
should be requested to have him buried on the next day at six 
o'clock in the evening on a hill where a breastwork had been con- 
structed." ^ 

Lady Harriet Ackland was in a tent near by. She soon heard 
that her husband was mortally wounded and a prisoner. Baron- 
ess Riedesel sought to comfort her, and advised her to seek per- 
mission to join him in the American lines. This kind German 
lady divided the night in attentions to her friend and the wounded 
general. He died at eight o'clock in the morning. 

Burgoyne abandoned his camp, and took a stronger position 
during the night. He waited only long enough to comply with 
General Fraser's dying rec[uest. A sad gi'oup assembled around 
1 Irving, III. 240. 2 Baroness Riedesel's Memoirs. Irving, III. 240, 241. 



426 A History of the United States of America. 

the indicated spot at six o'clock. Seeing this assemblage in the 
twilight, the American artillerists opened on it, and cannon balls 
tore up the ground close by. General Gates afterwards declared 
that if he had known what was going on he would have stopped 
the fire immediately.* 

Lady Ackland's request for permission to pass within the 
American lines and nurse her husband was pi"omptly granted by 
General Gates. She was courteously received. Her husband re- 
covered, and together they returned to England. Thev carried 
back with them a deep sense of American kindness and courage. 
Some time afterwards, at a dinner party, a British officer made 
disparaging remarks concerning the American character for cour- 
age. Major Ackland retorted, and warm words ensued, resulting 
in a duel, in which Ackland was killed. Distress for a time de- 
prived his widow of her sanity ; but she recovered, and some 
years after\vards married Rev. Mr. Brudenell, \vho had officiated 
at General Eraser's funeral, and had afterwards been the compan- 
ion and protector of Lady Ackland in the time of her deep dis- 
tress before she joined her wounded husband.^ 

But General I3urgoyne and his army had no time for private 
sorrows after the decisive defeat of the 7th of October. He aban- 
doned his camp, his sick and wounded, and several bateaux of 
baggage and provisions. In a dismal night of rain, and over 
roads deep and broken, with half-starved horses, and weary and 
discouraged men, he made his way back to Stillwater (near 
Saratoga), closely beset all the way by the American army. 

Before Burgoyne reached Stillwater, enemies were there. He 
found himself encompassed on every side, unable to advance or 
to retreat. He called a council of war, and plans to extricate the 
army w^ere proposed and attempted ; but they were promptly 
defeated by the patriots, whose army, augmented by militia and 
volunteers from all quarters, now held both sides of the Hudson, 
and extended three-fourths of a circle around the British position. 

Nothing remained but negotiations for surrender. The articles 
of capitulation were signed after the night of the i6th of Octo- 
ber, 1777. They had been agreed on, and reduced to writing ; 
but before they were actually signed, a British officer made his 
way into Burgoyne's camp with dispatches from Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, stating his successes and the approach of his force. Bur- 
goyne submitted to a council of his officers " ^vhether it was 
consistent with public faith, and, if so, expedient, to suspend the 
execution of the treaty and trust to events." The majority de- 
1 Riedesel's Memoirs. Irving, III. 242. 2 Note in Irving's Washington, III. 244-257. 



General Burgoyne s Campaign. 427 

cided that the public faith was fully pledged. He signed the 
articles of surrender on the 17th of October. 

The terms were generous and honorable. The British troops 
were to march out with artillery and the honors of war, and pile 
their arms at the command of their own officers. They were to 
have a free passage to Europe, and not to serve again in America 
during the present war. The words " in America " afterwards 
gave rise to misunderstandings so serious that Burgoyne's surren- 
dered troops were detained as prisoners of war. The officers 
were paroled and retained their side arms. All persons pertain- 
ing to or following the camp were included in the surrender. 

The army surrendered amounted to only five thousand seven 
hundred and fifty-two men. The army of Gates present for duty 
was ten thousand five hundred and fifty-four strong. The Amer- 
icans gained a fine train of artillery, seven thousand stand of 
arms, and a great quantity of clothing, tents and militarv stores 
of all kinds. ^ 

But these were small gains when compared with the moral 
impression and advantage produced by this signal success. Every 
patriot heart was exhilarated, and all felt that independence was 
secured. 

The surrender of Burgoyne's army furnished the prevalent 
argument by which Benjamin Franklin and his co-commissioners 
in Paris turned the policy of France. On the 6th of February, 
177S, France acknowledged the independence of the United States 
of North America, and entered into a treaty of amity and alliance 
with them. One article provided that, should war ensue between 
France and England, it should be inade a common cause by the 
contracting parties, in which neither should make truce or peace 
with Great Britain without the consent of the other, nor either 
lay down their arms until the independence of the United States 
should be established.^ This treaty was ratified by the congress 
on the 4th day of May following it. The event contemplated 
soon followed. Great Britain regarded the very making of the 
treaty as a declaration of war against her by France, and both 
nations prepared for the new contest.^ 

1 Compare Quackenbos, 248. (Goodrich, 230. Irving, III. 261,252. 
2 Terms of treaty, in Irving's Washington, III. 370. 
3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 244. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

British Efforts at Conciliation. — A War of Maraud 
AND Devastation. 

THE capture of Burgoyne's army produced a profound impres- 
sion on the public mind of England, and soon reached even 
the king, the ministers of state, and the Parliament ; and when 
it became evident that France was moving favorably towards the 
American cause, Lord North hesitated no longer. He believed he 
could bring the war to a close, and yet retain British supremacy 
in the colonies by a " plan of conciliation." 

Plis conciliatory bills introduced into the Parliament were 
promptly enacted. One of them regulated taxation in America 
in a manner intended to obviate all objections. Another author- 
ized the appointment of commissioners, with power to negotiate 
with the existing governments, to proclaim cessation of hostil- 
ities, to grant pardons, and to adopt measures for peace ; but no 
power to acknowledge independence was granted. 

Had such measures been adopted at the beginning, hostilities 
might have been averted and the colonies retained by England, at 
least for a time.^ But now it was too late. This attempt was 
one of the many fatal blunders of the British king, ministry and 
Parliament. It worked the very contrary effect to that intended. 
Ex-Governor Tryon had copies printed and scattered through the 
country. With blind impertinence, he even sent some copies to 
Washington, requesting that they should be communicated to the 
officers and privates of the army.^ 

Washington calmly ignored the discourtesy, and though he de- 
clined to distribute them, he sent some of the copies to congress, 
with a letter, in which he said that the time to entertain such 
overtures was past, and that, in his judgment, nothing short of 
independence could be thought of.^ His views were approved. 
Congress unanimously resolved that no conference could be held 
nor treaty made with Great Britain or her commissioners until 
she should have withdrawn her fleets and armies, or acknow- 
ledged in express terms the independence of the United States. 

1 Stedman's Amer. AYar. 

2Irving'sA\'ashingtou, III. 368. Stephens, 243. Thalheimer, 154. Quackenbos, 256. D. B. 
ScotfsU. S., 100, IM. 

3 Washington's letter, in Irving, III. 3(38, 309. 

[ 4^8 ] 



British Efforts at Conciliation. 429 

It is a curious fact that even the British officers and soldiers in 
America felt something like contempt and indignation at this 
weak proceeding of the mother country, which \vas so manifest 
a departure from the stern prosecution of the war that had been 
enjoined on them.^ The loyalists and Tories were struck with 
dismay, and the true patriots were so far from being lowered in 
spirit that the people of Rhode Island burned under a gallows 
copies of the conciliatory bills which had been distributed. 

When the decisive action of France was known in London, 
early in February, 177S, the British war department sent out 
orders that their troops should evacuate Philadelphia, as they 
knew that the Delaware would soon be blockaded by a French 
fleet, and the army invested and probably lost. 

Nevertheless, the peace commissioners (as they were called) 
were sent out, consisting of Frederick Howard, Earl of Carlisle, 
an amiable and intelligent, though somewhat effeminate, young 
nobleman ; William Eden (afterwards Lord Aukland), brother 
of the last colonial governor of ]Maryland ; and George John- 
stone, generally known as Governor Johnstone, because he once 
held that office in Florida. Dr. Adam Ferguson, an Edinburgh 
professor and author of a history of Rome, was secretary to the 
commissioners. 

They arrived in Philadelphia on the 6th of June, and were 
amazed to find Sir Henry Clinton (who had succeeded Sir Wil- 
liam Howe in command) preparing to withdraw his army from 
the city, under orders of which the peace commissioners had 
never been informed ! All was confusion and grief among the 
loyalists, three thousand of whom, in miserable plight, were has- 
tening to get away in the British fleet and ships from the just 
resentment of the patriots.^ Johnstone afterwards declared that 
if he had known of the orders for evacuation he ^vould never 
have gone on the mission ; yet one historian has stated that the 
order for the evacuation was brought by the commissioners.^ 

But now they felt obliged to do what they could. On the 9th 
of June, Sir Plenry Clinton, bv letter, informed General Wash- 
ington of their arrival and objects, and asked a passport for their 
secretary to the congress at York. Washington sent the letter to 
congress, but did not feel at libertv to grant the passport. So 
the commissioners forwarded by the ordinary military mail their 
letter, with copies of the conciliatory acts. Their letter was 
addressed to " His Excellency, Henry Laurens, the president, and 
others, the members of congress." 

1 Irving, III. 371, 372. 2 Lord Carlisle's letter, in Irving, III. 380, 381. 

3 Scudder's U. S., 221. 



430 A History of the United States of America. 

But the letter contained expressions disrespectful to France, 
charging her with being the insidious enemy of both England 
and her colonies, and of pretending friendship to the latter " only 
to prevent reconciliation and prolong this destructive w^ar." As 
it was read murmurs of indignation arose in the congress, and 
with some difficulty the further reading was allowed •} yet no 
hasty action was taken. 

On the 17th June their answer, signed by the president, was 
dispatched. They said that nothing but an earnest desire to spare 
further effusion of blood could have induced them to read a paper 
containing expressions so disrespectful to his most Christian maj- 
esty, or to consider propositions so derogatory to the honor of an 
independent nation ; and, in conclusion, they expressed a readiness 
to treat as soon as the King of England should demonstrate a sin- 
cere disposition for peace, either by an explicit acknowledgment 
of the independence of the States, or by the withdrawal of his 
fleets and armies.^ 

This put an end to all present hope from congress. The next 
move was one only too much in accord with English precedents, 
but as fatally disgraceful as it was unsuccessful. Governor John- 
stone caused to be conveyed to Gen. Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, 
then an influential member of congress, a plain intimation that 
effectual services on his part to restore peace and the former union 
between England and the colonies would be rewarded by ten 
thousand pounds sterling and any office in the colonies within 
his majesty's gift. Reed's brief and noble reply deserves to be 
permanently recorded : " I am not worth purchasing ; but such as 
I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to buy me." ^ 

Johnstone inade a similar, though more cautious, approach to 
Robert Morris, the great financier, who was then also a member 
of congress ; and in his tempting letter to Morris he ventured 
even to throw out .what he intended to be an inducement to 
Washington himself to aid in his scheme for reconciliation. 
These transactions and letters were laid before congress, and 
bi"ought out from that body a resolution of scathing and contemp- 
tuous rebuke to the commissioner involved.* 

Washington's character and reputation rose into the serene 
light which has ever since invested his name. The " Conway 
Cabal " went to pieces. Gen. John Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, 
challenged Conway, and in the duel inflicted on him a wound 
which threatened to be fatal. Believing himself to be dying, 

1 living's Washington, III. 382. 2 Letter from the congress, in Irving, III, 382. 

^Compare Quackenbos, 256. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., (note) 126. Irving, III. 383. 
* Irving, III. 383. 



A iVar of J\Iaraud and Devastatioit. 43 1 

Conway, on the 33d July, 177S, wrote to Washington a letter ex- 
pressing grief for what he had done against him, and ending : 
" You are in my eyes the great and good man. May you long 
enjoy the love, veneration and esteem of these States, whose lib- 
erties you have asserted b}^ your virtues." He recovered from his 
w^ound, but, finding himself without rank in the army, covered 
with opprobrium, and his very name a by-word, he abandoned 
America.^ 

The surrender of Burgoyne and its sequel apparent in the 
treaty with France, the failure of the British plan of conciliation, 
the firm stand of the American congress, and the contempt vis- 
ited on the efforts at corruption made by Commissioner Johnstone, 
ought to have ended the war, as they really did end all reasonable 
hopes that the independence of the United States could be over- 
thrown. Henceforth the war as prosecuted by Great Britain 
was chiefly one of maraud, wasting and depredation, and deserves 
little more than a condensed record. 

On the iSth of June, Sir Henry Clinton with his army evac- 
uated Philadelphia and marched overland for New York. Wash- 
ington followed him, and delivered battle on the zSth of June at 
Monmouth Court-house, in New Jersey, with every prospect of in- 
flicting a disabling blo\v ; but Gen. Charles Lee was in command 
of the advance division of the American army, on whom the 
attack devolved. His attack was feeble, and he soon ordered a 
retreat. Washington rode forward with anger in his face and all 
his frame. His aspect, as La Fayette afterwards described it, 
was terrible.^ "What is the meaning of all this?" he asked. 
Even Lee, proud and self-confident as he was, for a moment 
quailed before that eye, and failed to answer. " I desire to know 
the meaning of this disorder and confusion," again came vehe- 
mently from the lips of the commander-in-chief. Lee had recov- 
ered himself somewhat and made a reply, ^vhich has been so va- 
riously reported that its exact form cannot be given in history ; 
but it assuredly imported disrespect, as well as an insufficient 
excuse for disobedience of Washington's positive orders for at- 
tack.^ 

Thus it became necessary to reconstruct a plan of battle in the 
very crisis of retreat and disorder. Washington succeeded in 
doing this, aided by Lord Stirling and La Fayette, and by the 
batteries of Oswald, Stewart and Ramsey. Lee himself again 
led his division to battle, and did something to reinstate himself. 

1 Letter in Irving's Washington, III. 307 (note). 

2 Irviug's Washington, III. 390. '^Ihid., 396. 



432 A tlistory of the United States of America. 

The day was intensely hot, and some of the soldiers fainted on 
the field. It was in this stubbornly fought battle that a private 
named Pitcher, of one of the American artillery companies, fell, 
and his wife Molly, -who had been bringing water to the almost 
exhausted gunners, took his place and worked at the gun through 
all the subsequent battle. When her conduct was reported, 
Washington sent to her an honorary commission, and she bore 
the rank of Captain Molly afterwards. Mrs. Helen W. Pierson 
has recorded the war in words of one syllable, and her book bears 
on its cover a spirited pictorial representation of this scene. ^ 

The British army continued its retreat, and the patriots slept 
on the field. Washington, wrapped in his cloak, lay at the foot 
of a tree with La Fayette beside him, talking over the conduct of 
Lee, which had nearly cost the army a disaster.^ The American 
loss was sixty-nine killed and one hundred and sixty wounded. 
The British lost two hundred and forty -nine left dead on the field, 
and one hundred prisoners, which included some of their wounded 
not carried off'. 

General Lee was tried by a court-martial upon three charges : 
Fii'st, Disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy ; second^ 
Misbehavior before the enemy by making an unnecessary and dis- 
orderly retreat ; third. Disrespect to the commander-in-chief in 
two letters, dated respectively 2Sth June and ist July. After 
a protracted examination he was found guilty of all the charges 
and sentenced to be suspended from all command for a year. The 
approval of congress was required. 

During the delay Lee talked and wrote and abused Washing- 
ton and the members of the court in unmeasured terms. On the 
5th of December, 177S, the sentence was approved in a thin 
meeting of congress — fifteen members voting in the afiirmative 
and seven in the negative.^ 

Lee retired to his estate in Berkeley county, Virginia, and spent 
his time among his horses and dogs, and in a mode of life very 
little above them. As the year approached its end he wrote a 
letter to the president of congress so insolent that he was promptly 
dismissed froin the service. He took no further part in public 
affairs, and died during a temporary visit to Philadelphia in 1782. 
He lived and died a soldier, and his last words heard were : 
" Stand by me, my brave grenadiers ! " 

Early in July came one more of those scenes of massacre and 
horror which have led to Indian extermination, and made the 

1 U. S. in words of one syllable. Quackenbos, 257, 258. 

2 Irving, III. 399. 

8 Marshall's Life of Washington. Irving, III. 408, 409. 



A War of Maraud and Devastation. 433 

vei-y name of loyalists and Englishmen hateful in America. The 
valley of Wyoming lay along the Susquehanna river, below the 
junction of the Lackawanna, and was beautiful and tranquil with 
"its sweet homes and rural people. In its early settlement it had 
been claimed by men of both Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and 
bloody feuds had arisen between them.' These were remembered, 
though they had long ago passed away, and nearly all of the men 
fit for war had gone from this lovely valley to join Washington's 
army. 

The British post of Niagara was the nest where the serpents 
were nursed that crept, with venom and death, into this earthly 
paradise. Here Tory refugees from the valley concocted a scheme 
of destruction, and here Brandt, the noted Indian chief, was 
lurking after his discomfiture under St. Leger, and gathering 
savages of the " Six Nations " to engage in murderous warfare 
against Wyoming. 

This Brandt enjoys the advantage of having two faces and two 
characters in history. The Scottish poet Campbell, in his beauti- 
ful creation entitled " Gertrude of Wyoming," certainly gave the 
portraiture of the man drawn by many deeds of blood : 

" Scorning to wield the hatchet for his bribe, 

'Gainst Brandt himself I went to battle forth ! 

Accursed Brandt ! he left of all my tribe 

Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth ; 

No ! not the dog, that watched my household hearth, 
Escaped that night of blood upon our plains ! 

All perished ! I alone am left on earth 
To whom nor relative nor blood remains, 
No, not a kindred drop that runs in human veins ! " 

And yet Campbell was afterwards convinced by a son of Brandt 
that he had done the father injustice ; that he was not even pres- 
ent at the worst scene in the valley, and that " it is unhappily to 
Britons and Anglo-Americans that we must refer the chief blame 
in this horrible business." ^ 

Rumors of the preparations against them had reached the fam- 
ilies left there, and had been sent forward to Washington, who 
gave orders to detach a force to aid them. Col. John Butler led 
the invaders, consisting of his own rangers, Johnson's " Royal 
Greens," and Brandt with his savages.^ 

A hasty organization of some three hundred and sixty, chiefly 
old men, boys and invalids, took place. Col. Zebulon Butler, " 

1 Holmes' U. P., 132. Irving, III. 432, 433. Stephens, 24fi. 

2 Note 19 of the author of " Gertrude of Wyoming," Phila. ed., pp. 91, 121. 

3 Stephens, 246. Irving's Washington, lU. 433. 

28 



a 



434 -^ History of the United States of America. 

Continental officer, was in command. He occupied a stronghold 
named Forty Fort with his weak force. His true policy was to 
remain on the defensive until the promised reinforcements from 
Washington's camp reached him ; but the invaders began to ma- 
raud, burn and murder. Anxious to arrest these outrages, Zebu- 
lon Butler determined to give battle, and led out his men. The 
fight took place near Wintermoot Fort on the 3d of July. The 
patriots fought bravely while they could see their foes ; but the 
Indians crept through a marsh and attacked them in flank and 
rear. An order to change position was misinterpreted as an order 
for retreat. The retreat became a rout. The savages, throwing 
aside their emptied rifles, rushed on with knife and tomahawk. 
A frightful massacre ensued. Some escaj^ed to Forty Fort ; some 
swam the river ; some plunged through the swamp and climbed 
the mountain near it, but the greater number were slaughtered 
without mercy. 

The work of desolating the valley was now carried on with 
merciless completeness. Men, women and children were slaugh- 
tered, fields were laid waste, houses burned. Upwards of four 
hundred men were slain. Some women and children were spared, 
and, in the language of a British narrator, " desired to retire to their 
rebel friends." ^ 

It is estimated that five thousand helpless people fled from their 
homes, seeking refuge on the Lehigh and Delaware. The tortures 
inflicted by the Indians had never been exceeded in atrocity. 
Captain Bidlack was thrown alive on a bed of burning coals, and 
kept there with pitchforks until he died. Six were held, while 
Queen Esther, an old Indian demoness, walked around them 
chanting their death song, and striking each on the head with a 
club until death relieved them.^ On the approach of the troops 
sent by Washington this band of murderei^s — Britons, Tories and 
savages — fled hastily back to Canada. In November, Brandt led 
another band of Indians to desolate Cherry Valley, in New York. 

Vengeance did not sleep on these transactions, though her 
movements were slow. In the summer of 1779, General Sullivan, 
with tliree thousand men, was sent to western New York. He 
was joined by Gen. James Clinton, with two thousand' more 
men, and the combined force advanced into the very heart of the 
" Six Nations," and inflicted a punishment which broke their 
power for the rest of the war. A battle took place at Newtown, 
near Elmira, on the 29th of August, in which Sullivan routed the 

1 Narrative in Gentleman's Slagazine, 1778, p. 515. Irving, III. 435. 
2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 247. 



A War of A/araud and Devastation. 435 

army oi Indians and Tories led by the two Butlers, Johnson, 
Brandt, Red Jacket and Cornplanter. The Americans then laid 
waste the Indian settlements as far as the Genesee river, destroy- 
ing orchards and corn-fields, burning villages, and desolating the 
country with intent to starve out the savages. These Indians 
found their attacks upon tlie patriots a losing game to them. 
They fled towards Niagara. Yet their British instigators merited 
the chief odium. Sullivan returned in triumph, and congress 
voted him thanks.^ 

France and England were at war almost from the time of the 
recognition by France of American independence. A large 
French fleet, under Admiral D'Estaing, with four thousand French 
troops on board, was too late to shut up the British Admiral Howe 
in the Delaware. It was then determined that a combined attack 
of the Fi'ench ships and soldiers and the American land forces, 
ten thousand strong, under General Sullivan, should be made on 
the British army in Rhode Island, then commanded by Gen. Sir 
Robert Pigott. 

The French fleet arrived in Narragansett Bay, ofl" Point Judith, 
five miles from Newport, on the 29th of July ; but, unfortunately, 
the patriot army was not ready to co-operate, and the attack was 
postponed to the loth of August. This delay proved fatal to the 
plan of attack. Admiral Howe came into the sound with his 
fleet to relieve Newport. D'Estaing stood out to meet him ; but 
hardly had the hostile fleets approached within cannon shot of 
each other before a violent storm arose, which scattered them, 
with much damage to hulls, spars, rigging and sails. D'Estaing 
sailed to Boston to repair his injuries ; Howe sailed to New York 
for a similar purpose. Thus, part of the plan failed. 

Sullivan crossed over with his force to Rhode Island, prepared 
for the attack. He implored the French admiral to remain, or, at 
least, to land the French troops, in order to aid in the attack ; 
but D'Estaing declined to comply. Thus the Americans were 
left to their own resources.^ 

A severe encounter took place at Quaker Hill on the 29th of 
August, in which the advantage was with the Americans ; but 
Sullivan, receiving information of the approach of a British fleet 
with land troops to reinforce General Pigott, thought it safest to 
retreat from the island, which he did without loss. 

The very next day Sir Henry Clinton arrived with a light 
squadron and four thousand land troops. With these and Pigott's 

1 D. B. Scott's U. S., 199. Irving's Washington, III. 45G, 457. Tlialheimer's Eclec. U. S., 156. 
2 D. B. Scott's U. S., 194. living's Washington, III. 422-424. 



436 -A History of the United States of America. 

forces he could have cut off Sullivan's retreat had it been delayed 
for a single day. 

But though his strong enemy had escaped, Sir Henry deter- 
mined to use his force in doing all the damage in his power to the 
American shipping towns which had naval and army stores, and 
which also sheltered numerous privateers that preyed effectually 
on British merchantmen.^ For this marauding work he selected 
that same rough General Grey who had dealt so mercilessly with 
Wayne's men at Paoli. He sailed with a heavy force, destroyed 
seventy vessels in Acushnet river, some of them privateers with 
their prizes, some peaceful merchant ships. He made stern havoc 
at New Bedford, Fairhaven (where he met with a sharp repulse), 
and Martha's Vineyard, burning and demolishing deposits of 
stores, wharves, rope-walks, mills and private houses. He laid a 
heavy contribution, in sheep and cattle, on the people of Martha's 
Vineyard, and returned to Newport with such a mass of spoils 
that the fleet was burthened with them as it made its way back 
to New York.^ 

The British commanding officers, finding their armies shut up 
in New York and Newport, and all of the northern territory held 
by the States substantially independent already, began now to 
turn their thoughts to a conquest of the Southern States as their 
last hope for reducing the country to submission. In the South 
the white population was comparatively sparse ; the Tories and 
loyalists abounded in some regions, especially in the Carolinas, 
and the negro slaves were very numerous, and, as they could 
never be used as patriot soldiers, were regarded by the English as 
a sovirce of fatal weakness to the Southern rebels. 

But before they transferred the seat of war they sought to do 
what they could to ravage and weaken the North. Ex-Governor 
Tryon was always eager for this work. Sir Henry Clinton sent 
him forth with two thousand six hundred troops and a fleet of 
transports and tenders. 

On the 5th of July, 1779, they landed near New Haven, and, 
after a bold resistance by a few militia, they captured the town, 
dismantled the fort, destroyed all the vessels in the harbor, and, 
of course, all the artillery, ammunition and public stores that 
they could not carry away. They also plundered several private 
houses.' 

At Fairfield they encountered a more bloody resistance, and, 
therefore, with a spirit the reverse of chivalrous, not only de- 

1 Irving, III. 428. « Irving, III. 428. Scott, 194. Goodrich's Pict. IT. S., 242. 

3 Irving, III. 4G2. 



A War of Maraud and Devastation. 437 

stroyed the military stores, but reduced the town to ashes, burn- 
ing ninety-seven dwelling-houses, sixty-seven barns and stables, 
forty-eight store-houses, three churches, a court-house, jail and 
two school-houses. 

They landed at Norwalk on the nth of July, and there they 
burned one hundred and thirty dwellings, eighty-seven barns, 
twenty-two store-houses, seventeen machine shops, four mills, 
two churches, and five vessels which were in the haibor. All 
this was private or sacred property, and its destruction was a dis- 
graceful violation of the laws of war. Atrocities and outi'ages 
attended these marches which made the very name of " English- 
man " hateful in all that region.' 

General Putnam was in the neighborhood, and busied himself 
in rallying the militia and making resolute stands against the ma- 
rauders. Five miles west of Stamford he was so hard pressed by a 
body of British cavalry that he instructed his men to save them- 
selves by dispersing. Pie himself performed a feat of unparal- 
leled daring. He rode at full speed down a long flight of stone 
steps, known as " Horse-Neck Stairs," which were intended for 
pedestrians only, and on which a single misplanted leap of his 
horse would have hurled both steed and rider to destruction. The 
British troopers gazed at him with amazement, and, firing their 
pistols, sent a bullet through his hat, but, not daring to follow 
him, retired to their main body.^ 

The people of that part of Ne\v England were tempted to 
complain of Washington for not detaching troops to their succor.* 
He was not in condition to weaken his defences at White Plains 
and in the Highlands above New York, and he had received no 
advices as to Tryon's movements, so secretly where they planned ; 
but he had sent out an expedition which was perfectly successful, 
and which instantly operated to stop Tryon's career and induce 
Sir Plenry Clinton to arrest his march on New London, and recall 
him to New York. 

Feeling severely the loss of Stony Point, on the Hudson, Wash- 
ington proposed to General Wayne that he should undertake its 
capture. "Mad Anthony" seized on the idea at once and made 
his preparations. By Washington's suggestion the assault was 
to be at midnight, instead of at daybreak, the usual time, when 
a vigilant commanding officer would be on the alert. 

Wayne's troops were all picked men. They were to advance 
with unloaded muskets, and to carry the work by the bayonet, 

> Irving's Washington, III. 462, 463. 

2 Barnes, l:W. Holmes, 107. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 252. 

5 Irving's Washington, III. 464. 



438 ^4 History of the United States of America. 

On the night of the 15th of July they drew silently near For- 
tunately, they had obtained the countersign, which was " The fort 
is our own," from a negro, who frequently carried fruit for sale to 
the garrison, but was in sympathy with the American cause. 
He led the way, accompanied by two stout men disguised as 
farmers. There was severe skirmishing with the pickets, but 
the patriots were instantly in the work and using the bayonet. 
Wayne commanded. Major Stewart and Lieutenants Gibbon and 
Knox led the men. The struggle was short. The muskets fired 
by the pickets roused the garrison. The drums beat. Stony Point 
was roused, and a heavy fire opened ; but all in vain. The Amer- 
icans pressed irresistibly forward, and the lines were carried. 
!Major Posey sprang on the ramparts, shouting : " The fort is ours ! " 
Wayne received a \vound on the head from a glancing musket ball. 
He said : " Carry me into the fort and let me die at the head of my 
column." But he soon recovered. The attacking columns carried 
all before them. The garrison surrendered at discretion." ^ 

This was a daring and brilliant success for the patriot cause. 
The American forlorn hope lost seventeen killed or wounded out 
of twenty-two ; yet the whole patriot loss was only fifteen killed 
and eighty-three wounded. Of the garrison sixty-three w^ere 
killed and five hundred and fift3-three were made prisoners. 

Sir Henry Clinton, on hearing of this capture, instantly recalled 
Tryon, made a forced march on Dobb's Ferry, sent transports 
with troops to relieve Fort Lee, and marched himself with a 
heavy force, hoping to draw Washington into a general battle. 
But the American Fabius disappointed him. After removing all 
the cannon, ammunition and stores from Stony Point, Washing- 
ton caused the works to be destroyed, and made himself strong at 
West Point and in the Highlands. 

It is worthy of note that nearly coeval with the time when Eng- 
land transferred her serious militaiy operations to the Southern 
States, one of those States made a decisive movement which con- 
firmed her territorial claims, and greatly enlarged the subsequent 
power of the American Union. 

Hamilton, the English governor at Detroit, was a firm man, 
but cold and cruel. He sought by every means to rouse the 
Indians fo murderous attacks on the patriots, and paid a tempting 
price for white scalps.^ Virginia determined, if possible, to strike 
him a blow. 

Early in the fall of 1778 two expeditions were planned. One 
was commanded by General Mcintosh, who led nearly a thou- 

1 Irving, III. 467, 468. 2 withers' Border Warfare, 185. Gordon, II. 390. 



A War of JSIaraud and Devastation. 439 

sand men against the Sandusky towns of the Indians ; yet he ac- 
complished very little, and failed entirely at last/ The other was 
led by Col. George Rogers Clark, of western Virginia, a man so 
cool in danger, so heroic in combat, so prompt in difficulty, so un- 
tiring in toil, that John Randolph of Roanoke bestowed on him 
the title of " The Hannibal of the West." ' 

He placed himself at the head of about two hundred and 
eighty men, raised by authority of the legislature and of the gov- 
ernor, Patrick Henry. They wei'e of the very bone and sinew of 
the west. Descending the Ohio in boats, they left it about two 
hundred and forty miles from its mouth, and, taking on their 
backs as much food as they could carry, plunged into the forests 
north of the river. In three days their provisions were exhausted, 
and they fed on roots and mast in the ^voods ; yet they pressed 
on. At midnight they came upon the tow^n of Kaskaskia, on the 
Mississippi, one hundred miles above the mouth of the Ohio. So 
skillful were Colonel Clark's dispositions of his force, that \vhen 
they advanced and demanded surrender, not one of the enemy es- 
caped. Refreshments and fleet horses were obtained, and the 
Vii-ginians surprised and captured three other towns, reducing 
the w^hole region, taking prisoner Philip Rocheblane, the Gover- 
nor of Kaskaskia. He was sent to Virginia, together Avith the 
written instructions he had I'eceived from the British authorities 
of Qiiebec and Detroit, urging him to rouse the Indians to their 
work of massacre and blood.' 

The legislature of Virginia received with joy the tidings of 
these events. They voted warm thanks to Colonel Clark, his 
officers and men, for their " extraordinary resolution and perse- 
verance." * Learning that the people of the conquered region 
had willingly transferred their allegiance from England to the 
United States, the Virginia assembly passed an act erecting the 
territory into a county called Illinois, and establishing a provi- 
sional government ; but a stern struggle was yet needed to hold it. 

Governor Hamilton, excited to wrath by Clark's success, raised 
six hundred men, chiefly Indians. About the middle of Decem- 
ber, 1778, he arrived at Vincennes, on the Wabash, repaired the 
fort, and, reserving one company, sent the rest of his force to 
attack the white settlements on the Ohio, and, if possible, to rav- 
age west Virginia. 

Happily, a Spanish trader from Vincennes informed Clark how 
small was the force there. Qiiick as lightning he caught the 

1 Withers, 185, 187, 191-19?,. 2 Girardin, 321. Howe, 116. 

3 Withers, 186, 187. Gordon, II. 390. Girardin, 312, 313. 
< Resolution in Girardin, 319. 



440 A History of the United States of A7iterica. 

opportunity. He sent a galley filled with men and armed with 
two four-pounders up the Wabash, while he marched at the head 
of one hundred and thirty of his best men. They encountered 
frightful hardships ; five days were spent in crossing the sunken 
lands of the Wabash. The men once marched six miles up to 
their waists in ice and water. Fortunately, the season "was 
mild, and they wei^e not frozen. They arrived in front of the 
town nearly at the same time with the galley by the river. The 
people of Vincennes made no opposition ; on the contrary, they 
joyfully transferred their allegiance to Virginia. They even 
aided in reducing the fort ; but Hamilton made a brave resistance. 
For eighteen hours a fire almost incessant on both sides was kept 
up ; but on the night of February 33d Colonel Clark caused an 
intrenchment to be thrown up which overlooked the fort. His 
riflemen picked oft" every man who showed himself. Hamilton 
asked a parley, and the next evening the fort and all its stores 
were surrendered, and the governor and his men became prisoners 
of war.^ 

They were sent to Virginia. Thomas Jefferson had been 
elected governor on the ist of June. Proofs of Hamilton's deal- 
ings with the Indians and offering rewards for scalps having been 
given, the council of war of Virginia advised retaliation. Gov- 
ernor Jefferson, acting under this advice, caused Hamilton and 
two other officers to be confined in the dungeon of the jail, fet- 
tered with iron shackles, deprived of pen, ink and paper, and 
forbidden all converse except with their keeper." 

But such rigor ^vas unworthy of a generous people, and did 
nothing but harm. The British General Phillips, then command- 
ing the " Convention troops " of Burgoyne's army, who were pris- 
oners of war in Albemarle county, made a solemn protest against 
this treatment of Hamilton and his associates. Much indignation 
also prevailed among the British officers in New York. Governor 
Jefferson wrote to Washington, who promptly advised leniency 
and generosity. The officers were released on parole, and the 
next year Hamilton was permitted to go to New York.^ 

The expedition and success of Colonel Clark in thus conquering 
and bringing to allegiance the Northwest was entirely the work 
of the State of Virginia. The Continental troops and resources 
had no share in it. There cannot be question that this military 
occupation was afterwards recognized as the true basis of the 
claim of the United States to a northern boundary on the lakes ; 

1 Judge Burnet's Notes on N. "\V. Territorv, 77, 78. Withers, 189, 190. Girardin, 321. 

2 Tucker's Jeff., I. 120, 130. 

3 Notes A and B, Jefferson's Works, 1. 450-159. Letters 164, 167. 



A War of Maraud and Devastation. 441 

for, in the negotiations for peace, England insisted on the Ohio 
as the boundary, and the Count de Vergennes, in behalf of 
France, was disposed to assent ; but the American commissioners 
urged the success of Clark with so much force that their claims 
were at last admitted/ 

Like many other self-sacrificing patriots, George Rogers Clark 
had cause to complain. He served afterwards under Steuben and 
against Arnold, and was made a general in 1781. He had become 
heavily involved in debt for expenses of his expedition. Virginia 
was tardy in relieving him. His debts were sued to judgment, 
and his property was wrested from him. Virginia voted him a 
sword. He accepted it, but only to strike it into the ground and 
break the blade, with the bitter words : " Tell Virginia to pay her 
debts, and then vote honors to the men who served her." ^ Vir- 
ginia afterwards voted to him and his men thirty thousand acres 
of land within the bounds of the present State of Indiana ; but 
its value was then nominal, and it did little to relieve Clark. He 
fell into intemperate habits, and sought to drown care in the 
bowl, dying at last near Louisville, Kentucky, in iSoS.^ 

How far her successful move upon the Northwest worked to 
draw the vindictive attention of the British ofiicers to Virginia, 
we have no distinct record ; but it is certain that on the 9th dav 
of May, 1779, Admiral vSir George Collier, with a fleet of armed 
ships and transports, carrying two thousand men, under Gen- 
eral Matthew, entered Hampton Roads. No adequate force 
was at hand to meet them. A fort, strong on the water side, but 
\yeak in the rear, had been built on the west side of the Elizabeth 
river to protect the Gosport ship-yard and the town of Norfolk. 
The British brought up the Rainboxu, sloop-of-war, to batter it in 
front, while land forces marched upon its rear. Finding he could 
not hold it, ISIaj. Thomas Matthews, the commandant, sent off' his 
ammunition, spiked his guns, hoisted his colors, and retreated 
with his-men into the fastnesses of the Dismal vSwamp. General 
Matthew took possession of the fort, and detached marauding 
bodies of troops to Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk. 

Cruel and wanton devastation marked their progress. They 
burned dwelling-houses, destroyed live stock, ruined furniture, 
and carried off' private property as booty. Defenceless women 
were outraged, and seven Frenchmen found at the Great Bridge 
Were inhumanly put to death. As the British advanced on Suf- 
folk, Colonel Riddick, with about one hundred and fifty militia, 

1 Burnet's Kotes on N. W. Territory, 77. 

2 Holmes' U. S., 133, note. 

3 Burnet's Notes, 80, 81. Art. Clark, Amer. Encyclop., V. 288. 



442 A History of the United States of America. 

made some fight, but could not long resist six hundred regulars. 
The enemy set fire to the town, and, to increase the conflagration, 
staved in the heads of hundreds of barrels of tar, pitch, turpen- 
tine and rum, which had been stored near the wharves. The 
flaming mass set fire to dry herbage, and not only the town, but 
the country around, was desolated. After their lavages the troops 
re-embarked and sailed to New York about the last of May.^ 

1 Colonel Lawson's letter. Girardin, 334. 



CHAPTER XL. 
The War Transferred to the South. 

MEANWHILE the military movements intended to subjugate 
the Southern States had made considerable progress. We 
have seen that, by the treaty of Paris, England acquired title to 
Florida. She divided it into tv^^o provinces, East and West Flor- 
ida, and sought to avail herself of its position and advantages for 
attacking the Southern colonies. Florida has the longest coast 
'line of all the North American States, having four hundred and 
seventy-two miles on the Atlantic and six hundred and seventy- 
four on the Gulf of ISIexico ; but her good harbors are not nume- 
rous, and frightful storms and tornadoes sometimes scourge her 
coasts. 

Sir Henry Clinton sent orders to General Prevost, who com- 
manded the British forces in Florida, to advance into Georgia. 
At nearly the same time, in November, 1778, in accordance with 
the plan of the British cabinet, he sent Lieutenant-Colonel Camp- 
bell, with two thousand troops, in a fleet of ships of war and 
transports luider Commodore Hyde Parker, to attack Savannah 
and carry the war into Georgia. 

Savannah was defended b}' Gen. Robert Howe with six hun- 
dred regulars and about three hundred militia. On the 39th of 
December, 1778, Colonel Campbell landed his troops about three 
miles below the town. Howe's little army -was on the main road, 
a causeway through swampy ground, with the river on his right 
and a morass in front. But a negro gave information to Camp- 
bell of a road through the swamp by which Howe's rear could 
be reached. By this road Sir James Baird was sent with light 
infantry, while Campbell advanced in front. The result might 
have been foreseen. The Americans, assailed in front and rear, 
gave way, and were routed with a loss of one hundred killed or 
drowned in the swamp, and thirty-eight officers and four hundred 
and fifteen privates taken prisoners. The rest retreated up the 
Savannah river and crossed into South Carolina.^ 

Savannah, with cannon, military stores and provisions, was 
captured by the British with a loss of only seven killed and nine- 

1 Compare Irving, III. 443. Stephens, 247. D. B. Scott, 195. Derrj', 131. 
[ 443 ] 



444 -^ History of the United States of America. 

teen wounded. Colonel Campbell acted with moderation and 
prudence, protecting persons and property, and proclaiming secu- 
rity and favor to all who would return to their allegiance. Num- 
bers flocked to the British standard. 

General Pi'evost marched thi-ough sands, swamps and forests, 
reached the southern frontiers of Georgia, captured Sunbury, the 
only remaining fort of importance, on the 9th of January, 1779, 
and, joining his forces to those at Savannah, assumed command 
of not less than three thousand men. He sent Colonel Campbell 
against Augusta, which was soon taken. By the middle of Jan- 
uary all of Georgia seemed reduced under British rule.^ 

But many there had not bowed the knee. In October, 177S, 
Washington, having infonnation of the plans of the enemy 
against the South, sent General Lincoln to assume command in 
that department. He had arrived and was straining every nerve 
to oppose the advance of the British forces. His forces con- 
sisted chiefly of militia, and, though not wanting in courage, 
needed the firmness coming from discipline. 

The first attempt of the enemy was at Port Royal Island. 
Here they were met by the veteran Moultrie and driven off with 
severe loss.^ 

The British Colonel Boyd, at the head of about eight hundred 
Tories, was at Ninety Six, in South Carolina. He -undertook to 
march through Georgia, intending to take Augusta into his route 
and to join the British army near Savannah. But at Kettle 
Creek, in Wilkes county, Georgia, he was intercepted by Col. 
Andrew Pickens and Lieut. -Col. Elijah Clarke, with Carolina 
and Georgia militia. A fierce encounter took place on the 14th 
February. The loyalists were completely routed, losing one hun- 
dred and fifty men. Seventy were taken prisoners. Colonel 
Boyd was mortally wounded. His dying requests were chival- 
rously carried out by Pickens. The American loss was thirty- 
two killed and wounded. Five of the Tories, whose crimes of 
treachery and cruelty w^ere aggravated, were hung.' Thus com- 
menced an ugly feature in the Southern campaigns. 

Pickens, Dooly and Clarke followed up their success with 
vigor, attacking and defeating bodies of British and Tories on 
both sides of the Savannah river. General Prevost ordered 
Campbell to retire from Augusta. He fell back to Hudson's 
Ferry, fifty miles above Savannah. 

Encouraged by these successes, Lincoln sent General Ashe with 
two thousand troops to take post at Brier Creek where it empties 

1 Irving, III. 444. Deny, 132. Stephens, 247. 2 Stephens, 247, 248. Derry, 132. 

3 D. B. Scott, 196. Derry, 133. Stephens, 248. 



The War Transferred to the South. 445 

into the Savannah. Ashe had two thousand more troops within 
supporting distance ; and yet, by his incompetent management, 
he permitted himself to be surprised by General Prevost, and 
was defeated with the loss of three hundred and forty killed, 
wounded and prisoners.' This serious disaster wrecked all of 
Lincoln's plans for the relief of Georgia ; yet he did not despair, 
but was indefatigable in calling for the militia of that State and 
South Carolina. 

Prevost was so far elated by his success against Ashe that he 
marched, with a considerable force, upon the rear of Charleston 
to demand its surrender ; but Lincoln, who now had a force of 
nearly five thousand, followed him so promptly that Prevost was 
forced to abandon his attempt on Charleston and retreat to the 
island of St. John, opposite the main-land. At the crossing to 
the island, called Stono Ferry, a redoubt was thrown up by the 
British. On the 30th of June, Lincoln rashly assaulted it. His 
troops were repulsed with severe loss.^ Soon after^vards Prevost 
made good his retreat, and returned to Savannah. The hot and 
sickly season came on, and both armies w^ere compelled to suspend 
active movements for several months. 

On the 9th of September, Count D'Estaing, the French admiral, 
having met with successes in the West Indies, in which he had 
taken St. Vincent and Grenada, appeared oft' Savannah with his 
fleet and four thousand land troops. Lincoln promptly opened 
communication with him, and effected a junction of his forces 
with the French. The capture of Savannah was an object readily 
agreed on. Its accomplishment was assuredly within their reach 
had prudence and skill ruled the French counsels. An augury of 
success came in the form of a daring enterprise by Capt. John 
White, of the Georgia line, who, with a small force, by a skillful 
stratagem, captured five British vessels, one hundred and eleven 
prisoners, and one hundred and thirty stand of arms.' 

The combined French and American force was sufficient for 
the complete investment of Savannah. The siege opened on the 
23d of September, and for three weeks was carried on with vigor 
by a daily fire of bombs and solid shot from the ffeet, and regular 
approaches by land. The result must soon have been a success, 
as the place would have become untenable and the supplies of the 
garrison would have failed ; nor was there any prospect of a 
favorable diversion from New York in favor of the beleaguered 
garrison. But just in the crisis, before the works of approach 

1 Compare Derrv, 133. Scott, 196, 197. Stephens, 218. 

2 D. B. Scott, 197. Derry, 134. Stephens, 249. a Derry, 136. 



446 A History of the United States of America. 

were complete, or any practicable breach had been made, D'Estaing 
declared that his fleet and army could stay no longer. This count 
was the evil genius of those times, when America hoped so much 
from the help of France. 

In a sad hour, Lincoln yielded to the pressure for an immediate 
assault on the British works. It was made with heroic courage 
on the 9th of October, 1779, by the combined forces of the French 
and Americans. They vied with each other in efforts to carry 
the works. Some of them actually gained the redoubts and 
planted their standards ; but all in vain. The repulse was bloody 
and decisive. Six hundred Frenchmen and four hundred Ameri- 
cans fell, killed or wounded. D'Estaing himself was among the 
bravest of the brave, and was wounded ; Sergeant Jasper fell 
mortally wounded just as he leaped on the Spring Hill redoubt 
and fastened there the flag presented by Mrs. Elliot ; the un- 
daunted patriot of Poland, Count Pulaski, fell in the thickest of 
the assault. He was carried, mortally wounded, on board the 
United States brig Wasp, died on the nth of October, and 
was buried at sea. A monvmient to his memory has been ei"ected 
at Savannah by her people, of which the corner-stone was laid in 
1825 by the JNIarquis De La Fayette.^ Another monument there 
commemorates the simple heroism of Jasper. 

D'Estaing, with his fleet and troops, withdrew. The Ameri- 
cans recrossed the river into South Carolina. 

On the very day on which the siege of Savannah commenced 
a naval combat took place oft' Flamborough, on the northeast 
coast of England, which startled the world by its exhibition of 
desperate courage, even unto death or victory. The American 
naval ships in regular commission were few in number during 
the Revolution ; yet they fought bravely under such officers as 
Manly, Saltonstall, Barry, and others equally as distinguished. 
But of all the naval leaders who espoused the American cause, 
John Paul Jones was the one whose name rose highest. He was 
a native of Scotland, but enlisted, heart and soul, in the cause of 
freedom. By the influence of Dr. Franklin in France, Jones ob- 
tained the command of a small squadron of five ships, of which 
his flag-ship, the Bon-Homine Richard, of forty-two guns, was 
the largest. She was named in honor of Franklin's wit and wis- 
dom shown in his " Poor Richard's Almanac." 

On the 23d of September, 1779, she encountered the British 
frigate Serapis, of forty-four guns, in a naval fight unparalleled 
in obstinacy and bloodshed. It commenced in the evening a^nd 

1 Stephens, 250, 251. Irving, III. 482. Derry, 136, 137. 



The War Transferred to the South. 447 

continued into the darkness of the night. By order of Jones, his 
ship was lashed to the British ship, so that the combat was deadly. 
Both ships were on fire ; their decks were slippery with blood. 
A brief pause in the fire of the Rlchard\sxo\x^\\. a summons from 
the Scrapis: "Have you surrendered?" The reply came: "I 
have just commenced fighting." Yet her condition seemed des- 
perate. She was blazing, and leaking so rapidly that she could not 
long be kept above water. To add to the horrors of her condi- 
tion, the American frigate Alliance, by mistake in the dark, fired 
a broadside into the Richard. But, quickly discovering the mis- 
take, the Alliance turned her guns on the Serapis. She surren- 
dered in time to enable Paul Jones to transfer his crew just before 
the Richard sunk. The British commander (Captain Pearson) 
was afterwards knighted for his gallantry. Another English 
ship was captured, and Paul Jones brought both his prizes into a 
port of Holland. Out of three hundred and seventv-five men on 
the Richard^ three hundred were killed or wounded.^ 

Early in the year 17S0, it became evident that a serious attempt 
was to be made by the British to capture the city of Charles- 
ton, and subjugate South Carolina. Governor Rutledge, hav- 
ing almost dictatorial powers, ordered the militia to join Gen- 
eral Lincoln, and aid in defence of the city. The citizens were 
patriotic, and were exceedingly averse to the British rule. They 
implored Lincoln not to desert them. Against his better judg- 
ment he yielded to their entreaties, and, instead of keeping his 
army in the field, and thus saving it for defence of the country, 
he brought all of his troops within the lines of the city, except 
his cavalry and two hundred light infantry, who were left outside 
to hover about the enemy and check them in their marauding 
expeditions.^ This was a grave error of Lincoln ; and yet it has, 
since his day, been often repeated. 

Sir Henry Clinton sailed early in January for the coast of 
South Carolina with a large fleet and army. He had a tempest- 
uous voyage. His ships were dispersed ; some of them fell into 
the hands of the Americans. He specially regretted the loss of 
transports with cavalry horses. These were to be made available 
by two cavalry officers, Bannastre Tarleton and Patrick Ferguson, 
each already renowned for his fitness for partisan warfare. Fer- 
guson was thought to be the best shot in the world with the rifle. 
He had invented one which could be loaded at the breech and 
fired seven times in a minute.^ Tarleton, in a maraud, supplied 

1 Goodrich, 233. Stephens, 252. Scott, 200. Sciidder, 222. 

2 Irving's Washington, IV. 27. 3 Hyid., 47. 



448 -^ History of the United States of America. 

himself with horses very soon after the scattered ships of the fleet 
re-assembled at Tybee Bay, on the Savannah river, about the end 
of January. 

The British troops disembarked February nth on St. John's 
Island, thirty miles below Charleston. While Admiral Arbuth- 
not, Avith his strong fleet, took position off' the coast so as to 
blockade the harbor, Sir Henry Clinton advanced by land with 
his forces to invest Charleston in the rear. His approach was 
cautious and slow, fortifying intermediate posts, so as to keep 
open his communications with the fleet. On the 12th of March 
he made good his tenure of Charleston Neck, a few miles above 
the town. 

It had been believed tliat no ships of the line could pass the 
bar below Charleston ; but the American Commodore Whipple, 
who had a small squadron of nine ships of war of various sizes, 
from a forty- four gun ship down to a schooner, to co-opei'ate with 
Fort Moultrie in defending the passes from the ocean, ascertained 
by soundings that the water near the bar was much deeper than 
had been supposed, and that his ships could not anchor within 
less than three miles of it.^ 

When General Washington was informed of these facts he 
wi'ote to his aid, Colonel Laurens, who was in Charleston : " The 
impracticability of defending the bar, I fear, amounts to the loss 
of the town and garrison." And he wrote to Baron Steuben ex- 
pressing the same opinion, but adding : "At this distance we can 
form a very imperfect judgment. I have the greatest reliance in 
General Lincoln's prudence, but I cannot forbear dreading the 
event." ' 

His fears were increased by tidings that two thousand five hun- 
dred British and Hessian troops, under Lord Rawdon, had sailed 
from New York to reinforce Sir Henry Clinton behind and on the 
flanks of Charleston ; yet even then the investment was not com- 
plete, and Lincoln might have marched out with his army ; for 
on the 7th of April, General Woodford, with seven hundred Vir- 
ginia troops, after a forced inarch of five hundred miles in thirty 
days, crossed from the east side of Cooper river by the way still 
open, and thre\\^ himself into Charleston.^ This reinforcement 
was welcomed with joy by the beleaguered people, but only added 
to the ultimate loss. 

Admiral Arbuthnot, leading in the Roebuck a squadron of eight 
ships of the line and two transports, availing himself of a high 

1 Whipple's report, Irving-. IV. 2S. 

2 Washington's corres., Irving, IV. 28. ^ipying, IV. 45, 



The War Transferred to the South. 449 

spring tide and a fresh southerly breeze, ran across the bar on the 
2oth of March, and past the batteries of Fort Moultrie on the 9th 
of April. The fort kept up a tremendous fire, and the ships of 
war replied. The smoke was so thick that their movements could 
hardly be followed. They passed with a loss of only twenty- 
seven men killed and wounded. One of their store ships ran 
aground, was set on fire and abandoned and soon blew up. The 
British ships took position near Fort Johnston, just beyond the 
range of the American guns. 

Colonel Pinckney, with part of his garrison, withdrew from 
Fort Moultrie. Commodore Whipple landed some of his heaviest 
guns to aid in the defence of the city, sent some of his ships up 
Cooper river, and sunk the rest as obstructions to Arbuthnot's 
fleet.i 

Anxious to keep open his communications by the Cooper river, 
Lincoln sent General Huger to Monk's Corner, at the head-waters 
of that rivei", about thirty miles above Charleston. Huger had a 
brigade of militia and some Continental cavalry, under Col. Wil- 
liam Washington, a brave and dashing partisan officer, who had 
distinguished himself at Trenton, and had with his own and 
Bland's light-horse and Pulaski's hussars, given the English 
troopers a sharp defeat at Rantoul's Bridge.^ 

Sir Henry Clinton detached Colonel Webster, with fourteen 
hundred men, to break up the American outposts. Tarleton made 
the attack on Monk's Corner on the 14th of April. By a night 
march he drew near. A negro was seen trying to avoid notice. 
He was seized, and on him was found a letter describing Huger's 
position and force. A few dollars sufficed to gain this negro for 
the British side. He guided Tarleton's force. The surprisal of 
Huger's camp was complete and disastrous. Some officers and 
men defending themselves were killed. Huger, Washington and 
many others escaped in the darkness and through the swamps. 
One hundred prisoners w^ere taken. Four hundred horses and 
fifty wagons, laden with arms, clothing and annnunition, fell into 
Tarleton's hands.'* 

An incident creditable to the English officers then occurred. 
Some dragoons maltreated and attempted outrage upon ladies in 
a dwelling-house near IMonk's Corner. They reported the facts 
at headquarters. The offenders were identified. Ferguson was 
in favor of putting them to death at once as an example ; but 
Colonel Webster did not feel at liberty to jDunish them capitally. 



1 Irving, IV. 43, 45. 2 Gordon, III. 352. Tarleton's Campaigns, 8. 

3 Stedman's Am. War, II. 183. Irving, IV. 48. 



29 



450 -^ History of the United States of Ajnerica. 

They were sent to the British army around Charleston, tried, and 
severely punished by flogging.^ 

The fate of Charleston was now sealed. Every way of escape 
was closed, and the siege was pressed by resistless approaches. 
The defensive works were ruins, the guns almost all dismantled, 
the provisions nearly consumed. On the 6th of May the feeble 
garrison at Moultrie surrendered that fort. On the 12th of May, 
1780, General Lincoln signed terms of capitulation, by which all 
adult males in Charleston became prisoners of war. The militia 
and citizens were paroled and were to return to their homes with 
protection so long as they observed their parole. The officers of 
the American army and navy were to retain their servants, swords 
and pistols, and were permitted to sell their horses, but not to re- 
move them from the town. The land prisoners taken numbered 
five thousand six hundred and eighteen, but most of them were 
citizens and militia. The Continental troops surrendered did not 
exceed two thousand in number. The British loss in the siege 
was seventy-six killed and one hundred and eighty-nine wounded. 
The American loss was about the same. 

These were dark days for the patriot cause. The financial 
troubles had risen to high-water mark. The Continental cur- 
rency was so depreciated in purchasing power that the pay of a 
colonel for a month would hardly provide food for his horse for a 
week. Connecticut troops, having received no pay for five months, 
broke out into open mutiny, threatening to go home or to gain 
subsistence with the bayonet.^ It required all of Washington's per- 
sonal influence, with financiering help from Reed and Morris, to 
keep the army efficient. Nature seemed to frown. A day of 
actual gloom came on the 19th of May, when the heavens became 
so dark at ten o'clock in the morning that lights were needed in 
the houses, and the fowls went to roost. The legislature of Con- 
necticut was disposed to adjourn because of the darkness. Some 
thought the day of judgment was at hand. A motion in the coun- 
cil of war was made to adjourn. Colonel Davenport, a bold pa- 
triot, opposed it, saying : "If the day of judgment be not at hand 
there is no cause for adjourning ; if it be at hand, let us be found 
doing our duty. I move that candles be brought, and that we go 
on with the business." On the night of the 20th the abnormal 
vapor passed away. A clear day came, and hope revived.^ 

After capturing Charleston, Sir Henry Clinton sent out detach- 
ments into the interior of South Carolina, under Cornwallis, Cru- 

1 Stedman, II. 183. Irving's Washington, IV. 48. 

«Irviiig's Washington, IV. 38. 3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 253. 



The War Transferred to the South. 451 

ger and the royalist Thomas Brown. Tarleton was also indefat- 
igable. He pursued Colonel Buford, who, having been too late 
to enter Charleston, was retreating towards North Carolina with 
three hundred and eighty troops of the Virginia line, and Colonel 
Washington, who had joined him with a few of his lately scat- 
tered cavalry. Tarleton had only one hundred and seventy dra- 
goons, one hundred mounted infantry and a three-pounder. He 
might, therefore, have been resisted with hopes of success ; but 
Tarleton was strong in threats and bullying. He sent forward a 
letter saying to Buford that he was surrounded by seven hundred 
light troops on horseback and by troops with cannon, and that 
Earl Cornwallis was within reach with nine British regiments, 
offering terms of submission, and warning against the temerity of 
refusing them.' Although Buford rejected his proposal, it seems 
evident that Tarleton's threats had wrought their eftect. 

The encounter took place on the 39th of May, on the banks of 
the Waxhaw, a stream on the border of North Carolina. At the 
first fire of Buford's men several British dragoons fell. Tarleton 
himself was unhorsed. His men attacked furiously, and the pa- 
triot lines were broken. Many threw down their arms and begged 
for quarter, but were cut down without mercy. One hundred and 
thirteen were killed on the spot, and one hundi'ed and fifty so 
mangled and maimed that they could not be removed. Colonels 
Buford and Washington, with a few of the cavalry and about one 
hundred of the infantry, escaped. Fifty prisoners were taken. 

The whole British loss was five killed and fifteen wounded. 
Why, then, did they thus butcher men who were helpless and had 
surrendered ? Tarleton felt the bloody stain of this transaction, 
and endeavored to remove it by the explanation that he was dis- 
mounted, and his men were exasperated to frenzy with the idea 
that he had fallen. Lord Cornwallis had no censure to pass on 
the useless massacre, but praised Tarleton unstintedly and com- 
mended him specially to royal favor.' A day of ret4-ibution was 
soon to come to both of them. 

Sir Henry Clinton believed South Carolina to be restored to 
British rule. He issued a proclamation calling on the people to 
return to their allegiance. Many were willing. The negro slaves 
of course deserted their masters in thousands. Tarleton wrote as 
follows : " All the negroes, men, women and children, upon the 
appearance of any detachment of king's troops, thought them- 
selves absolved from all respect to their American masters and 
entirely released from servitude. They quitted the plantations 

1 Letters in Irving, IV. 52, 53. = Irving's Washington, IV. 54. 



452 A History of the United States oj" America. 

and followed the army." ^ Yet the lesson of this fact seemed 
forgotten in eighty years. 

But the true patriots of the Carolinas and Georgia continued 
resolute. Under Sumter, Alarion, Pickens and Clarke they main- 
tained the warfare in the only mode left open to them at that 
time. They resorted to the partisan and guerrilla modes, and with 
admirable success. No detached post of -the enemy was ever 
safe. Marion was as rapid in his movements and fierce in his 
onsets as Tarleton, and far exceeded him in resoui-ces for escape 
and concealment. He and his men became so skillful in disap- 
pearing and saving themselves, when hard pressed, in the dark 
recesses of the swamps and forests, that Tarleton and his fol- 
lowers called him " The Swamp Fox " by way of derision. On 
Sumter, wdio was more open in his daring movements, they be- 
stowed the title of " The Game Cock." But all these traits were 
exhibited with ceaseless efficiency in the warfare now waged on 
the English and Tories. Neither Georgia nor Carolina was a 
subdued province while these partisans were abroad. 

Nevertheless, Sir Henry Clinton felt that the South was suffi- 
ciently restored to royal authority to justify him in returning to 
New York. He embarked on the 5th of June with a part of his 
forces, leaving the larger part under Lord Cornw^allis, who was 
to carry the war into North Carolina and thence into Virginia.'^ 

Meanwhile the patriot cause in the South was cheered by the 
presence and movements of Lieut. -Col. Henry Lee ^vitll his effec- 
tive body of well-equipped cavalry. He was in the regular ser- 
vice, but appreciated highly the deeds of the guerrilla officers and 
their men, saying of them : " Their combats were like those of 
the Parthians, sudden and fierce." ^ He co-operated with them 
in every promising enterprise. The South hoped also much from 
the coming of General Gates, the conqueror of Burgoyne, who 
had been ordered to the supreme command in the South. He 
was marching from Virginia with a considerable force. Wash- 
ington had recommended General Greene for this command, but 
the congress, with unbecoming precipitancy, gave the command 
to Gates on the 13th of June. Before he left Fredericksburg, on 
his way from his country home in Virginia, he had an interview 
with the eccentric ex-Gen. Charles Lee, who gave him an omi- 
nous charge in parting : " Beware that your Northern laurels do 
not change to Southern willows." * 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 89. 

2 Stephens, 254, 255. Derry, 1-10. Irvine:, IV. 55. 

2 Lee's Memoirs of X\\q War in the Southern Department. 
* Compare Weems' Marion, 99, 100. Irving, IV. 69. 



The War Transferred to the South. 4:^3 

Baron De Kalb had come with reinforcements from the North, 
and was in command of the Southern army when Gates arrived 
in the camp on the 25th of July, 17S0. He promptly issued 
orders by which the army was put in motion, marching throvigh 
a baiTen region of pines, sand-hills and swamps. Pie had relied 
on supplies from a train of wagons which never came. His 
army had to subsist itself on lean cattle roaming in the woods, 
and to supply the want of bread with green Indian corn, apples 
and peaches. Dysentery was the result. On the 13th August 
they had reached Rugeley Mills, twelve miles from Camden, and 
the next day they were reinforced by a brigade of seven hun- 
dred Virginia militia under General Stevens. 

Lord Rawdon had been in command of the British army con- 
centrating at Camden, in Kershaw district, South Carolina ; but 
Cornwallis, learning that the crisis apj^roached, hastened from 
Charleston, and, arriving on the 13th, assumed the command. 

The British force was about two thousand, including very efTec- 
tive regular troops and live hundred Tory refugees from North 
Carolina. The army under Gates was three thousand and fifty- 
two fit for duty ; but more than two-thirds of them were untried 
militia. The fatal error of Gates was in seeking battle with a 
force which, in its reliable material, was not half as strong as the 
enemy. 

By a strange coincidence, each army marched at about the same 
time to surprise the other. About two o'clock on the morning of 
August i6th the advance, on each side, collided near Sanders' 
creek. A sharp skirmish occurred. Colonel Porterfield, of Vir- 
ginia, was mortally wounded ; prisoners were taken on both sides. 

Gates had expected to encounter only Rawdon, and was sur- 
prised to learn that Cornwallis was in command with a force 
represented at three thousand. Calling a council of war, he asked 
what was best to be done. For a moment or two there was blank 
silence. Then General Stevens broke it by the pregnant ques- 
tion :■" Gentlemen, is it not too late now to do anything but 
fight? "^ Nothing more was said; the officers were ordered to 
their posts of duty. 

The First Maryland, including the Delawares, were on. the 
right, commanded by De Kalb ; Caswell, with the North Caro- 
linians, formed the centre ; the Virginia militia were on the 
left, under Stevens ; the artillery was in battery on the road. 
Each flank was covered by a marsh. The Second Maryland was 
in reserve a fe\v hundred yards in rear of the line of battle. 

1 Irving's Washington, IV. 87. 



454 ^ History of the United States of America. 

At daybreak the enemy were dimly seen advancing in column, 
and apparently displaying to the right. The American artillery 
opened on them. Gates issued the ill-timed order that Stevens 
should advance rapidly with the Virginia militia and attack them 
while they were in the act of displaying. Stevens promptly 
obeyed ; but, knowing the risk of panic to his raw men, he sent a 
few sharp-shooters to run forward and draw the enemy's fire ; 
but the expedient failed. The British lines, now fully displayed, 
rushed forward shouting and firing. Stevens called to his men 
to stand firm, deliver their fire, and then be ready with their bay- 
onets. His brave words fell on unheeding ears. The Virginia 
militia, dismayed by the rush of the enemy, threw down their 
loaded muskets and betook themselves to headlong flight. The 
North Carolinians caught the panic, broke and fled. Part of them 
made a short stand, but Tarleton and his troopers were upon them, 
and the flight was for life. 

Gates, seconded by his officers, made an effort to rally the mil- 
itia, but in vain ; he was borne in the flying crowd from the field. 

But the regulars of the American army did not give way. 
They stood their ground and fought with unflinching courage. 
Though several times broken, they rallied, reformed and met the 
enemy with the bayonet. At length they were almost surrounded, 
and a charge in flank by Tarleton drove them into the woods and 
swamps. The hero, De Kalb, fought on foot with the Second 
Maryland brigade, and fell pierced by eleven wounds. His aide- 
de-camp, De Buysson, supported him in his arms, and was repeat- 
edly wounded in protecting him. He announced the rank and 
nation of his general, and both were taken prisoners. De Kalb 
died in a few days.^ A nobler patriot never fell. 

This sad disaster to the American cause was soon followed by 
another. General Sumter had gained brilliant successes at Pedee 
and Hanging Rock, and had been in correspondence with Gates, 
and proposed to join him after attacking the enemy at Wateree. 
He was completely successful in this attack ; captured one hun- 
dred prisoners, and forty wagons loaded with stores, and was 
marching off' with his spoils and prisoners. 

Cornwallis sent Tarleton, ^vith three hundred and fifty cavalry 
and light infantry, to attack him. vSumter had occupied a strong 
camp at the mouth of Fishing creek, and, utterly unconscious of 
danger, he had thrown off' part of his clothes because of the heat, 
and he and his men were resting — their arms stacked, and some 
bathing, some lying on the grass, some asleep. 
1 Irving's Washington, IV. 88, 89. 



The War Transferred to the South. 455 

By a silent move and a sudden rush on the i8th of August, 
Tarleton's men actually pushed themselves in betw^een Sumter's 
men and the parade-ground, where their arms were stacked. The 
result was, of course, a complete rout. Some fought for a while 
from behind baggage wagons, but soon all who could save them- 
selves by flight did so. About three hundred and fifty were 
killed or wounded. All their arms and baggage and two brass 
field-pieces fell into the enemy's hands, as well as the prisoners 
and booty taken at Wateree. Sumter galloped oft' without saddle, 
hat or coat, and effected a retreat with nearly four hundred of 
his men.^ 

Gates reached Charlotte, in North Carolina, and continued his 
retreat to Hillsborough, one hundred and eighty-two miles from 
Camden, where he sought to gather up his scattered troops and 
make a stand. He found he had barely a thousand men. The 
Virginia and North Carolina militia had made their way to their 
homes, with help in food and shelter from the farmers along the 
roads. 

To displace Gates and appoint in his place General Greene, 
whom Washington had so earnestly recommended, was a duty 
which the congress speedily performed. The unfortunate Gates 
returned to Virginia depressed with grief and mortification. As 
he passed through Richmond the legislature was in session and 
generously sought to soothe him by a vote passed on the 28th 
December. They assured him of their high regard and esteem, 
and that the memory of former services could not be obliterated 
by the late reverse, and that Virginia, as a member of the Union, 
would always be ready to testify to him her gratitude.^ He re- 
tired to his country estate, and did not leave it again during the 
war. 

Meanwhile events of grave importance were occurring in the 
Northern States. The capture of Stony Point by Wayne had 
not only discouraged the enemy, but roused the patriot spirit and 
incited other American officers to like attempts. The British 
post of Paulus Hook, on the Jersey shore, nearly opposite to the 
city of New York, was held by a garrison under Major Suther- 
land, who had become somewhat negligent and careless under 
sense of security. Major Henry Lee, of the cavalry service, ob- 
tained Washington's permission to attempt a movement on this 
post, but with the express injunction that he was " to surprise the 
post, bring oft' the garrison immediately, and eftect a retreat." ^ 

1 Irving, rv. 90-92. Derry, 142. Stephens, 256. Quackenbos, 275. 

2 Resolution In Girardin, 416. 

3 Washington's instructions, Irving, III. 474, 475. 



456 A History of the United States of America. 

The movement was performed on the iSth of August, 1779, by 
Major Lee, with three hundred men of Lord Stirling's division 
and a troop of dismounted dragoons under Captain McLane. 
Lee passed the creek and ditch at about three o'clock in the 
inorning, and mastered the post while most of the garrison \vere 
asleep. Sutheidand, with about sixty Hessians, escaped into a 
block-house and opened an irregular fire. Alarm guns sounded 
in New York. To delay would have been ruin. Major Lee 
carried off three officers and one hundred and fifty-nine men as 
prisoners, with a loss to his force of only two killed and three 
wounded. Congress voted to him a gold medal. This coup dc 
main was in character with his subsequent successes in the South. 

When Sir Henry Clinton sailed to attack Charleston, he left 
General Knyphausen in command in New York. Washington 
had provided for the safety of the Highlands and West Point, 
and held, with his immediate army, the strong defiles in and about 
Morristown, in New Jersey. Knyphausen received exaggerated 
accounts of the mutinous movements of Connecticut and Penn- 
sylvania troops in Washington's camp. Pie conceived the idea 
that the people of New Jersey were generally disaffected to the 
American cause, and that nothing was needed to develop this 
feeling into a return to British rule except a military expedition 
for the support of the supposed royalists.^ 

Two marauding expeditions had been sent by him on the 2c;th 
January, 1780, to New Jersey. One penetrated as far as Newark, 
captured a small company there, set fire to the academy, and re- 
turned without loss. The other, consisting of one hundred dra- 
goons and more than three hundred infantry under Colonel Bcs- 
kirk, advanced on Elizabethtown, surprised the picket guard, 
captured two majors, two captains and forty-two privates, burned 
the town-hall, the Presbyterian church and a private residence, 
and plundered the private effects of the people. 

This sacrilegious outrage was supposed to have been in revenge 
for the patriotic exertions of the pastor of the chin-ch. Rev. James 
Caldwell, who had been full of enthusiasm for his country's 
cause, and had made his church-bell a tocsin of summons when 
danger threatened, and from his pulpit had often made ardent, 
eloquent and pathetic appeals for union and courageous effort 
against the British, while his loaded pistols had just been laid 
aside from his person. He had drawn upon himself the especial 
hatred of the English and loyalists, who denounced him as a 
"frantic priest" and a '• rebel fire-brand." The torch had been 
1 Passages in Hist, of Elizabethtown, by De Hart. In-ing, IV. 56, 57. 



The War Transferred to the South. 457 

applied to his church by a virulent Tory, who, when he saw it 
wrapped in flames, " regretted that the black-coated rebel, Cald- 
well, -was not in the pulpit." ^ 

Knyphausen made his serious descent upon New Jersey early 
in June, with a force of about five thousand men and some light 
artillery. The vanguard, led by the British brigadier Sterling, 
was challenged at the fork of a road outside of Elizabethtown 
by a single sentinel, who fired his musket and mortally wounded 
General Sterling. He was borne to the rear, and Knyphausen 
took his place. 

Instead of finding a people disaflected to the patriotic cause, 
the advancing British columns were stubbornly fought at every 
favorable point for resistance by the New Jersey militia under 
Dayton, and the brigade of the State under General Maxwell. 
A fight like that of Concord and Lexington was kept up from 
behind fences and extemporized intrenchments. 

At Connecticut Farms the hatred against Rev. James Caldwell 
manifested itself in a cruel and cowardly murder. He had re- 
moved his family to tliis jjlace. He, as cliaplain, was with his 
regiment in the American army. His wife, wuth her young chil- 
dren, remained in her home, trusting that the enemy, if they 
came, would respect the laws of war and of ordinary humanity. 

While she sat in silent prayer on the side of her bed, holding 
by the hand one of her children, three years old, and while, on 
pretence that the people had fired on them from their upper win- 
dows, some of Knyphausen's men were pillaging and setting fire 
to the houses, suddenly a musket loaded with two bullets was 
fired through the window. She received both balls in her breast 
and fell dead. The house and adjoining church were set on fire, 
and it was with difficulty her body was rescued from the flames.^ 

The news of the murder soon spread through the country, and 
excited intense feeling against the invaders. Although the at- 
tempt was afterwards made to attribute the act to a servant who 
had malignant hatred to Mr. Caldwell, yet few doubted that the 
shot had been fired by one of the marauding soldiers. The w^ife 
was connected with the best people of New Jersey, and was much 
beloved. The American papers afterwards vehemently assailed 
Knyphausen ; and in his march he found the people universally 
excited against him, and running to arms. 

The most serious encounter was at Springfield, which was 
approached by the British troops on the 23d of June, and when 
General Greene, with Maxwell's and Stark's brigades, Lee's 

1 De Hart's EUzabetlito\vn. Irving, IV. 6, 7. 2 Irving, IV. 58, 59. 



458 A History of the United States of America. 

dragoons, and Dayton's Jersey militia, made a strong resistance, 
in which Colonel Angel, of Rhode Island, with two hundred 
picked men and one piece of artillery, most stubbornly defended 
a bridge over the Rahway, west of the town. Finding all his 
purposes defeated, and every step of his way bloodily contested, 
Knyphausen abandoned his enterprise and returned to New York. 

In Knyphausen's movements, in 1778, the British Genei'al Grey 
had rendered himself more notorious than ever by his stealthy 
marches and cruel use of the bayonet. lie gloried in the name 
of "no-flint" Grey. A false tradition prevailed, even to 1891, that 
he was killed and buried near Flcmington, New Jersey. On the 
contrary, he was raised to the English peerage.' 

We come now to one of the most painful episodes in the war, 
because it involved the treachery and fall of one who had been 
eminent in chivalrous and daring devotion to the American cause ; 
yet it proves nothing more clearly than the doctrine of Holy 
Scripture, confirmed by history and experience, that the germs of 
all moral evil are in all human hearts. 

General Benedict Arnold had been highly esteemed by Wash- 
ington for his courage and soldierly qualities. He had been 
soured by the injustice of the congress as to his rank in the army, 
and had deeply resented the ungenerous conduct of Gates, -which 
we have noted. His wounds, for a time, unfitted him for field 
duty, and after the evacuation of Philadelphia by the enemy, in 
June, 1778, he had been appointed to the militarv command of 
that city.' 

He lived extravagantly and far beyond his means. He con- 
tracted debts so heavy that, in seeking to arrange them, he used 
public property and funds in such unscrupulous forms as to draw 
upon himself the suspicions of the council of Pennsylvania."' 
They complained to the congress, who ordered tliat Arnold should 
be tried by a court-martial. He was acquitted of the gravest 
charges, but found guilty of irregularities as a military officer, and 
sentenced to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. Wash- 
ington carried out the sentence with the utmost delicacy and 
forbearance.* Arnold had gained the affections of ISIiss Margaret 
Shippen, daughter of Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia, after- 
wards Chief-justice of Pennsylvania. The lady remained true to 
him through all his troubles, and was united in marriage to him 
five days after the 3d of April, 1780, the date of the act of con- 
gress ordering the court-martial. And though this lady had be- 

1 Compare Irvinsr, III. 441, with Hitnterdon Hist. Soc. Records, May, 1891. 

"Scudder, 224. I). B. Scott, 200. 3 Scott, 207. Irving, IV. 10, 96. 

* Report of M. De Marbois, Scc'y of Fr. Leg. Irving's Washington, IV. 20. 



Treason of Benedict Arnold. 459 

come acquainted with Maj. John Andre in Philadelphia, and 
occasionally exchanged letters with him afterwards, yet nothing 
dishonoring to her character as an American woman has ever 
been disclosed.' 

But Arnold now transferred his rage against Pennsylvania to 
his whole country, and secretly formed a purpose to strike her a 
deadly blow when opportunity should come, and at the same time 
to retrieve his own necessitous ciixumstances. Soon after resign- 
ing his command in Philadelphia he opened a clandestine corres- 
pondence with Sir Henry Clinton in New York, signing himself 
" Gustavus." He did not then disclose his name and I'ank, but 
represented himself as a person of importaiice, who, being dis- 
satisfied with late proceedings of congress, and particularly the 
alliance with France, was desirous of joining the cause of Great 
Britain, could he be assured of safety and indemnity. 

At fii'st Clinton knew not who his secret correspondent was, 
and even when he identified him, Arnold was without command 
and damaged in reputation and influence ; and he was deemed 
hardly worth buying.'' Therefore, Arnold sought an important 
post, and applied for command of West Point, which was justly 
re^^arded as the " Gibraltar of America." His treachery was long 
meditated, and profoundly deliberate. 

He was appointed to this command, and early in August, 1780, 
fixed his headquarters at Beverley, a country seat on the east side 
of the river, a little below West Point. It was commonly called 
the " Robinson House," having been the dwelling of Col. Bever- 
ley Robinson, who, though an early friend of Washington, had 
espoused the British cause, and w^as then in New York. He, 
with a Mr. Joshua Hett Smith, of the White House, in Haver- 
straw Bay, took active part in the meditated treason. 

On the loth of July, a French fleet of seven ships of the line, 
two frigates and two bombs, under the Chevalier De Ternay, 
arrived oft' Newport, convoying transports with five thousand 
land troops, under the Count De Rochambeau. La Fayette had 
successfully pleaded at the French court for these, and other 
forces, land and naval, were to follow them. An attack on New 
York was projected, and Arnold's plan was ingeniously contrived 
to counteract Washington's and turn it into ruin. It was, that 
when Washington had drawn down the main body of his army 
towards King's Bridge, and the French troops had landed on 
Long Island, a flotilla with a large land force, under Admiral 
Rodney, should ascend the Hudson, and Arnold, with just enough 

1 Irving, IV. 101, 102. "■ Ibid., 97. 



460 A History of the United States of America. 

of show of resistance to cloak his treason, should surrender West 
Point and the Highlands. Thus the attack on New York would 
be paralyzed, the American States dismembered, and their cause 
ruined.* 

The details of this dark plot couUl not be arranged by mere 
passage of cautious and enigmatic letters. Thus far, jSIaj. John 
Andre, adjutant of Sir Henry Clinton, had conducted the corres- 
pondence on the British side. He was of Swiss descent, a young 
man of pleasing manners and accomplishments, which had done 
more to secure him promotion than any deeds of stern war. His 
record was wanting in such deeds. And his whole conduct in 
the preliminary stages of the plot exhibits him as a man ready to 
foment and abet an infamous treason, of winch he was himself to 
be, tinallv, the most conspicuous victim. 

He had assumed the name of John Anderson. He came up the 
Hutlson with his uniform concealed by a heavy blue overcoat. 
Just at this time Washington also passed by West Point on his 
way to Hartford to hold a conference with Count Rochambeau 
and the French admiral. The treasonable meeting was postponed 
until he should depart. Arnold proposed to hold the meeting at 
the Robinson House — his own headquarters ; but Andre objected 
positively to passing within the American lines, knowing well 
its consequences if he was detected.^ 

.\ series of circuuistances led him to depart from his resolve. 
The I>ritish sloop-of-war \iilti(re had come up the Hudson and 
anchored a few miles below Teller's Point. Aboard of her was 
Beverley Robinson, pretending to be making application for the 
return of his confiscated estates, but really to aid in Arnold's plot. 
Andre came up the river September 30th and went aboard the 
Vulture. A boat with a flag of truce came down from Arnold. 
Andre returned in it ; Smith accompanied him. A little after 
midnight of September 21st, at a lonely place at the foot of a 
shadowy mountain called the Long Clove, the iirst interview 
took place between the traitor and the British emissary and spy.* 

Evidently the terms of the foul transaction were not easily 
agreed on. This interview, in the haunts of the owl and the bat, 
was protracted for hours. Smith came from his boat and warned 
them that the day would soon break. Arnold was afraid that the 
sight of the boat returning to the Culture would arouse suspi- 
cion. He persuaded Andre to remain initil the following night. 
Mounted on the servant's horse, Andre rode with Arnold to 

» Irvinpr's Wasliinston, IV. 9S, 99. "• Ibid., Wl. 

ssmith'sf-tatemeut, Irviug, IV. 105. 



Treason of Benedict Artiold. 461 

Smith's house. But as they passed on, the voice of an American 
sentinel challenged them, and demanded the countersign.' It 
was given, and they passed. Andre knew that his complicity 
with the treason was consummated, and his guilt, hy military 
law, complete. They reached Smith's house about daybreak. 

After breakfast the terms of the treason were agreed on. It is 
now known that they were that Arnold should betray West Point 
and the Highlands into the hands of the enemy, and should receive 
ten thousand pounds sterling and the rank of brigadier-general in 
the British army.'' 

While they were conversing the roar of cannon startled Andre, 
and with only too much cause. Colonel Livingston had opened 
fire on the Vulture from Teller's Point, and with such cHect that 
she had dropped down out of gun-shot range. Arnold was not 
willing to risk the suspicions which a boat sent down to a British 
war ship would have awakened. He persuaded Andre to return 
by land. Plans of the works at West Point and explanatory 
papers were placed between his stockings and his feet. He prom- 
ised Arnold to destroy them if danger threatened ; but it was 
otherwise decreed. A passport was given to Andre in the follow- 
ing words : 

"Permit Mr. John Anderson to pass the guards to the White Plains, or 
below, if he chooses ; he being on public business, by mj direction. 

" B. Arnold, M. Geticral." 

Smith was to accompany him at least part of the way, and was 
furnished with passports to proceed either by water or land. 

Andre set out, believing that Smith would accompany him in 
a boat to the Vulture; but that person, fearing for his own safety, 
refused to do so. He persuaded Andre to lay aside his uniform 
coat and put on a citizen's coat which belonged to Smith. Thus 
the ill-starred British spy added disguise to the other evidences of 
his guilt.^ Smith also induced Andre to attempt the return by 
land, and crossed with him from King's Ferry to Verplanck's 
Point. He continued with him to a point about two and a half 
miles above Pine Bridge on the Croton river. There he took 
leave of Andre and returned home. 

Andre had now entered the region known as the " Neutral 
Ground," which was raided over by the irregular forces of both 
armies. He began to feel more cheerful and secure. He had 
reached a fork of the road six miles beyond Pine Bridge, and he 
took the route nearest the Hudson. Suddenly a man stepped out 
1 Irv^g's Washington, IV. 106, 2 Stephens, 200. Scott, 208. ^ Irving, IV. 108. 



462 A History of the United States of America.. 

from the trees, leveled a musket and brought him to a stand. 
Two others, similarly armed, rose up from a game of cards, and 
joined their comrade in the arrest. 

The thoughtful student of history can hardly fail to be impressed 
with the conviction that a protecting Providence w^as now guid- 
ing the course of events to save American freedom. Had Andre 
quietly presented his passport, signed by the well-known Arnold, 
these men would have permitted him to pass. But these men 
were John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart and David Williams. 
They had been roused to vigilance by late outrages in the " Neu- 
tral Ground." Paulding was a stout-hearted young man, who had 
already been captured and had experienced loathsome imprison- 
ment, first in the North Dutch church and afterwards in the noted 
Sugar-house in New York. His captor had stripped him of his 
good yeoman garment, and forced on him his own refugee coat. 
He wore this when he stopped Andre. 

Acting upon sudden impulse at the sight of the coat, Andre ex- 
claimed eagerly : " Gentlemen, I hope you belong to our party." 
" What party ? " was the reply. " The lower party," said Andre. 
" We do," was rejoined. Andre dismissed all caution, and an- 
nounced himself to be a British othccr on special business, and 
who must not be detained a moment. He drew out his gold 
watch, which confirmed his statement, for few Americans then 
wore gold watches.* They immediately informed him that they 
belonged to the American army, and that he was their prisoner. 

Astounded, yet making effort to recover safe ground, he then 
sought to pass otr his previous avowal as a subterfuge, and stated 
that he was a Continental officer, and produced Arnold's pass ; 
but it was too late. Their suspicions were thoroughly aroused, 
and were increased by his falsehoods. They proceeded to search 
him. Nothing suspicious appeared in his vest and coat. Van 
Wart and Williams were inclined to let him pass, but Paulding 
said : " Boys, I am not satisiied ; his boots must come oflV 
Andre said his boots came oft' with difticulty, and even threat- 
ened them with the consequences of delay. But in vain. 

He was compelled to sit down. His boots were pulled oft". 
The drawings and papers were found. Hastily scanning them, 
Paulding exclaimed : " My God, he is a spy ! " ' 

Andre then attempted to bribe them. He offered his horse, 
saddle, bridle, and a hundred guineas to be sent to any place that 
might be fixed on. Williams asked if he would not give more. 
He said he would give any reward they would name, either in 

1 Irving's Washington, IV. 110. 2 lUd., 112. 



Treason of Benedict Arnold. 463 

money or goods, and would remain with two of them while the 
other \vent to New York and brought it. Here Paulding broke 
in with an oath that if he would give ten thousand guineas he 
should not be released/ This put an end to his offers. 

They guarded him to North Castle, the nearest American post. 
Colonel Jameson, commanding there, recognized Arnold's hand- 
writing on the passport, and, suspecting something wrong, though 
not suspecting Arnold, sent off all the writings and drawings by 
express to Washington at Hartford. 

Yet, with unaccountable want of judginent, this officer, after a 
conversation with Andre, sent him under a strong guard and 
with a letter to Arnold., stating the circumstances of the arrest, 
and that he had forwarded the suspicious documents to Wash- 
ington.'^ 

Fortunately, Major Tallmadge, next in command to Jameson, 
and much clearer in head, arrived, and, hearing the facts, sus- 
pected treachery in Arnold. By his persuasion an express was 
sent ordering the guard back to North Castle with Andre ; but, 
with an obtuseness or perversion of judgment never adequately 
excused, Jameson permitted his letter to go on to Arnold. 

The traitor, on receiving it at the breakfast table, rose hastily, 
and, beckoning his wife to him, informed her in her private room 
that he was ruined and must fly. She fell senseless under the 
shock. He paused not to aid her, but hurried down, inade a 
hasty excuse to his guests, galloped to a landing place by a route, 
since known as "Arnold's Path," threw himself into his six-oared 
barge, and was rowed to Teller's Point. Thence he made his 
way to Verplanck's and to the Vulture. As if to cap the climax 
of his infainy, he surrendered his coxswain and six bargemen as 
prisoners of war! This perfidy excited the scorn of the British 
officers, and when the facts were made known to Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, he promptly ordered their release.^ Under a passport from 
Washington, Mrs. Arnold went to her lather's home in Phila- 
delphia. 

Andre was tried by a court-martial consisting of six major- 
generals — Greene, Stirling, St. Clair, La Fayette, Howe, and 
Steuben — and eight brigadiers — Parsons, Clinton, Knox, Glover, 
Paterson, Hand, Huntingdon, and Stark. Greene was president, 
and Colonel John Lawrence judge-advocate. The trial com- 
menced on the 29th September, and was eminent in thoroughness 
and in tenderness to the prisoner. His own full and frank state- 

1 David Williams' testimony. Irving, IV. 113. 

2 Sparks' Arnold. Note in Irvins?, IV. 111. Scott, 208. Quackeubos, 278, 279. 

3 Irving's Washington, IV. 123, 124. 



464 A History of the United States of America. 

merit was the principal evidence. The court returned its unani- 
mous judgment that ^lajor John Andre, adjutant-general of the 
British army, ought to be considered a spy from the enemy, 
and, agreeably to the law and usage of nations, ought to sutler 
death.' 

He had laid aside all affectation, and now bore himself like a 
brave man. lie wrote to Washington, imploring only that he 
might be shot rather than die on a gibbet ; but on this point noth- 
ing could be 3'ielded. If he was a spy, he must die as one. The 
British authorities were estopped from appeal by Capt. Nathan 
Hale's case, which we have noted, Washington felt deep sympa- 
thy and compassion for Andre, and went so far as to authorize 
Capt. Aaron Ogden, of the New Jersey line, to pass under tlag 
of truce to New York, and to intimate to the British authorities 
there that if Arnold should be delivered up to the American 
power, Andre's life would be spared ; but Sir Henry Clinton in- 
stantly rejected the suggestion as incompatible with honor and 
military principle.^ 

Washington then entered cordiallv into a plan proposed by 
Col. Henry Lee, and made very nearly etVectual bv Sergeant 
John Champe, of his dragoons, to seize and carry off Arnold 
from his quarters in Ne\v York to the American lines, and thus 
at once save Andre's life and punish the traitor ; but, by a 
change in Arnold's residence and habits, this bold scheme was 
defeated."' 

Thus all hope for Andre failed. He was executed on a gibbet 
at Tappan, near the Hudson river, on the 3d day of October, 1780. 
His remains were buried near the place of execution ; but in 182 1, 
under the diiection of the British consul at New York, they were 
removed to Westminster Abbev, in England, where a mural mon- 
ument has been erected to his memory. The highest British au- 
thority had approved the sentence and the death and the conduct 
of Washington therein.* 

Yet the weakness of earthly affection has blinded many eyes to 
justice and right. Anna Seward, the daughter of Canon Seward, 
of Lichfield, England, was so well known for her poetic and lyric 
powers that she was called "The Swan of Lichfield." She was 
intimate with the beautiful Honora Sneyd, who was her father's 
ward, and who was warmly loved by Andre. The young Eng- 
lish ofhcer had often made one of their circle at home. After his 
military crime and his execution, Anna Seward wrote a monody 

1 Quackenbos, 280. Irving, IV. 135. - Quackenbos, 280. Irving, IV. 137. 

8 Lee's Narrative. Memoirs of War, 394-411. Irving, IV. 153-155. 
* Col. Mackiuuon, Coldstreams, II. 9. 



Treason of Benedict Arnold. 465 

of twenty pages on his life and fate, part of which was in these 
words : 

" Oh ! Washington, I thought thee great and good. 
Nor knew thy Nero-thirst for guiltless blood; 
Severe to use the power that fortune gave, 
Thou cool, determined murderer of the brave !"i 

The American congress recognized the merit of the three faith- 
ful soldiers, Paulding, Williams and Van Wart, by voting to 
each a silver medal and an annual pension for life of two hundred 
dollars. 

Arnold had his reward, though his plan of treachery failed 
utterly, and he was regarded with suspicion and contempt in the 
British army. He was employed in two expeditions of rapine 
and murder. 

After the defeat of Gates at Camden, Cornwallis had hoped to 
subjugate Virginia, and had tugged Sir Henry Clinton to co-ope- 
rate with him. Accordingly, a British fleet entered Chesapeake 
Bay about the last of October, 17S0, giving convoy to three 
thousand troops under General Leslie. They disembarked at 
various points, but were soon concentrated at Portsmouth. Gov- 
ernor Jefferson was filled ^vith anxiety, and made some insufficient 
preparations to meet them ; but after a brief period of mystery, 
and after committing some devastations for which their officers 
were not responsible, they suddenly re-embarked on the 33d of 
November, and sailed for Charleston. The defeat of Colonel 
Ferguson at King's Mountain and the total overthrow of Corn- 
wallis' plans furnished the explanation.^ 

1 Ch. Union, N. Y., Feb'y 19, 1891. 2 Jefferson's Worts, I. 194-198. Girardin, 424. 



CHAPTER XLI. 
The War in the South. 

BUT the movement against Virginia, though delayed, was not 
abandoned. Early in January, 1781, a hostile fleet entered 
James river, with about one thousand six hundred troops under Ar- 
nold. They included many deserters from the American army.^ 
No adequate preparations had been made to meet them, though 
Washington had warned the Virginia authorities early in Dec.em- 
ber. A mortifying want of courage and decision paralyzed the 
efforts of the really vigorous men then in Virginia. Thus the 
traitor was enabled to land at Westover, twenty-flve miles below 
Richmond, at two o'clock on the 4th of January, and to march 
with only nine hundred men, almost unopposed, on the capital, 
which then consisted of about three hundred houses. Governor 
Jefferson, with his fainily, retired in time to escape captivity. 
Arnold detached Colonel Simcoe, with rangers and infantry, who 
made a dash on Westham, burned the foundry, boring-mill, mag- 
azine, and other houses, threw five tons of gunpowder into the 
canal, destroyed all the papers of the auditor's office and council 
of State, and returned to Richmond without the loss of a man.^ 

Arnold destroyed great quantities of private stores, including 
many casks of ardent spirits, which were rolled out and staved. 
The liquor ran in streams down the gutters, and cows and hogs 
drinking freely were seen staggering about the streets. The 
enemy burned all public and many private houses. They de- 
stroyed or carried off' five brass cannon, three hundred muskets, 
three wagons, and a store of engineering tools. They then 
retired, striking on the way, at Charles City Court-house, a body of 
one hundred and fifty militia, of whom one was killed and eleven 
were captured. On the loth of January they re-embarked and 
sailed down the river. Arnold established himself at Portsmouth, 
and threw up intrenchments. 

On the 26th of March, 1781, the British General Phillips ar- 
rived at Portsmouth with two thousand men, and assumed com- 
mand. He came up the James again, and after a sharp fight w ith 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 297-298. 2 Morse, in Howe, 307. Girardin, 454. Henry Lee, 133. 

[ 466 ] 



Hie War in the Sotith. 467 

Baron Steuben, at the head of one thousand militia, he took pos- 
session of Petersburg and sent Arnold out to maraud. But by this 
time the IVfarquis De La Fayette, by orders from Washington, 
had taken command in Virginia, and, bringing on a body of Con- 
tinental troops from Annapolis, entered Richmond on the 39th of 
April. His presence and spirit wrought an instant change, and 
restored confidence. Phillips was on his march to leave, when, 
on the 6th of May, he met a boat with dispatches, which caused 
him immediately to return to Petersburg. Cornwallis was ad- 
vancing from North Carolina, and had sent the dispatches ; but 
General Phillips died in Petersburg on the 13th of May. The 
command again devolved on Arnold. He was soon superseded 
and. returned to New York, much to the relief of the British 
officers.^ 

His last active service was in many respects his deepest infamy. 
When Sir Henry Clinton, in September, 1781, discovered that 
Washington had outgeneraled him, and was on his way to invest 
Cornwallis at Yorktown, he sought to efiect a counter diversion 
by a movement against Connecticut.^ He selected Arnold as a 
fit instrument to head a murderous attack on his native State. 
His objective point was New London, on the west bank of the 
Thames, defended by Fort Trumbull on the west and Fort Gris- 
wold on the east side of the river. Arnold appeared in the 
Thames on the 6th of September with ships and transports, carry- 
ing two thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry, made up 
in great part of American royalists and refugees and Hessian 
yagers.* 

Arnold divided his forces about equally. He commanded on 
the west, and met with little opposition. Colonel Eyre com- 
manded on the east, and Arnold had ordered him to carry Fort 
Griswold by assault, believing it to be weak ; but the garrison of 
Fort Trumbull abandoned it, and retreated to Fort Griswold. 
Here they were commanded by Col. William Ledyard, a brave 
officer, brother of him afterwards so renowned as a traveler and 
explorer. His men were not adequately armed ; some had only 
spears ; but in the assault a gallant defence was made. Colonel 
Eyre fell mortally wounded. Major Montgomery took his place, 
but was thrust through with a spear by a resolute negro. Major 
Bromfield, a New Jersey Tory, succeeded to the command. His 
men were furious at the death of their officei's and the destruction 
in their ranks. After a deadly contest they carried the fort. 

1 Jefferson. I. 220, 221. Girardin, 469. ^Irving's Washington, IV. 312. 

8 Irving, IV. 312, 313. Goodrich, 271. Scott, 215, 210. 



468 A History of the United States of America. 

They gave no quarter. It is said that Colonel Ledyard yielded 
his sword to Bromfield, who instantly plunged it into his breast.^ 
The Tories, refugees and Hessians showed special rancor. Seventy 
of the garrison were slain and thirty-five vi^ounded. The enemy 
paid dearly for their conquest. Forty-eight were killed and one 
hundred and forty-three wounded. 

Arnold took possession of New London, and perpetrated the 
most wanton destruction in and about the town, hardly distin- 
guishing between public and private property. The destruction 
was immense. Many families once in affluence were rendered 
homeless and reduced to poverty and want.'' 

Leaving the town burning behind him, Arnold retired to his 
ships. The exasperated yeomanry pursued him and inflicted 
some loss on his force. 

This closed his career in America. He retired to England. 
His wife, after reaching her father's house in Philadelphia, had 
decided to separate from him ; but this course was not open to her. 
The executive council, learning that letters had passed between 
her and Andre, ordered her to leave the State in fourteen days. 
No indignity was offered to her, though everywhere burnings in 
effigy and execrations showed universal popular odium against 
her traitor-husband. After going with Arnold to England, she 
returned in about five years to the United States, but was treated 
with such coldness and neglect that she left America, never to 
return.* 

Arnold received from the British treasury six thousand three 
hundred pounds sterling as the money reward of an infamy in 
which British officers actively participated. He lived sometimes 
at St. John, New Brunswick ; sometimes at Point Petre, Guade- 
loupe, but chiefly in London. All the more honorable and sen- 
sitive people shrank from him with disgust and hoiTor. Llis wife 
w^as more kindly received, being regarded as innocent ; but she 
died in 1796.* Arnold was once in the gallery of the House of 
Commons. A prominent member rose to speak, but, seeing 
Arnold, he pointed to him and said : "Mr. Speaker, I cannot go 
on while that man is in the house." George HL tried once to 
introduce Arnold to the Scottish Earl of Balcan-as, but the proud 
noble turned away, refusing his hand and saying : " I know Gen- 
eral Arnold, and I hate traitors." When the noted Frenchman 
Talleyrand, driven from France, was about to embark for America 

1 Quackenbos, 293, 294. 

- Irving, IV. 314. Goodrich, 271. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 172. 

sjrving's Washington, IV. 149-151. 

* Art. Arnold, New Amer. Eneyclop., II. 149. 



The War in the South. 469 

from Falmouth, England, he was informed by the keeper of the 
tavern in which he was a guest, that an American general was 
in the house. lie immediately sought his society, and endeavored 
to enter into conversation with him, especially about America, 
but found him reserved and unwilling to talk on that subject. 
Finally Talleyrand asked him for letters of introduction to his 
friends in America. The answer came sadly : " No ; I am, per- 
haps, the only American who cannot give you letters for his own 
country ; all the relations I had there are now broken ; I must 
never return to the States." He dared not reveal his name to 
Talleyrand. He was Benedict Arnold.^ 

Arnold died in London June 4, 1801. He was the only military 
officer of prominence who ever proved a traitor to the cause of 
American freedom. 

We come now to the closing events of the war of Revolution. 
CornwalHs hoped to subjugate North Carolina with the aid of 
his active subordinates, Tarleton and Ferguson, and the uprisings 
of Tories at Cross creek and in Tryon county and other parts of 
the Carolinas." 

He had detached Colonel Ferguson with a strong foixe, consist- 
ing of about twelve hundred etlective men without artillery or 
baggage, and having also a large number of supernumerary 
muskets and rifles with which to arm the Tories as fast as they 
rose. He was to occupy the western counties, rouse the loyalists, 
help the Tory leader Lieut.-Col. Thomas Browne at Augusta, and 
join Cornwallis at Charlotte.* 

As the British forces approached Charlotte, Colonel Davie 
v/ith a small force vigorously opposed them. At Wahab's plan- 
tation he surprised a body of British and loyalists, and drove 
them in rout, killing and wounding sixty and capturing ninety- 
six horses with their equipments and one hundred and twenty 
stand of arms. Captain Wahab, the owner of the place, was 
able to spend a few minutes with his wife and little ones. But 
soon the sound of the trumpet heralded the ap2:>roach of a large 
body of the enemy. Davie was compelled to retreat, and the 
British officer in command, yielding to unmanly rage, ordered the 
torch to be applied and burned the home of this patriotic family.* 
But every such deed added to the American forces. 

At Charlotte, Davie contested every inch of ground. Tarleton 
was sick and Major Hanger took his place. Again and again he 

1 Compare Talleyrand's account, Centurj', January, 1891. Note in Barnes U. S., 136, 137* 
Quackenbos' U. S., 281. 

- Lee's Memoirs, 194. » Compare Irving, IV. 169 with Lee's Memoirs, 197-201. 

* Lee's Memoirs, 195, 196. 



470 A History of the United States of America. 

was repulsed in his advance on the town. Cornwallis personally 
reproached the dragoons for their failure, and, bringing up over- 
whelming forces, Davie was compelled to retire, and the British 
took possession of Charlotte.' 

Cornwallis adhered to his prior proclamations, and invited all 
to seek the protection of the British standard ; but with most 
inconsiderate severity, he caused a number of patriot prisoners 
who, in moments of fear and weakness, had received British pa- 
pers of protection, which they put into their pockets, and who 
afterwards took up arms for their country, and were captured 
with these papers on their persons, to be hanged as traitors ! ' 
This cruel course soon reacted against him. 

Maj. Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, had collected around him a 
number of refugee patriots from Georgia and the Carolinas. 
Learning that the English, with the aid of the Tory Col. Thomas 
Browne, had accumulated at or near Augusta large supplies of 
arms, ammunition, blankets, salt, liquors, and other articles to be 
used in bribing the Indians to take up the hatchet against Amer- 
icans, Clarke encouraged his followers to make an attack. After 
some indecisive movements, Clarke was completely successful, 
and on the 5th of June, 1781, compelled Browne to surrender 
three hundred men and large supplies and munitions.^ But at 
the time of Ferguson's movements, Clarke had been arrested in 
his attempts against Browne by the advance of Colonel Cruger 
towards Augusta. Cornwallis directed Ferguson, if practicable, 
to intercept and master the force under Clarke.* 

But this bold British partisan leader was now himself sorely 
threatened by the advance of a large body of patriots, not " chiefly 
of Carolina and Georgia militia," as has been erroneously stated,^ 
but from the borders of Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, 
Georgia and the western parts of Virginia, under Colonels 
Campbell, Cleveland, Williams, Sevier and Shelby. These men 
were very difterent from the ordinary militia of the Carolinas 
and Virginia who had so ingloriously fled at Camden. They 
were hardy, resolute men, each skilled with the rifle, and each 
mounted on his own horse. Their first object was to aid Clarke 
against the guards and supplies at Augusta ; but, finding Fergu- 
son in their way, they turned their forces upon him. 

With all his courage he was not indifferent to this mustering 
cloud of dangerous foes. He knew how fonnidable they were, 
for he was himself a practiced rifleman. He retired from Gilbert- 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 197. 2 Irving, IV. 169. Lee's Memoirs, 193, 194. 

3 Stephens, 254. * Lee's Memoirs, 199, 200. & By Stephens' Comp. U. S., 256. 



The War in the South. 



471 



town, and took up a strong position on " King's Mountain," a 
height in what is now York district. South Carolina, near a vil- 
lage bearing the same name in Gaston county, North Carolina. 
It \vas a narrow, stony promontory, with sloping sides, except 
on the north, and with an open cover of lofty trees, free from un- 
dergrowth, interspersed with boulders of gray rock.^ Here was 
fought, on the 7th of October, 1780, a battle almost unique in 
warfare, and deeply instructive to a people resolved to retain 
their freedom. 

Ferguson's position was so strong that he is said to have boasted 
that '' if all the rebels out of hell should attack him they would 
not drive him from it." ^ His force was nearly twelve hundred ; 
he was on a height, with natural means of intrenchment. He 
had no artillery, but he had a superabundance of muskets and 
rifles, and his muskets had bayonets. 

The patriots came together without any recognized command- 
ing officer ; but as Col. William Campbell, of Virginia, had 
marched farthest, he v^^as, by common consent, acknow^ledged as 
leader. They resolved to select nine hundi"ed of their best men, 
and to attack Ferguson on his mountain post. When they drew 
near the foot of the mountain they dismounted from their horses 
and picketed them in the woods, leaving a small squad to guard 
them. They looked well to their rifles and ammunition. 

They then formed themselves into three bodies, to attack simul- 
taneously on three sides. Campbell, with Shelby, was to lead the 
centre ; Sevier, w ith McDowell, the right ; Cleveland, with Wil- 
liams, the left. The genei^al orders \vere simple. Each man was 
to fight for himself, but with reference to the whole plan. They 
were not to wait for the word, but to take good aim and fire as 
fast as they saw an enemy within rifle range. When hard pressed 
they were to seek the shelter of trees, or even of short retreat, 
but never to retire while the battle was hopeful. 

Campbell gave tiine for the two other divisions to reach their 
positions and begin to ascend ; then he pushed directly up in front 
vv^ith his men. His force was soon within range of the crest, and 
a rapid fire of musketry was opened by the enemy. He instantly 
deployed his men, posted them behind ti'ees, and began a deadly 
fire. • At nearly the same time, the same manoeuvres followed the 
advance of the other two divisions. 

Ferguson was chafing and raging like a lion in the toils. He 
did not hesitate long ; but, leading his regulars, rushed on Camp- 

1 Compare Amer. Encyclop., Art. "King's Mountain," X. 170, 171, with Irving, IV. 175. 
2 Irving, IV. 175. 



472 A History of the United States of America. 

bell's men with the bayonet. They, of course, gave way, but 
only to seek shelter and open rifle fire again ; and before Fer- 
guson's men could re-form a flanking fire, mortal in its rapidity 
and accuracy, compelled them to face about and again attempt a 
charge, only to be picked off again with frightful effect by foes 
on their flanks and rear. The nature of the ground favored the 
rifle and not the bayonet. The elevated position from which ths 
British were obliged to advance also favored the Americans, who 
were able, by cross-fire, to bring down foes without danger to 
friends. Thus Ferguson found his men formidably beset on every 
side and falling in numbers around him. Yet he stood bravely at 
bay, and even when his lines broke and his troops began to retreat 
in confusion along the ridge, he sought to rally them, and galloped 
on his white horse from point to point, shouting his orders, waving 
his sword, and seeking to make head against the triple line of 
advance, from which a ceaseless and killing fire was coming into 
his disheartened force. Suddenly a rifle bullet brought him to 
the ground (he is said to have been struck by seven balls), and 
his horse, without a rider, was seen rushing down the mountain. 

This was the signal for the end. Hemmed in on every side, 
and finding a man falling at every crack of the American rifle, 
the British officer second in command hoisted a white flag, beat 
a parley, and sued for quarters. One hundred and fifty had 
fallen, nearly two hundred were wounded ; while on the Ameri- 
can side only twenty were killed (but among them was Colonel 
Williams, of South Carolina), and about a hundred wounded. 
Eight hundred and ten of the enemy were taken prisoners, and 
the patriots also secured not only all the arms used by their foes, 
but the extra muskets and small arms intended for Tories.^ 

Immediately after the battle a court-martial was held, and ten 
Tories, who had committed special crimes of treachery, cruelty 
and constructive murdei', were tried, found guilty, and hanged. 
This severe proceeding has been criticised as against the laws of 
war, but it was needed in those times, and it instantly stopped 
Cornwallis' executions of captured patriots who had weakly 
accepted British protection papers.^ 

The resolute men who fought and won this noted battle had 
come together of their own accord, without special order either 
from the congress or the American commander-in-chief or any 
State government ; and after turning over their prisoners and 
captures into proper hands, they dispersed in like manner to their 

1 Compare Irving, IV. 175-177. Lee's Memoirs, 200, 201. Amer. Eneyclop., 171. 
sScott's U. S., 204. Goodrich, 264:. Holmes, 143. Quackenbos, 282. Stephens, 257. 



The War in the South. 473 

homes. Evidently they had no adequate conception of either the 
importance or the results of the victory they had won.^ 

The destruction of Ferguson's force instantly put an end to 
Cornwallis' plan for subduing North Carolina. He began to 
fear even for the safety of his own immediate army, and to call 
in all his detached expeditions. He put a stop to General Les- 
lie's move on Virginia, and took measures to fall back to Camden. 

Sumter, Marion, Clarke and Pickens were roused to new en- 
thusiasm by the American success at King's Mountain ; and 
they were greatly strengthened by the coming of Col. Henry 
Lee ("Light Horse Harry") with his mounted legion, composed 
of three troops of horse and three companies of infantry, in all 
about three hundred and fifty men, who were ordered to the 
Southern department, and were quickly in most efficient service.^ 
On the 23d of October, 1780, Washington wrote a letter to George 
Mason, of Virginia, informing him of the appointment of Gen. 
Nathaniel Greene to the command of the Southern armies, and 
introducing to him that brave and prudent officer.^ 

Tarleton was still indefatigable in pursuing the bands of pa- 
triotic partisans. He followed Marion into the swamps with all 
the ardor of a huntsman ; but, though he succeeded in his artifice 
of breaking up his force into small parties, and sometimes drew 
Marion into conflict and inflicted on him some loss, he never suc- 
ceeded in arresting his agile and harassing attacks. Marion had 
the unlimited love and confidence of his hardy and abstemious 
men. 

We have a well-authenticated account of a visit paid to him 
in his swamp recesses by a British officer, who came under a 
flag of truce to arrange some matters as to exchange of prisoners. 
Marion received him with courtesy and dignity, and invited him 
to dinner. The officer accepted the invitation ; but he was amazed 
to see set on the rude plank table nothing but a shingle with some 
roasted sweet potatoes. " Surely, General," he said to Marion, 
" this is not your ordinary fare? " " Indeed it is," was the reply ; 
" but as we have to-day the honor of your company, we have 
rather more than usual." " But your pay is good." " Neither I 
nor my men have ever received a dollar of pay." " For what, 
then, do you fight?" "For the freedom of our country." The 
officer returned to the British camp thoughtful and sad. He told 
to his comrades what he had seen and heard, and remarked that 
America could never be conquered while such a spirit and such 

1 Irving, IV. 177. Derry, 143, 144. = Lee's Memoirs, 212. 

3 Washington's letter, Lee's Memoirs, 210, 211. 



474 -^ History of the United States of America. 

men upheld her cause. He is said to have resigned and returned 
to England.^ 

Sumter, not cast down by his surprise and loss at Fishing 
creek, had recalled his scattered men, and was beating up the 
enemy's quarters wherever he could see a prospect of success. 
On the I3th of November the British, under Major Wemys, at- 
tacked him at Fishdam Ferry, on Broad river. Sumter defeated 
and routed them, and captured Wemys. Cornwallis sent for 
Tarleton, who had failed to bag the " Swamp Fox," and in- 
structed him to go after the " Game Cock " until he had destroyed 
him ; but at Blackstocks, in Chester district. South Carolina, on 
the 20th of November, Tarleton encountered Sumter, and, after 
a fierce conflict, was decisively defeated, and fled from the field, 
leaving his wounded to the mercy of the victor. Sumter re- 
ceived a wound in this encounter, and was not able for nearly 
three months to return to active duty.^ 

But larger movements were now at hand. General Greene, on 
assuming command, found only about two thousand troops, poorly 
armed, clothed and fed. He lost no time in reorganizing and re- 
inspiriting his army, and Gen. Daniel Morgan efficiently aided 
him. Col. William Washington had also just performed a feat 
that greatly encouraged the patriots and subjected the loyalists 
to merited ridicule, which is often more effective than blows. 
Thirteen miles from Camden was Clermont, the county seat of 
Colonel Rugeley, a declared Tory. He had collected a consider- 
able body of loyalists, and had them at his place in a large barn 
built of logs and fortified by a slight abattis. 

Colonel Washington came up with a small troop of cavalry ; 
but to attack intrenched infantry with mounted men was not to 
be thought of. He dismounted part of his men, obtained a pine 
log, shaped and painted it like a cannon, mounted it on two vs^agon 
wheels, brought it to bear on the barn, displayed his men, and sent 
in a flag, demanding instant surrender on pain of having the barn 
battered to pieces. The garrison, one hundred and twelve in 
number, with Colonel Rugeley at their head, gave themselves 
up as prisoners of war. Even Cornwallis could not suppress 
a feeling of grim humor, which appears in his letter to Tarle- 
ton telling of this affair, and adding : " Rugeley will not be 
made a brigadier." The unlucky colonel never again appeared 
in arms.* 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 164, 165. Simms" Life of Marion, 176-lSO. Art. Marion, Amer. 
Encyclop., XI. 195. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, p. 134. 

2 Art. Sumter, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 185. Stephens, 257. Derry, 144. 

3 Irving, IV. 188, Lee, 221, 222. 



The War in the South. 475 

Small as his force was, General Greene felt that it was all- 
important that he should not abandon South Carolina to be terror- 
ized by Tories upheld bv detached bodies of British troops. He 
therefore sent General Morgan, with about one thousand men of 
various arms, to pass the Catawba and take post near the con- 
fluence of the Pacolet and Broad rivers in South Carolina.^ 

Cornwallis had formed his plan for an advance upon Virginia ; 
but, learning of Morgan's move and knowing it would not be 
safe to leave so formidable a body in his rear, he sent Colonel 
Tarleton with eleven hundred choice troops, embracing three 
hundred and fifty of the famous cavalry, a corps of legion and 
light artillery and two royal artillery companies with their field 
pieces. He did not doubt that with these Tarleton would defeat 
Morgan disastrously and overwhelm his force. ^ Cornwallis moved 
so as to intercept the expected fugitives. 

Morgan had been joined by some recruits from North Carolina 
and Georgia, so that his force was about equal in numbers to 
Tarleton's, though inferior in cavalry and discipline. Moreover, 
he learned that Cornwallis was moving on his left and might get 
in his rear. Therefore he prudently relinquished the temptation 
to dispute the passage of the Pacolet, crossed that stream, and 
retreated towards the upper fords of Broad river. 

Tarleton pressed after him with impetuous haste. At ten 
o'clock on the night of January 16, 1781, he reached a camp 
which had evidently been occupied only a few hours previously, 
for the fires were still sinoking and half-cooked provisions were 
found. Feeling now sure that he would strike Morgan in the 
confusion of a headlong flight, Tarleton allowed his already 
wearied troops only a brief rest. Leaving his baggage under a 
small guard, he resumed his exhausting march at two o'clock at 
night, tramping through swamps and rugged, broken grounds. 
A little before daylight he captured two videttes, and was some- 
what startled to learn from them that, instead of being in con- 
fused flight, Morgan had given his troops rest and refreshment, 
and was standing at bay ready to meet him in battle.* 

It was at the spot known as Hannah's " Cowpeins," being part 
of a grazing farm of a man of that name. Nothing less than 
the high resolution and self-confidence of the American general 
would have induced him to offer battle in such a position, with a 
river behind him cutting oft' retreat, his flanks unprotected, and 
an open wood around him admitting the operations of cavalry. 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 222. Irving, IV. 215. 

- Cornwallis to Lord George Germain, Marcli ITtli. Irving, IV. 216. 

2 Lee's Memoirs, 226. Irving, IV. 218, 



47^ A History of the United States of America. 

But Morgan always afterwards defended his judgment by the fol- 
lowing characteristic reasons : '* Had I crossed the river, one-half 
the militia would have abandoned me. Had a swamp been in 
view, they would have made for it. As to covering my wings, I 
knew the foe I had to deal with, and that there would be noth- 
ing but dov^^nright fighting. As to a retreat, I wished to cut off 
all hope of one. Should Tarleton surround me with his cavalry, 
it would keep my troops from breaking away and make them 
depend upon their bayonets. When men are forced to fight they 
will sell their lives dearly." ^ 

He had the advantage of two moderate eminences in his field. 
He ranged his troops in three lines. The first consisted of the 
Carolina militia, under Pickens, with some volunteer rifle skir- 
mishers in advance. This line was to wait till the enemy were 
within dead shot, then fire two volleys with good aim, and fall 
back. The second line were Colonel Howard's light infantry and 
the Virginia riflemen. They were informed of the orders given 
to the first line. The third line was on the slope of the rear emi- 
nence. It consisted of Colonel Washington's cavalry and about 
fifty mounted Carolina volunteers, armed with sabres and pistols, 
under Major McCall.^ 

One element of uncalculated po\ver entered into the coming 
battle and really decided it. The Americans wei"e rested, fresh 
and strong from sleep and food ; Tarleton's troops were haggard 
and worn down in l3ody and spirit by forced marches, without 
suflicient sleep or food. Nevertheless, with his overweening 
confidence and vanity, he ordered an instant attack. 

He led on his first line, who rushed forward \vith shouts. The 
advanced patriot riflemen delivered their fire steadily and with 
effect, and then fell back. The first line obeyed orders, waited 
till the British were within range, and then made a destructive 
volley. Being pushed with the bayonet, they obeyed ordeis 
and retreated to the rear. The enemy pressed forward upon 
Howard's line, and were received with a stern resistance and 
deadly volleys. A bloody conflict here took place ; but, seeing his 
flank assailed by cavalry, Howard ordered a change of front. His 
orders were misunderstood, and some confusion ensued. Morgan 
rode up and ordered Howard wath his men to retreat over the hill 
and re-form, and ordered Colonel Washington's line to advance to 
their relief. 

The British troops, seeing the Continentals retiring over the 
hill, thought their victory complete, and rushed forward in broken 

1 Morgan's report in Irving, IV. 21S, 219. 

2 Lee's Memoirs, 227. Irving, IV. 219. Annual Register (British), 1781, p. 56. 



The War in the South. 477 

and irregular order in pursuit ; but they were astounded when 
Washington's dragoons and mounted volunteers spurred furiously 
vipon them ; and at the same time Howard's ti'oops faced about, 
formed rapidly, delivered a deadly fire, and then charged reso- 
lutely with the bayonet. 

The enemy were thro^vn into hopeless confusion. Some artil- 
lerymen attempted to defend their guns, but they were cut down 
or captured, and the cannon and colors seized. A panic now 
took possession of the British, aided, no doubt, by previous fatigue 
and exhaustion. Tarleton sought to bring his reserved cavalry 
into action ; but, infected by the same panic, they turned their 
backs on their commander and galloped oft' through the woods, 
trampling down the flying infantry. Fourteen ofHcers and forty 
dragoons rallied to Tarleton's side. For a time he made fight, 
but in the fierce melee with Washington's troopers the British 
vyere worsted, and Tarleton, giving up all for lost, spurred away 
with a few faithful comrades at full speed. It is said that he 
looked not behind him, and thus failed to see Colonel Washing- 
ton, who, with his dragoons, was in swift pursuit, and who 
inflicted a wound on Tarleton's hand.^ 

The American victory was complete. They lost only twelve 
killed and sixty wounded. The British loss was one hundred and 
ten officers and men killed, two hundred wounded, and nearly six 
hundred rank and file made prisoners. They lost, also, two field- 
pieces, two standards, eight hundred muskets, one traveling forge, 
thii'ty-five wagons, one hundred dragoon horses, seventy negroes, 
and all of their baggage which they did not have time to de- 
stroy.^ Great as were the material results thus gained, they were 
exceeded by the exhilaration and resolution of spirit roused among 
the people of the South by this signal victory. Tarleton's pres- 
tige was gone, never to return. 

On the seventeenth day of January, 1781, Cornwallis was in his 
camp on Turkey creek, expecting to hear that Tarleton had routed 
Morgan, when towards evening some of his dragoons came strag- 
gling into camp, haggard, forlorn, nearly dead with fatigue, but 
able to give some account of the terrible blow received by the 
British army. The next day came Tarleton himself, who, how- 
ever crestfallen, put the matter in the best light he could by re- 
presenting that Morgan's force was two thousand strong ! ^ 

Cornwallis became cautious, and kept his camp several days 
until he w^as joined by the fugitives from Tarleton's force and 

1 Stephens, 262, 263. Barnes, 137, Quackenbos, 285. Lee's INIem., 229. 

2 Morgan's Rsport, Irving, IV. 221, 222. Cornwallis to Sir H, Clinton, Lee, 229, 230. 

3 Irving, IV. 223. 



4/8 A //isforyof tit' C^NtffJ Sf<itirs of America. 

by Genenxl I^sUo with botwoon two und throe thousauil tivops. 
Thou ho coinmoucod his; march to overtake aiul ilostroy Mor- 
pm's toroo. Ho movoil by toived marches, and such was his zeal 
and dotonninatioix that, believins^f .N[v">rv^in to be incumbered Avith 
prisoi\ors and spoils, he dehiched a part of his force, without 
Ivi^vjiVC*?' "^ pursuit, while he followovl with the remainder ot 
his arvny. 

But the American s^onenil pn.>vetl himself to be as adroit and 
prudent in retreat as he was terrible ii\ battle. He sent on before 
him his prisoners towards Charlottesville, in X'irg^inia. under a 
small ir"-n"d. while he pushed on. dav and nig'ht, with his main 
K'kdy towards the crossing of the Catawba. On the evening of 
the J^^d of January he safelv passtni the river just twv> hours be- 
fore the head of the pursuing det^»chn\ent appeared.' A heavy 
n\iu begi\n to foil, and continued during the night The next 
morning the river was impass;ible. and so continued for two days. 
Morgaii was safe. 

Cornwallis came up bv the J5th of January to Ramsour's Mills. 
on the south fork of the Catawba. Ho had been greatly incum- 
bered by his enormous baggage, and the necessity for transporting 
it over r«.v\ds of deep revl clay cut up by streams and morasses 
He adopted a policy worthy of Ji self-denying soldier, though 
finallv of no service to his king. He Ivgixn with his own bag- 
g;»ge and stores, clothing, wines, liquors and provisions, and 
spent two days at Ramsour's NTills in destrv\ving everything that 
incumberevl his army, and that could Im? spared w ithout destroy- 
ing its immediate etliciency. An Ainerican soldier has praised 
him highlv for this sacritice.* An Knglish soldier has censured 
it even with ridicule, declaring it to have been " something t«.xi 
like a Tartar move,"* It certainly brx^ught Cornwallis' army to 
light n\arching order. 

Greene's heart had been gladdonovl. and he gladdened Wash- 
ington's heart bv the news of the " Cowpens." leaving his 
trxx">ps on the Pedee, he rode on horseback, with a small suite, a 
huuvlred miles, joined Morg;in north of the Catawba, and assumed 
command. His plan was the Fabian pi>licy. which he had learnevi 
under his l^eloved commander-in-chief. It wa^ to draw Corn- 
wallis on to a hamssing and vain pursuit, to tempt him tar away 
from supplies, to tight no battle unless reasonably sure of a tavor- 
able result, and to a\-iiil himself of General Huger's ad\-iince from 
the south with his division of American trvx»ps^ And this plan 

» S^iNimsn, II 5vXv. CVvnixTjUlis to OUnt«.Mi. Rememhranc^T, ITSl, I. SOS. 

*Hettrv Ia>», Mom«>irSs ^i^i. 

» Sir HeiKT Cliatcm. Irrins. IV, iSX Aauu»l Register, 17S1, p^ 58. 



The War in the South. 479 

was carried out with consummate skill by a general who "won 
no battle, but saved the .Soutli." * 

As soon as the river had fallen sufficiently, Cornwallis prepared 
to ci"oss. Colonel Webster, with one division, was to march by 
the main road to Beattie's Ford, while Cornwallis, with the rest 
of the army, moved down to McCowan's, a distant and private 
ford, where no opposition was expected. But it had not escaped 
the vigilance of Greene, who had detached Brigadier Davidson 
with three hundred North Carolina militia lo do what they could 
to retard the enemy. 

I'he night was dark and I'ainy. The road was in some places 
a quagmire ; but Cornwallis pressed on, fearing that the rain 
would again swell the river. As it was, he found it five hundred 
yards wide, three feet deep, with rapid cunent and a bottom of 
moving stones ; but the light infantry entered the water, support- 
ing each other as they waded, and with orders not to fire till they 
reached the bank. Colonel Hall led tliem, but Cornwallis and 
General O'Hara quickly followed on horseback. 

An American sentinel challenged three times, and, receiving 
no answer, fired and roused the picket guard. The man who was 
guiding the British turned and tletl. Colonel Hall, not knowing 
the true ford, led his men directly across. This carried them 
through deep water, but gave them the advantage of landing at 
an unguarded spot. But the militia behaved gallantly and re- 
ceived them with a fire under which Colonel Hall fell mortally 
wounded and many of his men went down. O'Hara's horse 
stumbled and rolled over him in the water. Cornwallis' horse 
was wounded, and barely carried his rider to the shore, when the 
brave animal sunk dead. The British infantry lost many killed 
and wounded ; but, forming rapidly on the bank, they charged 
and bi'oke Davidson's men, killing and wounding about forty and 
putting the rest to flight. Davidson himself fell just as he was 
moimting his horse.'' 

Tarleton pressed after the fugitives, and killed, wounded and 
captured some of them. General Greene spurred forward over 
deep, miry roads to rejoin Morgan. He detached his aids to 
gather the scattered militia. At mid-day, weary and travel- 
stained, he stopped at the inn at Salisbury. The army surgeon 
asked how he w^as. " Fatigued, hungry, alone and penniless," 
was the reply. The landlady, Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, a noble- 
hearted, patriotic woman, entered the room where the sad com- 

• Prof. Alex. Johnston's U. S., Hist, and Const., 74. 

2 Compare Lee's Memoirs, 2:W-'235. Irving, IV. 250, 231. 



^So A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

mander of the Southern armies sat at his meal, and, drawing 
from under her apron two bags heavy with coin which she had 
hoarded, said to him : " Take these ; you will want them, and 
I can do without them." This was most opportune, not only 
in furnishing money greatly needed, but in rousing hope and for- 
bidding despair.^ 

Greene, refreshed and encouraged, joined his army and con- 
tinued that memorable retreat which did more to save the Amer- 
ican cause than a successful battle would then have done. Corn- 
wallis waited for his wagons and artillery. On the ist of Feb- 
ruary he was five miles from Salisbury. Eager to overtake 
Greene, he mounted infantry on baggage horses and sent them 
forward with the rest of the cavalry under O'Hara and Tarleton. 
But Greene crossed the Yadkin on the 3d of February and se- 
cured all the boats. The pursuers captured a few wagons with 
the teamsters, but no soldiers. A heavy rain had fallen during 
the day, and the enemy found the fords impassable.^ 

As soon as he could pass, Cornwallis was again in pursuit, 
hoping to cut oft' Greene from the upper fords of the Dan, force 
him to battle, and destroy his army before he could reach Vir- 
ginia ; but Greene had divined his plan and provided for every 
contingency. He sent forward Kosciuszko with a select corps to 
secure all the boats on the Dan. He formed his rear guard under 
Col. Otho G. Williams (Morgan being disabled by ague and 
rheumatism), and placed with him the ever-active cavalry and 
light troops under Howard, William A. Washington and Henry 
Lee. Never was rear-guard service better done. 

The pursuit was keen and relentless. The retreat was masterly 
and perfectly successful. On the nth of February, Greene, with 
his main army, reached the Dan, and, finding boats enough, crossed 
at Boyd's and Irwin's ferries without difficulty. He sent back 
word to Williams to manoeuvre in front of the enemy, and then 
cross and rejoin him as soon as possible. These orders were skill- 
fully performed. Several sharp encounters between the cavalry 
of the two hostile arinies occurred. On the 13th, Williams, hav- 
ing encamped a wary distance in front of the enemy, keeping 
them at bay, left his camp-fires burning, and, marching forty miles 
in a night and part of a day, crossed the Dan in safety, landing on 
the Virginia shore just as the astonished troops under O'Hara 
came in sight in pursuit. They have left on record an account 
of their grief and vexation, " that all their toils and exertions had 
been in vain, and that all their hopes were frustrated."' 

1 Irving's Washington, IV. 231, 232. 2 Lee's Memoirs, 235 and note. Irving, IV. 232. 

3 Annual Register, 1781. Irving, IV. 235. 



The War in the South. 481 

Greene expected to be further pursued ; but Cornwallis did not 
then venture into Virginia, knowing that the patriot army would 
soon be strongly reinforced, and that North Carolina was far from 
being subdued to the British rule. He therefore withdrew by 
nearly the same lines on which he had advanced. Arriving at 
Hillsborough on the 20th of February, he rested for a few days, 
and, setting up the royal standard, sent out printed proclama- 
tions inviting the people to return to British rule.^ 

These proclamations had some effect, and might have widely 
spread injury to the patriot cause but for General Greene's prompt 
measures. He detached Pickens and Lee, with light infantry and 
cavalry, to recross into North Carolina, hover about Cornwallis, 
cut off foraging parties, repress Toi^ies, and cheer patriot spirits. 
Having been reinforced by six hundred Virginia militia under 
Stevens, he prepared to re-enter North Carolina with his army. 
On the 33d of February, 1781, he broke up his camp, recrossed 
the Dan, and marched towards Guilford Court-house. 

Meanwhile, the indefatigable Pickens and Lee were in hot 
pursuit of a detachment under Tarleton ; but, instead of coming 
up with him, on the iSth of February they came upon a body of 
four hundred mounted Tories armed with rifles, and commanded 
by Colonel Pyle, a zealous loyalist. Lee's cavalry and accompa- 
niments were always kept up to a high point of efficiency. Some 
of Pyle's men mistook Lee for Colonel Tarleton. Picken's 
infantry were ordered to keep out of sight, and a plan was formed 
by which, it was hoped, the whole Tory force would be compelled 
to surrender without bloodshed.^ 

But some of Pyle's men discovered the concealed infantry under 
Pickens, and began to fire on them. This, of necessity, brought 
on a conflict, in which the American cavalry attacked the mounted 
Tories, cut down ninety of them in a few minutes, wounded 
nearly two hundred, and dispersed and routed all who could fly 
for their lives. No attempt was made to pursue them. Some 
British historians have characterized this as " a massacre," and 
even an American author, of high and genial fame, has apparently 
admitted the justice of the charge ;^ but it was only a bloody blow 
given to a corps of armed Tories, and brought on by their own 
attack. When compai^ed with some of Tarleton's butcheries, it 
was clemency itself. 

The rapid and effective movements of Lee and Pickens, and the 
advance of Greene, effectually destroyed Cornwallis' hopes of a 



1 Lee, 251. Irving, IV. 238. 2 Lee's Memoirs, 256, 257. 

* Ex. Stedman, Amer. War. Ir\-ing, IV. 240. 



31 



482 A History of the United States of Ai7ierica. 

general movement of the Carolina people towards reconciliation 
with Great Britain. He therefore decided again to take the field 
and to endeavor to destroy the forces under General Greene. 

The hostile armies met about two miles south of Guilford Court- 
house, now Greensborough, North Carolina. The army of Gen- 
eral Greene had been further reinforced by a brigade of Virginia 
militia, imder General Lawson ; two brigades of North Carolina 
militia, under Generals Butler and Eaton, and four hundred I'egu- 
lars, enlisted for eighteen months. His whole force amounted to 
four thousand two hundred and forty-thi'ee foot, including artil- 
lery and one hundred and sixty-one cavalry.^ Numerically, his 
force nearly doubled that of Cornwallis, which did not exceed 
two thousand four hundred men of all arms. In artillery the two 
armies were about equal ; but Greene had only one thousand six 
hundred and seventy Continentals ; the rest were raw militia ; 
and the Second Maryland regiment had just been mustered in, 
and had never been under fire. Cornwallis' troops were all vet- 
erans, schooled in warfare, and knowing that their only .safety 
was in standing by one another. 

The two opposing commanders deliberately prepared for battle. 
Cornwallis sent his heavy baggage and wagons to Bell's Mills, 
on Deep river ; Greene sent his to the Iron Works, on Trouble- 
some creek, ten miles in his rear. 

As Cornwallis marched towards the chosen battle-field, his 
advance of cavaliy, infantry, and yagers, under Tarleton, came 
into severe collision, near New Garden, with Lee's partisan legion 
and some Virginia mountaineers and militia. The fight was 
bitter and bloody, but Lee's horses were superior, and Tarleton, 
finding his troops borne down by a charge in close column and a 
number of them killed, dismounted or prisoners, sounded a retreat. 
Lee pursued until the appearance of the whole British army 
admonished him to retire.'' 

Early on the morning of the 15th of March, 1781, the armies 
drew near each other for battle. Cornwallis could only deploy 
into a single line. He had no reserves ; he trusted the issue to 
the superior discipline and fighting power of his troops. Greene, 
knowing his weakness in these respects as to the greater part of 
his force, had established three lines : first, the North Carolina 
militia, volunteers and riflemen, posted behind a fence, ^vith an 
open field in front and woods on the flanks and in the rear ; 
second, about three hundred yards in the rear, the Virginia militia, 

1 Compare Lee's Memoirs, 283, with Irving, IV. 243. 
•Irving, IV. 244, 245. Lee's Memoirs, 273, 274. 



The War in the South. 483 

under Generals Stevens and Lawson, drawn up across the road 
and covered by a wood ; third, about four hundred yards in the 
rear, the Continentals, the Virginians on the right, under Huger, 
the Marylanders on the left, under Williams. Colonel Washing- 
ton, with his di-agoons, Kirkwood's Delaware infantry and a Vir- 
ginia militia battalion, covered the right flank ; Lee's legion, 
%vith Campbell's Virginia riflemen, covered the left. Two six- 
pounders were in the road in advance, and two field-pieces with 
the rear line. 

When the enemy came within artillery range. Singleton opened 
with his two guns and was answered by the British cannon under 
McLeod. Very little execution was done by this cannonade. 
The British advanced in three columns — Hessians and High- 
landers on the right, under Leslie ; Royal artillery and guards in 
the centre ; Webster's brigade on the left. 

The North Carolina militia held a position so strong and well- 
protected that it was hoped they would stand and fight firmly ;' 
but as the British line approached in full martial array, these raw 
troops became visibly agitated. Some fired when the enemy were 
yet beyond musket range ; some fired without aim ; some fired 
with wavering eftect, and then nearly all dropped their guns and 
took to flight. The second line opened to let the fugitives run 
through without disorder. 

The British rushed on with shouts, assured of success ; but 
they were met by a destructive fire and a firm resistance by the 
Virginia line. General Stevens, warned by the experience of 
Camden, had posted forty riflemen in rear of his militia, with 
orders to shoot down every man who left his place and attempted 
to fly. Moreover, these men had braced their souls up to a stand. 
The enemy were resolutely resisted by the second line until Gen- 
eral Stevens was wounded in the thigh by a musket ball, when, 
finding his lines sorely pressed, he ordered a retreat, which was 
accomplished without disorder.^ 

The British now advanced with ardor on the third line. Here 
they met a determined resistance. Colonel Webster attacked the 
First Maryland regiment, but, seconded by Kirkwood's Delawares 
and some Virginian troops, they stood his shock gallantly, and 
finally drove him, with the remnant of his troops, across a ravine. 
Colonel Stewart, with a battalion of the guards and a company of 
grenadiers, impetuously attacked the Second Maryland. Being 
raw troops, they faltered and gave way, abandoning two cannon, 
which were seized by the enemy. But the First Maryland came 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 277. 2 Ihid., Ti?>, 279. 



484 A History of the United States of America. 

up with fixed bayonets, and Colonel Washington, with his cav- 
alry, rushed to the rescue, A bloody contest occurred ; Stewart 
was slain ; the guards gave way ; even the grenadiers were routed 
and fled ; the two field-pieces were recaptured, and nothing seemed 
at hand but the fatal rupture of the whole British line. 

But at this crisis of the battle Cornwallis adopted a course 
never before ventured on by a British general in America. He 
ordered his artillery to open a fire of grape-shot on the confused 
lines of his own flying guards and grenadiers and the American 
troops w^ho were fiercely pursuing them.' In vain did General 
O'Hara remonstrate, saying that the fire would strike down their 
own men. " True," was the stern reply, " but it must be done to 
save us from destruction." The fire of grape ^vas rapid and ter- 
rible. It slew British and Americans ; but it stopped the advance 
of Howard, Kirkwood and Washington, and compelled them to 
retreat with their troops. Meanwhile Webster had again appeared 
on the field, and General Greene, in pursuance of a fixed policy 
not to sustain a defeat, ordered his army to withdraw. This was 
done in good order. The enemy soon relinquished all purpose to 
pursue. 

This battle Avas sanguinary and obstinately fought by those who 
fought at all. Had the Carolina troojDS behaved ^vell, the defeat 
of the enemy would have been certain. 

A dismal night of rain and darkness followed the battle, and 
depressed the victors by the cries and groans of the wounded of 
both armies who could not be gathered from the field. ^ 

It was soon apparent that, though the British held the ground 
they had before held, they had really sustained a disastrous de- 
feat. They had lost five hundred and thirty-two in killed and 
wounded — nearly a third of their army. Colonel Stewart of the 
guards. Lieutenant O'Hara of the Royal artillery (brother of the 
general), and many other officers were killed. General O'Hara 
was severely wounded. General Howai-d, Colonels Webster and 
Tarleton, and Captains Stuart, Maynard, Schutz, Peter, Dvmdas, 
Wilmonsky and Eichenbrodt, were wounded. Maynard, of the 
guards, had had a premonition of his own fall, and died in a few 
days.* The heavy loss in officers could not be repaired. Charles 
Fox exclaimed in the House of Commons : " Another such vic- 
tory will destroy our army there." ^ 

> Irving, IV. 247. Lee's Memoirs, 280, (note) 283. 
2 Stedman, II. 346. Lee, 286, Irving, IV. 247, 248. 
8 Lee's Memoirs, 284, 285. ■• Ihid., 286. 



CHAPTER XL 1 1 
The War Ended. 

CORNWALLIS' condition was too distressing and precarious 
to be long endured. Plis army was reduced to about eighteen 
hundred. Some of his best officers were dead or disabled. His 
provisions were daily diminishing, and no supplies coming. His 
foraging was fearfully hazardous because of the ceaseless move- 
ments of Lee, Pickens and Washington. No risings of Tories 
were taking place ; no recruits filling up his meagre ranks. In 
short, he found it necessary to retreat, and he left his own 
wounded, as well as the American, in the New Garden church 
building with a flag of truce. 

On the third day after the battle he marched for Cross creek. 
Greene, whose army had been filled up and inspirited, followed 
him, presenting the curious anomaly of an army supposed to have 
lost a battle pursuing the victor. Cornwallis found it necessary 
to continue his retreat to Wilmington in order to obtain supplies. 

Greene pursued him as far as Deep river over roads deep in 
mud and mire. Cornwallis had broken down the bridge behind 
him, and decamped so hastily that he had left several quarters of 
fresh beef, on which the half-famished patriots seized and raven- 
ously fed.' 

General Greene did not pursue him further. It was unneces- 
sary, as he was now driven bodily from North Carolina to a post 
near her extreme eastern border. The militia of Greene's army 
had sustained great hardships, and, as their periods of service had 
expired, they claimed a discharge. Greene dismissed them to 
their homes ; and, having cleared North Cai"olina of invaders, 
determined to march to the relief of South Carolina.'^ 

He advanced to a point near Camden and took position at 
Hobkirk's Hill. Here he was attacked by Lord Rawdon on the 
25th of April. This young British general took with great 
promptness and vigor the only course that promised him any re- 
lief. His outposts were attacked and were falling, and his posi- 
tion at Camden would soon be untenable. He marched upon 

1 Irving's Washiagton, IV. 251. 2 Inang, IV. 253. Lee's Mem., 320-325. 

[ 48s 1 



486 A History of the United States of America. 

Greene, and made his attack just when a welcome supply of food 
had reached the camp and the men were eating or washing their 
clothes.^ But he was met vigorously, and would have been sig- 
nally defeated but for an unaccountable panic which invaded the 
First Maryland regiment, under Colonel Gunby, at a critical mo- 
ment. Greene was obliged to retreat with a loss of two hundred 
and sixty-eight killed and wounded. The loss of the enemy was 
two hundred and fifty-eight. Rawdon derived no benefit from 
his success, and was soon obliged to shut himself up in Camden." 
Meanwhile the movements of the patriot partisans, under Lee, 
Sumter, Marion, Hampton, Horry and Clarke, were crowned with 
a series of decisive successes. Fort Watson was captured by Lee 
and Marion. Fort Motte, the middle post between Camden and 
Ninety Six, was next besieged by them. The siege was pressed 
with all the more vigor, because Rawdon was seeking to relieve 
the post by a diversion. Fort Motte was the chief depot of the 
convoys from Charleston to Camden and Fort Granby. It had a 
garrison of one hundred and fifty, and was surrounded by a deep 
trench, on the inner bank of which was a strong parapet. With- 
in the enclosure was a large and costly wooden dwelling belong- 
ing to Mrs. Motte. She was a devoted patriot and had been 
driven from her house. She occupied a small cottage within the 
American lines. If her house could be burned to the ground the 
surrender of the fort was inevitable, as the American cannon 
commanded the whole interior. Colonel Lee, with visible agita- 
tion, communicated to Mrs. Motte the necessity. The patriot 
lady smiled, and said she was rejoiced by such a sacrifice to help 
her country's cause. She gave to Lee an Indian bow and ar- 
rows to aid in the work of destruction. A summons was sent to 
Captain McPherson, the commandant, demanding surrender. He 
refused. It w^as now mid-day. The burning sun had prepared 
the shingles for ignition. An arrow with flaming coinbustibles 
was sent from the bow to the roof; then another, and another. 
The flames caught and spread rapidly. McPherson sent his men 
on the roof to strike off* the burning shingles, but they were in- 
stantly driven down by a fire of grape from the American guns. 
The house burned to the ground. AlcPherson surrendered im- 
mediately. Lee admonished him somewhat gravely as to the loss 
of time he had cost him. But Mrs. Motte invited them both to 
dine with her, and they fared sumptuously.^ The British officers 
were permitted to go to Charleston on parole. 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 336. - Lee's Memoirs, 338, 339. Irving, IV. 296. 

3 Lee's Memoirs, 347, 349. 



The War Ended. 487 

Fort Granby was the next post to fall into patriot hands. After 
it came the capture of Forts Galphin and Grierson. And on the 
5th of June, 1781, Pickens, Lee and Clarke were successful in 
their siege of Augusta, and compelled the Tory Col. Thomas 
Browne to surrender with three hundred men and a large amount 
of munitions of war. 

Genei"al Greene was so much encouraged by some of these im- 
portant successes that he determined on an attack on the post of 
Ninety Six ; but this post was very strong, and had an adequate 
garrison. His attack was made on the iSth of June, and, after 
gaining the outworks and suffering severe loss, he was obliged to 
relinquisji his effort and withdraw. On the 13th of July he 
crossed the Saluda, and posted his army on the high hills of San- 
tee. Here he passed the heated and sickly season, giving his men 
the benefit of pure and breezy skies and excellent water and 
healthful food to prepare them for the fall campaign.^ 

He had had many evidences of the patriotism of the people of 
South Carolina, especially of the women. Soon after retiring 
from Ninety Six, it became very important for him to communi- 
cate with General Sumter ; but the intervening country was filled 
with British troops and Tories, and no man would volunteer. A 
young girl of eighteen years — Emily Geiger — volunteered. She 
received from Greene a letter and a verbal message, and, mounting 
a swift horse, set out on her perilous journey. She was stopped 
by two Tories, but in a moment when unobserved she swallowed 
General Greene's letter, and, nothing suspicious being found on 
her, she was permitted to proceed. She reached Sumter's camp 
and delivered the message. The effect was so to concentrate the 
movements of all the American forces in South Carolina that 
Rawdon was obliged to evacuate Camden and Ninety Six and 
retreat upon Charleston.^ 

This English lord found all power in South Carolina and Geor- 
gia wrested from his hands. He was preparing to leave America 
and return to England because of ill health. His family name was 
Francis Rawdon Hastings. He belonged to a line of noblemen, 
and ere he died, in 1826, he became, by the death of his father, in 
1793, Earl of Moira, and in 1816 was created Viscount Loudon, 
Earl of Rawdon and Marquis of Hastings.' But notwithstand- 
ing the privileged blood running in his veins, his name is destined 
to bear a foul and indelible stain in the eyes of every person, in 
every land, who can justly claim to be a lover of his country. 

1 Irving, IV. 299. Quackenbos, 291. 2 Quackenbos, 290, 291. 

* Art. Hastings, New Amer. Encyclop., VIII. 758, 759. 



488 A History of the United States of America. 

Isaac Hayne was a native of South Carolina, a descendant 
from an English family from near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, who 
had migrated to America about the year 1700. He was a planter, 
with large possessions in the districts of Beaufort and Colleton, 
and was part owner in extensive iron ^vorks in York district. 

He was Avarmly patriotic, and had served in an American cav- 
alry regiment, which kept the field during the siege and up to the 
capitulation of Charleston. Being considered as in the forces 
commanded by General Lincoln, he was included in the surrender, 
and partook of the benefits and disabilities of its terms. 

One article provided that the militia of the surrendered forces 
should be permitted to return to their homes as prisoners on parole, 
which parole, as long as observed, should secure them from being 
molested in their property.^ Under this Hayne returned to his 
home, and was quietly pursuing his domestic avocations when Cap- 
tain Ballingall, a British militia officer of his district, went to him 
and communicated orders from Sir Henry Clinton, under which 
persons situated as he was w^ere required to become British sub- 
jects or to return instantly to the commandant at Charleston. 
Hayne's family were ill — one of his children had died and his 
wife was dying. He urged these facts, as well as his rights under 
the terms of surrender ; but all he could obtain was the privilege 
of remaining temporarily with his family upon his signing a 
written stipulation, by which he engaged " to demean himself as 
a British subject so long as the country should be covered by the 
British army." ^ 

Anxious to obtain permission to remain with his family, he 
went to Charleston, exhibited his agreement with Ballingall, and 
asked leave to return to his suffering wife and children. It was 
peremptorily refused, and he was told that he " must either be- 
come a British subject or submit to close confinement." This 
brutal injustice and bad faith placed him in a torturing dilemma, 
which he commented on in an affecting letter to his friend, Dr. 
Ramsay, who was then also a prisoner in British hands. In this 
letter, in speaking of his needed presence and support for his 
family, he said : " I request you to bear in mind that, previous to 
my taking this step, I declare that it is contrary to my inclination, 
and forced on me by hard necessity. I never will bear arms 
against my country." * 

He received from General Patterson ana from Simpson, inten- 
dant of police in Charleston, assurances that military service 

1 Art. Fourth, Lee's Memoirs. 449. 2 Lee's Memoirs, 450. 

3 Hayne to Dr. Ramsay, Lee, 451. 



The War Ended. 489 

against his countiy would never be required of him, with the 
statement added that " when the res^ular forces cannot defend the 
country without the aid of its inhabitants, it \\\\\ be high time for 
the royal army to quit it." He then made a formal acknowledg- 
ment of allegiance to the British crown, oj^enly excepting, 
ho^vever, the clause which required his support of government 
w^ith arms. 

He hastened back to his home, but only in time to witness the 
death of his wife and of another of his children. He continued in 
private life, resisting several solicitations to join the American 
inilitary forces, on the ground that duty and honor forbade it 
^vhile his status remained unchanged. 

But his status did not remain unchanged. The successes of the 
American forces gradually drove in all the British and Tory forces 
who remained unkilled, unwounded or uncapturcd by the patri- 
ots. The British army ^vas closely shut up in Charleston ; they 
ceased to give either military control or protection to the district 
in which Hayne lived ; and by a pressure severe indeed, yet not 
adequate to justify a breach of faith, they were driven to demand 
military service from all British subjects whom they could reach. 
They broke their promise to Hayne, and required him to serve in 
their army.^ 

These facts changed radically the status of Hayne. He was 
obliged to take up arms ; of course, he took up arms for his own 
country. He entered the field with mounted militia as his fol- 
lowers. One Williamson, of Scottish descent, had become ex- 
ceedingly obnoxious to the patriots ; he was active and influential 
in resisting the British rule up to the fall of Charleston. After 
that event he became recreant to his former faith, espoused the 
English cause, and exerted himself malignantly against American 
independence. Hayne's first expedition was for the capture of 
Williamson, which he succeeded in effecting bv penetrating the 
neck of Charleston. It was afterwards asserted by Lord Raw- 
don that Hayne's object in this incursion was one " of singular 
malignity," and that he openly participated in " the insulting 
triumph with which ISIr. Williamson was told that the purpose 
in capturing him was to have him hanged in the camp of General 
Greene." * 

It is certain that this capture created great excitement among 
the British and Tories in Charleston. Colonel Balfour, com- 

lArt. Havne, New Amer. Encvclop., IX. 1, 2. Quackenbos, 292. Derry, 152. Stephens, 
266. Barues & ( o.'s U. S., 104. 

2 Letter from the Marquis of Hastings (formerly Lord Rawdon and then Earl of Moira) to 
Henry Lee, dated 24th June, 1813. Lee's Memoirs, Append. U., p. 618. 



490 A History of the United States of America. 

manding there, sent out a strong detachment of cavahy to pursue 
the Americans and recapture Williamson. They were met and 
sharply repelled by Colonel Harden with his mounted militia ; 
but, unfortunately, Hayne had gone to breakfast with a friend 
two miles from the camp. He was surprised by a squad of the 
enemy, and, in endeavoring to escape, his horse fell at a fence 
which he attempted to leap.^ Hayne was captured and carried 
to Charleston. 

He was never properly tried, never given the opportunity of 
summoning witnesses and exhibiting the facts of his case. He 
was simply brought before a body of four staft'-officers and five 
captains, who were not sworn, and before whom he had neither 
counsel nor witnesses.^ On the 39th of July, he was informed by 
the town major " that in consequence of the court of inquiry, held 
as directed, Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour had resolved on 
his execution on Tuesday, the 31st instant, at six o'clock, for hav- 
ing been found under arms and employed in raising a regiment 
to oppose the British government after he had become a subject 
and accepted the protection of government at the reduction of 
Charleston." => 

Earnest efforts to save him from a death of ignominy were 
made. A respite of forty-eight hours was granted, stated to have 
been by reason of a petition from Governor Bull and many others, 
and of the humane treatment by Hayne of British prisoners who 
had fallen into his hands.* Availing themselves of this interval, 
his sister, Mrs. Peronneau, and his children, all in deep mourning 
garments, waited on Lord Rawdon and implored him to spare the 
life of the brother and father. His lordship had the power to do 
this. A word from him would have arrested the execution ; but 
his " resolve was fixed and unchangeable." 

Colonel Hayne resumed his serenity and calmly prepared for 
the death which awaited him. He embraced his motherless chil- 
dren, and said to his son, a fine boy, in his fourteenth year : " Go 
to the place of my execution, receive my body, and see it decently 
interred with my forefathers." * 

On the 4th of August, 1781, he was led out to the place of exe- 
cution. On seeing the gibbet he paused. A friend by his side 
whispered : " You will now exhibit an example of the manner in 
which an American can die." He replied, " I will endeavor to 
do so" ; and he died firmly. But it is related that his son, when 
he saw his father faintly writhing in the agonies of suffocation, 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 452, 453. 2 Hayne's letter, in Loudon Political Mag. Lee, 453, 454. 

3 Lee's ^lemoirs, 453. •• Town Major of Cliarlcston to Hayne. Lee's Memoirs, 455. 

5 Lee's Memoirs, 456. 



The War Ended. 491 

uttered a bitter cry : " Oh, my father ! " and never afterwards, in a 
life of many years, was heard to utter a connected sentence. 

This execution was not justified by law, civil or military, nor 
by any usage of civilized nations. Hayne was not in the status 
of a prisoner who had broken his parole and taken up arms 
against the government that paroled him. The utmost that could 
be maintained against him was that he had re-assumed the posi- 
tion of a British subject ; but he had become such with the ex- 
press promise that he was not to be required to take arms against 
America, and that when the British army ceased to control and 
protect his home his obligation of fealty to Great Britain ceased. 
Both of these conditions had failed, in his favor, before he re- 
entered his country's service. 

The subject of his execution was brought up in the British 
House of Lords, and the Duke of Richmond denounced the 
course of Rawdon therein as "illegal," "barbarous" and "im- 
politic." It is worthy of note that Rawdon, in the elaborate ef- 
forts he afterwards made to clear himself of the blot on his fame 
affixed by this transaction, inade no allusion to his own course in 
ordering into British military service the class of subjects which 
included Hayne, and sought to shift from his own shoulders to 
those of Colonel Balfour the responsibility of the policy pursued ; 
and Balfour, in like manner, sought to throw the responsibility 
back on Corn wal lis ! ' 

The explanation is that the British cause was waning even to 
extinction in South Carolina, and that a desperate and barbarous 
measure, as illegitimate as it was vain, was used with the hope 
of discouraging American hearts and stopping the tide that was 
sweeping English influence from the land.^ 

General Greene threatened retaliation especially upon British 
army officers ; and, by a singular course of providential direction, 
the ship in which Lord Rawdon sailed for England was captured 
by a French cruiser and brought into Chesapeake Bay ; and, on 
the 19th of October, 17S1, Cornwallis fell under the power of 
Washington ; but the war was then, in substance, closed, and a 
policy of peace drove out thoughts of bloody retaliation. But the 
blot on Lord Rawdon's fame has never been removed. 

He left behind him Colonel Stuart, of the guards, as com- 
mander of the British forces in South Carolina. On the 22d of 
August, General Greene, having sufliciently refreshed his men, 
left the hills of Santee and marched cautiously towards Charles- 

1 Letter of Earl Moira, 24th June, ISlo. Letter of Balfour to General Greene, September 13, 
1781. Lee's Memoirs, 457, 613-G20. 

2 Earl of Moira's letter, with answer, in " Southern Review," Feb., 1828, by Ro. Y. HajTie. 



492 A History of the United States of America. 

ton. He was joined by reinforcements under Marion, Sumter, 
Malmedy and Henderson, until his force was about two thousand 
three hundred in nmnber, and especially strong in cavalry under 
Lee and Washington. Colonel Stuart fell back before him until 
he reached the Eutaw Springs, a small affluent of the Santee 
river, and about sixty miles northwest of Charleston. 

Here occurred, on the 8th of September, 1781, the last battle 
of the war in the Carolinas. A reconnoitering body of the enemy 
were defeated and driven back with some loss early in the day. 
The two armies were nearly equal in numbers — about two thou- 
sand three hundred each — but the Americans were superior in cav- 
alry.^ The attack was made by the patriots, who advanced with 
alacrity and fought with signal courage and effect, the militia of 
North and South Carolina and Virginia actually vying wnth the 
regulars in the courage and constancy of their advance and the 
destructive accuracy of their fire. The enemy's lines were swept 
back with heavy loss. The Americans even penetrated to their 
camp, and, in the confidence of victory, began to feast on the 
food and delicacies and drink the liquors there found. ^ 

But Stuart was not slow in discovering their want of caution. 
His grenadiers and light infantry under INIajor Majoribanks occu- 
pied a strong position in a covert thickly wooded with " black- 
jack" and other small trees. Upon this the cavalry under Wash- 
ington had made repeated assaults. Unable to penetrate the 
covert they suffered severely under the steady fire from within, 
and were compelled to withdraw. Colonel Washington's horse 
was shot under him, and he was wounded and taken prisoner. 
Majoribanks now advanced his line and began to sweep with 
his fire the unprotected flanks of the Americans. A strong brick 
house and enclosui"es was Stuart's rail) ing point. Into this he 
threw all the troops he could collect, and from it poured out a 
ceaseless fire. Greene made efforts to capture this stronghold, 
but, finding he could not carry it by assault without heavy loss, 
and knowing that the British could not long hold their position, 
he gave orders for withdrawing his army, and left the enemy in 
possession of his regained camp." 

In this strange battle the British lost one hundred and thirty- 
three killed and wounded and five hundred prisoners. The 
Americans lost five hundred and thirty-five in killed, wounded 
and missing ; but among their killed was the brave Colonel 
Campbell ; ainong their wounded were all the commandants of 

1 Compare Lee, 465, 466. Irving, IV. 334-336. Art. Eutaw Springs, Amer. Encyclop., VII. 341. 
2 Irving, IV. 338. ^ Irving, IV. 338, 339. Lee, 472. 



The War Ended. 493 

regiments, except Williams and Lee, and including Washington, 
Howard and Henderson.^ 

As Greene expected, Colonel Stuart could not hold his post 
at Eutaw Springs. He broke up his camp immediately after the 
battle and retired to Charleston, from which no further efforts 
were made to possess the country. Greene's work was done, and 
the congress thanked him and his men, presenting him with a 
British standard and a gold medal emblematic of the battle.^ 

The current of history now turns to the fated and final march 
of Cornwallis to Virginia. He had long contemplated it. Call- 
ing in all his outlying forces, he left Wilmington in April and 
marched towards the border. On the 35th of April he was ap- 
proaching Halifax, with Tarleton in the van scouring the country 
with one himdred and eighty dragoons and light troops. At Ro- 
anoke occurred an incident creditable to Cornwallis. A sergeant 
and private of Tarleton's troop during the night had forcibly 
outraged an unhappy girl in the country and robbed her home. 
The next morning Cornwallis came up with six dragoons of his 
guard, overtook Tarleton, and directed him to draw up his men 
in line. The two delinquents were pointed out. They were 
seized, tried by martial law, and instantly put to death. This 
stopped disorders. On the 20th of May, Cornwallis entered Pe- 
tersburg, and united the troops there with his command.^ 

The Marquis De La Fayette was in command of the patriot 
forces in Virginia, and covered himself \vith honor by his pru- 
dence and skill. He had about tliree thousand troops, Conti- 
nental and militia, but they were imperfectly armed, because 
eleven hundred expected muskets had not arrived. Cornwallis 
crossed the James at Westover, fully convinced that " the boy " 
could not escape him. He was specially anxious to prevent the 
junction of La Fayette and General Wayne, who, with about 
nine hundred Pennsylvania Continentals, was rapidly approach- 
ing from the north. But as he came nearer the ^Nlarquis re- 
treated, keenly watching his adversary, and detecting every 
stratagem practiced to ensnare him. Finding that he could not 
bring him to battle, Cornwallis changed his plan, and determined 
to play havoc with the resources of Virginia, and, if possible, to 
seize the persons of her leading men. He encamped on the North 
Anna river. On the loth of June, at the Raccoon Ford, in Cul- 
peper county, Wayne, with his troops, joined La Fa)^ette.* He 
again cautiously advanced. 

1 Lee's Memoirs, 472. 2 Resolutions of Cong-., Oct. 29th, 1781. 

3 Tarleton's Campaigns, 289, 290. Stedman, II. 385. 
<Stedman, 385. Girardin, 489. 



494 ^ History of the United States of Atnerica. 

At Point of Fork, between the Rivanna and the south branch 
of the James, the Virginians had gathered a quantity of military 
stores. Baron Steuben, with six hundred raw militia, guarded 
them. Cornwallis detached Colonel Simcoe, with five himdred 
picked men, to advance on Steuben, and at the same time sent oft" 
Tarleton, with his cavalry and light troops, to pursue the gov- 
ernor and the law-makers of Virginia. 

With proper caution Steuben had retired across the south 
branch, carrying with him all the important stores. Siincoe's 
troops appeared on the heights of the Rivanna so suddenly that 
thirty of the Virginia militia fell into his hands. Determined, if 
possible, to seize the stores, the British partisan resorted to a 
stratagem, and the honest old Prussian officer fell into the snare. 
Simcoe spread his camp far and wide over the hills, lighted a 
large number of fires, and used every sign to indicate the pres- 
ence of the xvhole British army. Hearing of Tarleton's approach 
on his left, and fearing he would be crushed, Steuben abandoned 
alj the heavier stores and retreated thirty miles during the night. 
Simcoe destroyed the stores and rejoined Cornwallis.^ 

Tarleton pushed at speed for Charlottesville, capturing and de- 
stroying, on the 4th of June, twelve wagons loaded with clothing 
for the Southern army. At the residences of Dr. Walker and 
Mr. John Walker he captured John Simms, a Virginia senator, 
and William and Robert Nelson, brothers of General Nelson, 
who succeeded Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia. This 
little diversion saved the legislature, which was in session at 
Charlottesville. Hearing of Tarleton's approach, they adjourned 
to meet in Staunton on the 7th of June, and the members dis- 
persed and fled. Tarleton detached Captain McLeod with a 
party to seize Governor Jefferson and his family at his country- 
seat, Monticello ; but, by a well-timed movement, they escaped. 
McLeod committed no violence to books, papers or private eft'ects 
at Monticello. Tarleton destroyed a thousand new fire-locks, 
four hundred barrels of powder, and a stock of soldiers' cloth- 
ing, and, having secured as prisoners seven members of the legis- 
lature, he rejoined the main army. 

Cornwallis advanced as far as the Point of Fork. He took 
possession of Elk Hill, one of Mr. Jeft'erson's estates, and on this 
and other plantations in Virginia a system of \vanton and barba- 
rous devastation was pursued. The cattle were slaughtered or 
driven 08", all horses fit for use were seized, and the throats of the 
young horses were cut ; the growing crops of grain and tobacco 
1 Stedman's Amer. War, II. 389, Girardin, 497, 498. 



The War Ended. 495 

were destroyed, and every barn and fence was burned. In the 
various British incursions under Matthew, Arnold, Phillips and 
Cornwallis, the design seemed to be to break the very sinews of 
Virginia. Thirty thousand slaves were carried ofi', of whom 
twenty-seven thousand are supposed to have died of small-pox 
or camp fever in six months. Property estimated at three mil- 
lion pounds sterling was destroyed or carried oft'.^ 

Cornwallis was anxious to destroy a large depot of valuable 
military stores collected by the Virginians at Albemarle Old 
Court-house ; but La Fayette, having now about four thousand 
men under his command, opened a disused road, since known as 
the "ISIarquis' Road," and occupied an impregnable position just 
between the stores and the British army.* Being again baffled 
by " the boy," Cornwallis grew wary, and having, just at this 
time, received instructions from Sir Henry Clinton in New 
York, turned his front and marched slowly towards the eastern 
coast. 

La Fayette, having been reinforced by Steuben and his troops, 
followed cautiously, not deceived by this show of retreat. On 
the Chickahominy, not far from Williamsburg, a sharp encounter 
occurred between Simcoe, with his rangers, who had been sent 
out to maraud, and a part of Colonel Butler's Pennsylvania line, 
under McPherson. As infantry could not march fast enough for 
his purposes, McPherson mounted fifty of them, with their arms 
and ammunition, behind fifty of his dragoons, and pushed forward 
to a farm where the British rangers, under Captain Shank, were 
busy in free pillage. The collision ^vas severe. McPherson was 
wounded and unhorsed ; but his men continued the fight with 
success. Simcoe left a drove of cattle and came up with his in- 
fantry. Butler's riflemen also arrived and took part in the melee. 
It was bloody and well sustained on both sides. Alarm guns 
were fired, and it was thought the whole armies on both sides 
would engage ; but Simcoe retired, and the Americans were en- 
couraged by their part of the contest.* 

After a halt of nine days at Williamsburg, on the 4th of July 
Cornwallis prepared to cross the James, having selected James- 
town Island as the best place for his purpose. La Fayette had 
formed a plan to attack the rear of his army after the van had 
crossed to the island ; but Cornwallis had sagaciously penetrated 
this plan, and he availed himself of it so skillfully as to endanger 
the American army. During the 5th and 6th a great display of. 

1 Girardin, 503, 504, with notes. Tucker's Jefferson, I. 148. Gordon, III. 389. 

2 Gordon's America, IH. 210, Girardin, 50G, 507. ^ Irving, IV. 290, 291. 



49^ -^ History of the United States of America. 

ci'ossing was made ; wheel carriages of every sort, baggage, bat- 
horses, everything except troops., went over under escort of the 
Queen's rangers. But Cornwallis, with the great body of his 
army, remained. His camp was concealed by a skirt of woods 
and covered by an outpost. 

La Fayette was for a time deceived, and the deceit was con- 
firmed by a negro and a trooper employed by Tarleton, who pre- 
tended to be deserters, and informed the American advance that 
the great body of the king's troops had crossed, and that only a 
small rear-guard remained.' 

Wayne was eager for battle ; La Fayette gave the command. 
About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th, the riflemen, 
under Call and Willis, advanced on a causeway leading from 
Greenspring towards Williamsburg, and opened the attack ; the 
cavalry, under Armand and Mercer, came next ; then followed 
the Continentals, under Wayne ; and Baron Steuben, with the 
militia, formed a reserve. Cornwallis had drawn his troops into 
a compact mass, ordering his pickets and outpost guards to make 
a show of resistance and then retreat. Wayne drove them all 
before his riflemen. He had three field-pieces, wdiich began to 
fire with effect ; but suddenly two thousand British infantry 
emerged from their masked camp ; the whole army of the enemy 
was in array ; Yorke attacked on the right, Dundas on the left. 
The American riflemen stood firmly. Wayne discovered his error, 
but, with the instincts of a soldier, retrieved it by ordering a 
charge, and threw himself, horse and foot, with shouts upon the 
enemy. The contest was sanguinary, but the enemy were too 
numerous and were outflanking Wayne. La Fayette, discovering 
the truth in time from the heaviness of the British fire, ordered 
a retreat of Wayne's troops to the cover of General Muhlenberg's 
brigade, which had just arrived. Wayne regained the causeway 
and retired in good order, leaving, however, his three field-pieces 
in the enemy's hands. ^ The horses were killed, and he could not 
bring them off. 

Cornwallis forbade pursuit. The impetuosity of Wayne's. at- 
tack, and his sudden and orderly retreat, made the British com- 
mander believe that La Fayette's army had been largely reinforced, 
and that a feint was practiced to draw him across the morass by 
the narrow causeways. He withdrew to the island and continued 
his retreat to Portsmouth. The American loss in this brief, but 
stern, battle was one hundred and eighteen killed, wounded and 

1 Stedman, II. 394, 395. Girardin, 512, 513. Irving, IV. 292. 
sstedman, II. 395. Girardin, 513. Irving, IV. 293. 



The War Ended. 497 

prisoners. The British lost five officers and seventy-five privates 
killed and wounded. 

It was soon known that Cornwallis' movements were the re- 
sult of orders from Sir Henry Clinton. The French admiral, 
Count De Grasse, with a fleet of twenty-five ships of the line, 
and carrying three thousand land troops, was on the American 
coast. Everything indicated to Sir Henry Clinton a purpose on 
the part of Washington and the French commanders to make a 
combined attack on New York. This threatened so seriously 
that Sir Henry expected to need all the troojDS he could summon 
to his aid. He had, therefore, ordered Cornwallis to take a posi- 
tion with his army at some point on the deep waters of Virginia, 
from which he might, if needful, detach a part of his force to aid 
the British in New York.^ 

In pursuance of these instructions, Cornwallis selected York 
and Gloucester Points, at the mouth of York river, and by the 
23d of August had occupied them with his army and thrown up 
strong forts and intrenchments. Flere was to be enacted the 
final scene of the war. 

Washington had really contemplated an attack on New York, 
and had, with the French naval and military commanders, con- 
certed plans for that object. But he kept his eye on the whole 
field, ready to operate on the point on which he could hope for 
most decisive success. A modern statesman and historian has 
given strong reasons for the belief that the battle of Guilford 
Court-house and the subsequent retreat of Cornwallis to Wilming- 
ton had been the efficient cause of directing the attention of 
Washington to his move for final success at Yorktown.^ 

Learning that the Count De Grasse was in position and spirit 
to aid him, Washington gave the decisive orders by which the 
combined French and American armies under his command left 
the Jerseys and turned south on that memorable march to invest 
Cornwallis in his trenches at York. Before he joined La Fayette, 
Washington heard with joy that De Grasse had entered the 
Chesapeake with his fleet and land forces, thus intercepting all 
avenues of retreat by sea for Cornwallis or of succor to him. 
The American commander-in-chief and the French commanding 
officers, De Grasse, Rochambeau and St. Simon, were now in 
daily communication of the most cordial chai^acter, and vied with 
each other in pressing on the siege. Twenty-five war ships and 
sixteen thousand soldiers hemmed in Cornwallis at Yorktown and 

1 Irving, IV. 291. Prof. Johnston's U. S., 74, 75. 

2 Thomas H. Benton, in his " Thirty Years' View." Stepliens' Comp. U. S., 264. 

32 



498 A History of the United States of America.. 

Tarleton on Gloucester Point. Not a moment was lost in land- 
ing mortars and munitions, and in preparing to open lines of 
trenches for attack. 

The first fire was opened on the 7th of October, and from that 
day the besieged army knew not a moment of repose. Mortars 
poured a ceaseless storm of shells upon the outworks and the 
town, tearing down the defences and often throwing the bodies 
of the British artillerists into the air.' Heavy cannon pierced 
the houses with solid shot and dismounted the guns in the bat- 
teries. The fire of the engineers was terribly accui'ate and effec- 
tive. Often their shells struck within three feet of the point 
aimed at and exploded within a few seconds of the intended time. 
At one discharge, during the night, a red-hot ball from a French 
battery passed entirely over the town and fell amid the rigging 
of the Charon, a British forty-four-gun ship lying in the harbor. 
Instantly masts, shrouds and running gear were a sheet of flame ; 
two other ships near her caught fire, and all burned to the waters' 
edge. Even from the first parallel, the fire was so destructive 
that the enemy's batteries v^^ere nearly silenced and much of the 
town was reduced to ruin.^ 

Governor Nelson had joined the army with all the militia he 
could obtain by his calls. He had an aged and infirm uncle. Sec- 
retary Nelson, in the town, who had two sons in the American 
army. Washington applied to Cornwallis, who humanely per- 
mitted the old man to withdraw, to the great joy of his nephew 
and sons. The governor owned the most prominent dwelling- 
house in Yorktown, and, seeing that the gunners refrained from 
aiming at it, he earnestly insisted that two heavy guns should be 
trained upon it, knowing that it was occupied by British officers. 
At the first fire, two officers, then at table, were killed, and the 
house was soon cut to pieces. The tenable part of the town was 
rapidly narrowed. The besiegers were soon ready with their 
second parallel ; but, in approaching it, they had been severely 
annoyed by two redoubts thrown in advance of the intrench- 
ments, and Washington resolved to carry them by storm. 

A high spirit of generous emulation w^as now in the combined 
armies. To the Americans was assigned the duty of capturing 
the redoubt on the right. La Fayette commanded them, and 
Maj. Alexander Hamilton led them to the assault. It was made 
with conspicuous impetuosity. The men did not wait for the 
sappers to demolish the abattis in the usual manner, but pushed or 

i Dr. Thatcher's narrative. 

2 Girardin, 527. Thatcher's narrative, Howe, 525. 



The War Ended. 499 

pulled them aside with their hands, and scrambled over like bush- 
fighters. Hamilton was the first to mount the parapet, with the 
aid of a soldier's shoulder. The redoubt was carried at the point 
of the bayonet, with the loss of forty-one killed and wounded.^ 

The French were to capture the redoubt on the left. It was 
stronger and better garrisoned than the other. The Baron De 
Viomesnil led the assaulting force. It was composed in part of 
the grenadiers of the regiment of Gatinais, which had been 
formed out of that of Auvergne. Rochambeau had once been its 
colonel, and by its brave and honorable conduct it had gained as 
its title, '■'■ U' Ativergne sans tachey Rochambeau reminded them 
of this as they took their places to head the assault.'* 

The attack was successful, but the redoubt was not carried 
without severe loss. The French killed and wounded numbered 
one hundred and twenty. 

Washington, in a near and exposed position, witnessed these 
two attacks with an interest not to be described. A musket ball 
struck very near him. One of his aids ventured to observe that 
the position was dangerous. " If you think so," was the grave 
reply, "you are at liberty to step back." When both forts were 
captured, Washington drew a long breath and said : "The work 
is done, and well doney Then he calmly called to his servant : 
"William, bring me my horse."' 

Hardly were the redoubts carried before they were included in 
the second parallel, and the fire was opened with destructive 
efiect. Cornwallis had maintained his position, hoping for aid 
from Sir Henry Clinton ; but it came not. He began to contem- 
plate his almost desperate situation. On the Gloucester side 
Tarleton could render him no help. Indeed, that redoubtable 
partisan had suffered severely in an encounter with General De 
Choisy's troops, under Lauzun and Weedon, and could not venture 
out even for forage to save his starving horses. 

The defences of Yorktown were battered to pieces. An assault 
by fourteen thousand French and American troops upon less than 
six thousand effectives was an event the responsibility of which 
Cornwallis could not face ; but his haughty spirit writhed under 
the very thought of surrender. He looked around hiin on every 
side for an avenue of escape. One expedient of utter desperation 
suggested itself: he might leave his sick, wounded and weak, 
his baggage and heavy artillery, and, crossing with his effective 
men to the Gloucester shore, might overpower the besiegers there, 

1 Otis' Botta, II. 399. Girardin, 529. Ir\iiV4:'s Washioston. IV. 34G. 

2 Irving, IV. 340. Otis' Botta, II. 399. Hrving's Washington, IV. 348. 



500 A History of the United States of America. 

seize horses, mount his men, and burst away towards the north 
like a lion escaped from the toils of the hunter. 

On the night of October i6th boats were made ready, trooj^s 
were embarked. The first division had crossed. Hope began to 
come to his spirit ; but Heaven fought against him. A furious 
storm of wind and rain beat him back. With difficulty his men 
in the boats were saved. Daylight disclosed his attempt.' The 
fire of the besiegers became more furious and destructive than 
before. The last resource of Cornwallis had been tried and tailed. 

He was a brave man, and it would liave been unworthy of a 
brave man to attempt longer resistance. On the 19th of October 
the articles of capitulation, the heads of which had been pre- 
viously agreed on, were signed by Cornwallis. By these the 
posts of Yorktown and Gloucester Point were surrendered to 
General Washington as commander-in-chief of the combined 
armies ; and the ships of war, transports and other vessels to the 
Count De Grasse as commander of the French fleet. The land 
forces were to be prisoners of war to the United States ; the sea- 
men to the King of France. 

At tw^o o'clock the garrison marched out and laid down their 
arms. Cornwallis could not personally face the event. Upon the 
plea of indisposition, he remained at his quarters, overwhelmed 
with grief and vexation. General O'Hara acted for him, and 
surrendered his sword to General Lincoln, whom Washington 
deputed to act for him. It is said that many of the soldiers were 
seen to throw their muskets violently down, as if in a rage, and 
when Colonel Abercrombie's corps laid down their arms, he cov- 
ered his face and turned aside, biting the hilt of his sword.' 

The total numlier of prisoners was seven thousand and seventy- 
three. During the siege the British loss was five hundred and 
fifty-two in killed, wounded and inissing ; the combined armies lost 
thi'ee hundred killed. The besiegei's' forces amounted to sixteen 
thousand, of which seven thousand were French, five thousand five 
hundred Continentals, and three thousand five hundred militia.' 

By one article of the agreement, Cornwallis was permitted to 
send the Bonctta, sloop-of-war, laisearched to New York. He 
thus secured the safety of many Tories, who deserved the fate of 
traitors from their countrymen. On her return, the Bonetta was 
to be the prize of the French. The Americans had the field artil- 
lery. They gained eight mortars and one hundred and sixty 
pieces of cannon, most of which were of brass. 

1 Otis' Botta, II. 401. Irving, IV. 350. 351. "-Vix. Thatclier, iu Howe, 528. 

* Holmes' AnuaLs, II. 3;!3. Irving, IV. 352, note. 



The War Ended. 501 

But all material gains sunk into insignificance when compared 
with the moral eft'ect of the surrender of Cornwallis. It ended 
the war of the Revolution, and was recognized as the end by 
both nations. 

On the side of the Americans the news of this decisive event 
was received everywhere with pi'ofound thankfulness and joy. 
On every lip the words were : " Cornwallis is taken." The dooi"- 
keeper of the American congress is said to have been so over- 
come with emotion when he first heard the tidings that he fell 
back in a swoon and was taken up dead/ 

The congress gave way to transports of joy. They voted 
thanks to Washington, to De Grasse, to Rochambeau, to all the 
officers and men of the allied forces. Two stands of colors were 
voted to Washington, two pieces of field ordnance to the French 
admiral and commanding general. It was decreed that a marble 
monument should be erected commemorative of the alliance of 
France and America and of the victory. And this congress for- 
got not the duty of thanksgiving to the God of all the earth. 
The same evening they went in solemn procession to the Lu- 
theran chuixh to engage in services of thanksgiving, and by 
proclamation they appointed a day to be observed by all people 
throughout the country for thanks and prayer in acknowledgment 
of this signal favor of Divine Providence.^ 

On the side of Great Britain the emotions of disappointment 
and vexation were equally as great. When Lord George Ger- 
main announced the tidings to the premier, Lord North, at his 
office in Downing street, they produced an effect which Germain 
afterwards described. "How did he take it?" was the inquiry. 
Germain answered : " As he would have taken a ball in the breast. 
He opened his arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and down 
the apartment, " O God ! it is all over ! " '^ 

Sir Henry Clinton's emotions of chagrin were among the deep- 
est felt. On the very day of the surrender he had actually dis- 
patched from New York the lingering armament intended for the 
relief of Cornwallis. It consisted of twenty-five ships of the line, 
two fifty-gun ships, and eight frigates, with seven thousand of 
Clinton's best troops. lie accompanied them himself, and in his 
fleet sailed a midshipman, who was afterwards King William IV. 
of England. Arriving ofi" the capes of Virginia on the 24th, 
Clinton heard of the surrender, and returned to New York.* 

1 Barnes A Co. 's U.S., 141. 

^Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 141. Irving's Wa.shington, IV. 356. 
^Wraxall's Histor. Memoirs, II. 99. Irving's Washington, IV. 356. 
<Prof. Holmes' U. S., 154. Irving, IV. 355. 



^03 A History of the United States of uAmerica. 

George III. and Lord North would fain have continued the 
war ; but the English people had long been weary of it, and they 
made known their sentiments through the House of Commons, 
who, early in March, 1782, passed strong resolutions against the 
war, one of which declared those who favored its continuance to 
be enemies of tlicir country.' 

Lord North resigned, and a ministry favorable to peace was 
formed. Early in May, 1782, Sir Guy Carleton arrived in New 
York to succeed Sir Henry Clinton, who had asked leave to retire. 
Sir Guy brought pacilic news ; commissioners to negotiate terms 
of peace had been appointed by Great Britain and France. 

The war of the Revolution was ended. In truth, the people 
had long enjoyed practical independence except at the few points 
controlled by the enemy. ^ We are now to treat of the Revolution 
itself, which the war was only the means of conHrming. 

1 Barues A Co.'.s U. S., 142. Quaekeubos, 299. 

2 Prof. Johnstou's U. S. Hist, aud Const., 75, 



CHAPTER XLIII. 
The Rkvolution Itself, 

THE vmivcrsul historic consensus which lias affixed the name of 
"the Rcvokition " to the changes wrought in the colonies be- 
tween the years i77'i <ii"i(l ^7^9? '^'^^ ^^'^^^^ '^ deep foundation. If a 
revolution be so complete a turn of the wheel of events that those 
things are brought down which were formerly paramoiuit, and 
those things are brought up to the top which were formerly at the 
bottom, then these changes were indeed a revolution. 

It will be sutHcient for our purposes to note these changes under 
four heads. They will embrace all that was essential in the Rev- 
olution. They were : 

First. The rejection of kingly government. 

Secofid. The destruction of all privileged orders, feudalties and 
entails. 

Third. The separation of church and state. 

Fourth. The establishment of independent self-government. 

As to kings, the early colonists had been educated under the 
same system which had brought the Old World to believe that the 
only government proper for man was a kingdom. So nearly uni- 
versal had been this form that the brief exceptions in the ancient 
patriarchal governments, the governments of the elders, the He- 
brew commonwealth and judges, the Greek and Roman republics, 
were looked upon more as myths and legends than as realities. 

Even students of Holy Scripture had found little to encourage 
hopes for a republic. They realized that the only perfect govern- 
ment in the universe — the government of God — was a pure 
monarchy, and they had not reflected sufficiently on the fact that 
the fall and universal depravity of the human race had forbidden 
man to expect safety in intrusting sovereign power to a king in 
the person of one of this fallen and criminal race. Yet it now 
seems strange that those who studied the Old Testament scrip- 
tures and professed to believe them to be inspired of God should 
not have drawn from them the lesson against kings and kingly 
government, taught by these infallible oracles in such passages 
as the eighth chapter of the First Book of Samuel and all the in- 
spired histories of the kings of Judah and Israel. 

[ 503 ] 



504 A History of the United States oj" America. 

But, as a matter of fact, kings have been submitted to by men 
in the earlier ages of the world, because earthly government was 
a necessity arising from the joassions and vices of mankind, and 
men were too ignorant and too wicked to be capable of self- 
government. Our earliest records of the uprising of kings give 
us the picture of a hero — a man taller and stronger and more 
agile than his fellow-mortals, or else men intellectual and domi- 
neering in mind and disposition.^ And when once a king was 
established, the claim of hereditary right of succession was cer- 
tain to follow, not only from the king's own sellishness and ambi- 
tion, but from the ignorance and indolence of the people. 

Thus it happened that when the P^nglish colonies began to take 
root in America a king had reached the throne who had brought 
himself to believe that he reigned by immediate grant of right 
from God, and that any attempts to restrain his power or limit 
his prerogative were usurpations against Divine right. lie be- 
lieved in demons, demonstrated with erudition the reality of 
witchcraft, and successfully inged his Parliament to make it a 
capital offence. lie undertook to show "why the devil doth 
work more with auncient women than with otliers" ; and after- 
\vards»not a year of his reign passed without the inlliction of 
the penalty of death for alleged witchcraft, and generally on old 
women !"' lie hated religious as well as civil freedom. When 
the Puritans himibly sought reasonable concessions he replied : 
" You are aiming at a Scot's presbytery, which agrees with mon- 
archy as well as God and the devil. Then Jack and Tom and 
Will and Dick shall meet, and at their pleasure censure me and 
my council and all our proceedings. Then Will shall stand up 
and say. It must be thus ; then Dick shall reply and say. Nay, 
marry ! but we will have it thus ; and, therefore, here I must 
once more I'eiterate my former speech and say : '■I.e roi s^avisera ' 
— ' the king alone shall decide.' " Turning to the bishops, he 
avowed his belief that the hierarchy was the firmest support of 
the throne.. Of the Puritans he added : "I will make them con- 
form, or I will harry them out of the land, or else worse — only 
hang them, that is all." This closed the day's debate.' 

Happily for the cause of English freedom, the doctrines and 
usages of James were followed up so faithfully by his wretched 
son, Charles, that the people rose in their inherent right, and, 
after defeating him in arms, put him to death upon the scaflbld. 
This was done deliberately and justly, to teach kings that they are 

1 See First Samuel ix. 1, 2 ; x. 21-21 ; xvi. G-13. 2 Bancroft, I. 29.S. 

* Barlow, 79. Neal's Puritans, II. 43, 44. Lingard, IX. SO. Hume, C, xlv. Bancroft, I. 
296, 297. 



The Revolution Itself. 505 

not sovereign nor supreme, and that " the king can do ivrong^'' 
and so wrong that he incurs the death penalty. This lesson has 
been repeated since lh;it time, and will continue to he repeated, 
in forms regular or irregular, until kings shall disappear from 
the earth. 

The New England colonies, having been largely formed from 
those Puritans who had been most oppressed by those kings, re- 
joiced in the execution of Charles I., and protected some of the 
regicides. We have seen that the Virginia and Maryland colo- 
nies sympathized with Chai^les, and recognized his son as king 
even before England recalled him. 

But let not the student be led astray by a hasty inference from 
those facts. In the heart of those Southern colonics, in their few 
and scattered towns, and on the great plantations bordering on the 
rivers — the Savannah, the Ashley and Cooper, the Roanoke, the 
York, the James, the Rappahannock and the Potomac — there 
were men who had begun to think and to study upon the prob- 
lems of human rights and governments. They were favored by 
the conditions of culture, ease and independence by which they 
were environed. 

They began to discover from history that kings and kingly 
governments had been nuisances and oppressors to the race of 
man in every age of the world; that good kings, if such beings 
had ever lived in the world, were the rare exceptions to an expe- 
rience so nearly universal as to be the true teacher and rule ; that 
of the kings of Judah and Israel the best were adulterers, mur- 
derers, robbers, liars, idolaters, men of unrestrained foulness and 
debauchery — one of them with seven hundred wives and three 
hundred concubines' — kings, in short, who reigned only to grat- 
ify their own unbridled lusts, and to make the people the subser- 
vient tools of their selfish desires ; that the kings of heathen 
nations contemporary with Judah and Israel had been even worse 
than theirs ; that the kings of the East — of Assyria, Babylonia, 
China, India, Persia, Egypt — had been I'ather demons in human 
form than men ; that the kings who succeeded Alexander, after 
his conquests, had vied with each other in cruelty, corruption and 
pollution ; that the ancient kings of Rome had grown worse and 
worse, until they became so intolerable that the people drove them 
away ; that the later sovereigns of Rome, known as emperors, 
had consisted of such men as " the dark, unrelenting Til)crius, 
the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel 
Nero, the beastly Vitellius, the timid, inhuman Domitian," ^ and 

> First Klugs xi. 1-13. ^^jibbou, Decline aud Fall. 



506 A History of the United States of America. 

the incarnate fiend Commodus, who was so given up to every 
hateful vice that can dominate man that a modern soldier and 
author has urged insanity as the' only explanation of the horrible 
phenomena of his life ; ^ that the best of them, represented by 
Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and the two Antonines, were darkened 
by bloody and inhuman persecutions of innocent followers of 
Christ ; that the kings of England had been made notorious 
by every vice and every weakness degrading to humanity ; and 
that George III., descended from a race of German princes, had 
all the worst faults of both lines of parentage from which he 
came. 

These thoughtful men in the colonies began naturally to ask 
themselves : Are kings necessary for the best government? Are 
not the people of these colonies so situated that they can throw 
oft' a government of kings and govern themselves by their own 
chosen representatives? 

And to encourage these inquiries a benign disposing of provi- 
dential events had enabled each colony to try the experiinent of 
self-government by charters, which authorized elections by the 
people of representatives in houses of burgesses, town councils 
and other bodies having legislative powei's.^ 

The usual division of the colonies as to their government status 
has been into three classes — charter, proprietary and royal. The 
charter governments originally were those of Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island. The proprietary governments were 
those of New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania 
(including Delaware), Maryland, Carolina and Georgia. Vir- 
ginia, which commenced her career under the charter of the 
London Company, became a royal colony in 1634 ; New York 
became one as soon as the Duke of York became James II. ; 
others became royal as fast as their proprietaries, growing weary 
of controversies, surrendered to the Crown. The charter of Mas- 
sachusetts w^as vacated by quo njoarranto in 1684 ; and under her 
new charter, in 1691, so much power w^as reserved to the English 
ci'own that her government became as nearly royal as that of 
Virginia. The royal colonies were commonly called provinces ; 
the governors were appointed by the Crown, and, with their coun- 
cils, they had a veto on legislation, as ^vell as power to dissolve 
a house of burgesses or other colonial legislature.^ 

Thus, at the close of the colonial period, three colonies were 
proprietary, eight royal, and two charter colonies. 

1 Gen. Lew. Wallace, Notes to Commrulus, Harper's Mug-., Jan., 1889. 

2 Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 13, 14. ^Ihid., 8, 9. 



The Revolution Itself. 507 

But all had their own representative governments. The pro- 
prietaries had always granted this, and encouraged free assemblies, 
knowing that immigration and the settlement of their vast tracts 
of land would thus be greatly promoted. The royal colonies all 
had houses of representatives, and the governors seldom ventured 
to exercise the veto power ; and the two charter colonies — Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island — specially pi'ided themselves on their 
government franchises.^ 

Each colony was practically a republic long before the Revo- 
lutionary war. It was the special blessing of these people that 
they brought into the rich wildei"ness of America, the principles 
and institutions of English freedom, and left behind them, in 
the Old World, all those intrenched and petrified traditions which 
have kept her people in the slavery of kingly governments. 

Thomas Jefferson, in Virginia, was the student and statesman 
who had most completely made his own the wisdom of the past 
on the subject of human government, and who was best prepared 
to propose the bold step of abolishing every vestige of kingly 
rule. 

It is true that the British Parliament had enacted the most 
oppressive laws under which the colonies had suffered. It might, 
therefore, have been supposed that the chief odium of these meas- 
ures would have fallen upon the Parliament, and that the hatred 
of the colonists would have been chiefly directed against the 
British Houses of Lords and Commons ; but this was not so. An 
attempt has been made to explain this fact by advancing the theory 
that the colonies did not recognize the two houses of legislation 
who sat in London as having any legitimate relation to them ; 
and that " the subject of Massachusetts knew the king only as 
King of Massachusetts, and the Parliament of Great Britain not 
at all." ^ 

The attentive men who directed colonial thoughts and policy 
knew the history of Great Britain and her laws too well to in- 
dulge in any such hallucination. In fact, the colonists were so 
sorely pressed that nearly all became students of the past, and 
especially of English law. When, in June, 1768, John Hancock's 
sloop, Liberty, was seized by Crown officers for alleged breach 
of the navigation laws, and when her cargo of wine was taken 
away, and when the people openly resented these acts, they yet 
proceeded w^ith so much caution and keen knowledge of law^ that 
the British attorney-general was compelled to say : " Look into 

1 Articles " Connecticut " and " Rhode Island," New Amer. Encyclop. 
SThis is Prof. Johnston's view— U. S. Hist, and Const., 3(3-40. 



508 A History of the United States of America. 

the papers, and see how well the Americans are versed in the 
Crown law ; I doubt whether they have been guilty of an overt 
act of treason, but I am sure they have come within a hair's- 
breadth of it."' 

Therefore, the colonists were sufficiently well read and saga- 
cious to know that all these obnoxious laws, the navigation laws, 
trade laws, stamp acts, taxes on imports, Boston port bills, and 
similar oppressions, although ostensibly passed by the Parliament, 
really emanated from the king and his ministers. Therefore, 
they wasted no indignation on the Parliament, but concentrated 
their efforts upon tlie purpose of breaking the chains which had 
bound them to the British crown, and of abrogating all kingly 
government. 

This purpose was not consummated without delay and opposi- 
tion. Many in the colonies were loyal lovers of the Crown, and 
continued so during the war and took up arms for King George 
III. Even after the war commenced few had realized to their 
own souls the purpose of independence. Washington himself 
had the year before declared his views as follows : " I think I 
can announce it as a fact that it is not the wish or interest of that 
government (of Massachusetts) or of any other upon this conti- 
nent, separately or collectively, to set up for independence ; but 
this you may at the same time rely on, that none of them will 
ever submit to the loss of their valuable rights and privileges, 
which are essential to the happiness of every free State, and, 
without which, life, liberty and property are rendered totally in- 
secure.^ 

The resolutions of Patrick Henry adopted by Virginia in 1765 
contained the germ of independence. They did not declare a 
purpose to throw off the British yoke, but they declared that Vir- 
ginia ivoiild not submit to a claim asserted by the British king 
and Parliament. Hence the widely-spread effect of these resolu- 
tions. The charm of loyalty was dissolved ; yet men moved 
slowly up to the idea of independence. Early in i775 ^^ voice 
had openly declared a wish to cast off all rule of the mother coun- 
try. The earliest approach to a declaration of independence was 
in the resolutions of the people of Fredericksburg, in Virginia, on 
the 39th April, 1775, which we have noted. ^ 

Beyond all reasonable doubt, the first actual declaration of in- 
dependence was made by the people of the county of Mecklen- 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 174. Prof. Johnston'.? U. S., 44, 45. 

2 Washington's letter to Capt. Robert Mackenzie, of the British army, Sparkis, II. 899. 
Irving's Washington, I. 371, 372. 

3 Chapter XXXVI. 



The Revolution Itself. 509 

burg, in North Carolina, on the 20th of May, 1775. Col. Thomas 
Polk called together the people, who, with simple hearts and 
deep religious principles, had a love of freedom which rose above 
all past traditions. They adopted a declaration pronouncing 
their country independent of Great Britain, and using terms so 
nearly similar to some afterwards used in the immortal instru- 
ment of July 4th, 1776, that Mr. Jefferson is supposed to have 
been aided by this Carolina declaration.' It must also be con- 
ceded that Thomas Paine's pamphlet entitled " Common Sense," 
published in January, 1776, by its plain, strong thoughts and 
simple language potently aided the cause of indej^endence. 

As the war waxed in intensity, all hopes of reconciliation faded 
out from all patriot souls. In May, 1776, Washington wrote 
from the head of his army in New York : "A reconciliation with 
Great Britain is impossible. When I took command of the army, 
I abhorred the idea of independence ; but I am now fully satisfied 
that nothing else will save us." * 

The congress was now prepared to act decisively, and on the 
4th day of July, 1776, adopted the "Declaration of Independ- 
ence" by a unanimous vote, not only of all the colonies, but of 
all the delegates in the congress. The committee who prepared 
and presented it consisted of Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia ; John 
Adams, of Massachusetts ; Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania ; 
Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of 
New York. 

No doubt now exists that this writing, in all its material ele- 
ments, was from the pen of Thomas Jefferson, although a few 
modifications and omissions of the matter of the original draft 
were made. It is herein given in full as adopted and signed, be- 
cause it is a document in history that has changed the thoughts 
of the world, has already converted many monarchies into rejjub- 
lics, and is destined to banish kingly government from the earth. 

It is as follows : 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one peo- 
ple to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, 
and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal 
station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a 
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare 
the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; 
that they are endowed by their Creator witli certain unalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure 

1 So. Lit. Mesf5enger, IV. 209, 210. Foote's Sketches of N. C, Cap. I. I. Seawall Jones' Me- 
morials of N. C, 26-33. Stephens, 223, 224. 

* Letter quoted in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 225. 



5IO A History of the United States of America. 

these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people 
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foun- 
dation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to 
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, 
indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed 
for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than 
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, 
it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to pro- 
vide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient 
sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which con- 
strains them to alter their former systems of government. The history 
of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and 
usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute 
tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid 
world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for 
the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing 
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be 
obtained ; and when so suspended he has utterly neglected to attend to 
them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts 
of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation 
in the legislature — a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants 
only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, 
and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose 
of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with 
manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to 
be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have 
returned to the people at large for their exercise ; the State remaining, in the 
meantime, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without and convul- 
sions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that 
purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to 
pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions 
of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to 
laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their 
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of offi- 
cers to harass our people and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the 
consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, 
the civil power. 



The Revohition Itself. ^\\ 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent to their 
acts of pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders 
which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, 
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, 
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the 
same absolute rule into these colonies ; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and 
altering, fundamentally, the powers of our governments; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested 
with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, 
and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and de- 
stroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to 
complete the works of death, desolation, and t^-ranny, already begun with 
circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most bar- 
barous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, 
to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their 
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to 
bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, 
whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, 
sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the 
most humble terms : our repeated petitions have been answered only by 
repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act 
which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We 
have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to 
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of 
the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have ap- 
pealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, 
by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would 
inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, 
acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, 
as we hold the rest of mankind — enemies in war; in peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, 
in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the 
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the author- 
ity of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, 
That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be. Free and hidcpen- 
dent States: that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain 



512 



A History of the United States of America. 



is. and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as Free and Independent 
States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, 
establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Itidependcnt 
States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a 
firm reliance on the protection of Divixe Providence, we mutually pledge 
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 










The student will note that the indictment found in this true 
and powerful bill is against the king and kingly authority. The 
Parliament is only alluded to as " a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitution and unacknowledged by our laws," and their " acts 
of pretended legislation " are only subjects of just complaint be- 
cause the kino- had sfiven his assent thereto. 



TJie Rcvolntioii Itself . 513 

The king is rejected in a few well-chosen words: "A prince 
whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a 
tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." Therefore, all 
political connection with him is dissolved, the reunited colonies 
are declared to be Free and Independent States, with full 
power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish 
commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent 
States may of right do. 

One remarkable passage in Mr. Jefferson's first draft of this 
Declaration deserves notice here, because it is a confirmation of 
what we have already stated, viz., that the colonial legislatures, 
especially in the South, had sought to stop the slave-trade to 
North America, and had been prevented by the veto of the Eng- 
lish king. The clause is as follows : "He (the king) has waged 
cruel war against human nature itself. Determined to keep open 
a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prosti- 
tuted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to 
pi'ohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce." ^ 

This clause was stricken out, because it was doubtful whether 
George III. was chargeable with this form of veto, and because 
there was not unanimity of oj^inion, either North or South, that 
the slave-trade was an " execrable commerce." 

Thus did the United States of America solemnly I'epudiate all 
kings and kingly government. It has been said that, at two 
points of their subsequent history, the idea of a restoration of 
monarch}^ was entertained by some minds, and with it naturally 
came the idea of making George Washington the first king. 

These notions had originated in the weakness of the bond of 
confederation for the exercise of the most needful purposes of 
finance, for the support of the army, and for other ends essential 
to the welfare of the people. Early in January, 1781, a mutiny 
broke out among the Pennsylvania troops, which General Wayne 
vainly tried to suppress by threats and acts looking to mortal 
punishment. The mutineers, in the face of his cocked pistol, 
aimed at him a hundred muskets, with the cries : " We love you, 
we respect you, but if you fire you are a dead man." British em- 
issaries got among them, and sought to fan the flames of discord ; 
but the soldiers seized them and delivered them up to the Amer- 
ican officers. The complaints of the mutineers were just. The 
congress admitted this, and by temporary financial measures 
raised money and satisfied them. A similar movement and re- 
sult occurred with the New Jersey troops a few weeks thereafter.^ 

1 Prof. Johnston's T'. S. Hist, and Const., 2('). 

2 Irviug's Washiugton, IV. lltG-2U4. Scott's U. S., 209, 210. 

33 



514 -^ History of the United States of America, 

But by far the most serious insurrectionary movement was 
threatened by the patriot army as the war drew near its close. 
The men had borne all manner of hardship and suffering, had 
been impaid, or paid in frightfully depreciated currency, and 
were now menaced by a prospect of disbandment with none of 
their just claims allowed or provided for.^ 

On the loth of March, 1783, when negotiations for peace were 
approaching a conclusion, an anonymous address, very strongly 
written and full of plausible appeals to the dissatisfied in the 
army, made its appearance, and was circulated through the 
camps.* It made a passionate allusion to the self-denying suffer- 
ings of the men, and asked : " Can you, then, consent to be the 
only sufferers by this Revolution, and, retiring from the field, 
grow old in poverty, wretchedness and contempt?" The object 
intimated was to clothe Washington with the powers of a dic- 
tator or a king, and force from the country a full recognition and 
satisfaction of their claims.^ 

Washington never rose to a grander height than on this occa- 
sion. He immediately, in general orders, condemned the address 
in its spirit and intent. He called a meeting of the general and 
staff" officers for the 15th of March, and at that meeting delivered 
to them an address replete with wisdom, patriotism and concilia- 
tion. He rejected, with strong aversion, all the suggestions of 
the address, and assured the officers of his belief that the congress 
would do full justice to the army. Congress met his assurances 
in the right spirit, made provision for the immediate wants of the 
soldiers, and kept the army together until the British army was 
withdrawn from New York, on the 25th of November, 17S3. 
Thus Washington saved his country in a crisis when an ambi- 
tious man, without principle or patriotism, might have made him- 
self a king. 

And when it became evident that the first plan of confedera- 
tion had failed, and must be substituted by a form of government 
more stable, and giving more power over persons to its depart- 
ments and officers, then, again, there were many statesmen in 
America who prefei-red the forms and strength of a monarchy ; 
and again they looked to Washington as one of such commanding 
influence and virtue that the people would easily be brought to 
elect him as a king. The views of Alexander Hamilton in favor 
of kingly government may have been theoretical and speculative,* 

1 Stephens, 269, 270. 

"It is given quite fully in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 270-272. Marshall's Washington, II. 42, 

3 Stephens, 270-273. Prof. Johnston's U. S., 77. 

* living's Washington, V. 57-59. Art. Hamilton, Amer. Eneyolop., VIII. 675, 676. 



The Revolution Itself. 515 

but they were not the less real, and would have led him far in 
that direction could he have found support in Washington ; but 
that great soul was never led astray by a false ambition. He 
gravely and sternly opposed every attempt at a monarchic form 
for the government of his country. 

Second. None of the early colonists were averse to titles of no- 
bility as represented by the privileged orders of England. They 
had been born and educated under that system, and it had many 
charms arising from tradition and outward dignity. Noblemen 
from the mother country came freely to the colonies up to the be- 
ginning of the revolutionary movements. They generally held 
high offices, but many of them conducted themselves with so 
much prudence and kindness that the people cherished earnest love 
for them. But others, such as Berkeley, Loudon and Dunmore, so 
signalized their administration by acts of oppression, cruelty or 
weakness that they did much to alienate the people, and to pro- 
duce a strong impression against hereditary titles. 

Among the very last of the nobles in any of the colonies was 
Lord Fan-fax, of Virginia. He was a great landed proprietor, 
having inherited the lands known as the "Northern Neck," be- 
tween the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, and running up 
originally from Chesapeake Bay to the headwaters of those rivers 
in the valley of the Shenandoah. He had been very friendly to 
Lawrence Washington, the brother who married into the Fairfax 
family, and from whom George Washington received by devise 
the estate of Mount Vernon. The old lord had employed the 
young surveyor, afterwards to become so eminent, in surveying 
and laying ofl' in maps parts of his immense landed possessions. 
One branch of the Fairfax family lived at Belvoir, not far from 
Mount Vernon, and the relations between the two clans were in- 
timate and genial. It is not to be wondered at that a county of 
Virginia in that region should bear the name of the old earl. 

.But the Fairfaxes were strongly loyal to England all through 
the struggle. George William Fairfax, owner of Belvoir, had 
not concealed his opinions, and his words and acts were such that 
he had been obliged to seek refuge in England and to remain 
there during the war. Part of his property was confiscated ; yet 
he continued to correspond in a friendly spirit with Washington 
and his family.^ 

The old Lord Thomas Fairfax was known to be an inveterate 
Tory ; but no disposition was felt to disturb him. He lived at 
his princely residence, Greenway Court, in the valley, in what 

1 Imng's Washington, IV. 418. 



5i6 A History of the United States of America. 

is now Frederick county, not far from Winchester, in Virginia. 
He was gratefully remembered for his zeal and courage in de- 
fending this region from early incursions of the Indians.' He 
was devoted to fox-hunting and other out-door recreations, and, 
being in his eighty-sixth year when the war of Revolution be- 
gan, he was not expected to be actively hostile to America ; but 
he rejoiced in every British success, and, in his pride of country, 
believed the arms of England to be sure of final success ; and 
so, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered, in October, 1781, and the 
news came to this old noble, in his ninety-third year and in his 
country home, his spirit broke ; he retired to his bed and talked 
no more to the time of his death. A historian well known to 
young Americans of an age just past has thus recorded the facts -J 
" When old Lord Fairfax heard that Washington had captured 
Lord Cornwallis and all his army, he called to his black waiter : 
'Come, Joe ; carry me to bed, for it is high time for me to die ! ' 

"Then up rose Joe, all at the word, 
And took his master's arm, 
And thus to bed he softly led 
The lord of Greenway farm. 

"There oft he called on Britain's name, 
And oft he wept full sore, 
Then sighed, 'Thy will, O Lord, be done,' 
And word spake never more." 

The soil of America proved ungenial to the birth and growth 
of privileged orders. Men who, by their own thews and sinews 
and the power of indomitable personal will, felled the forests, 
subdued the soil, built their rough houses, met and overcame the 
merciless savages who disputed their progress, would not be apt 
to admit any hereditary rights to rank or power. Hence we have 
noted how insufferable were the " landgraves "-and "caciques" of 
John Locke's scheme of government, and how soon it was over- 
whelmed by public odium. 

Each of the thirteen colonies assumed the status of a sovereign 
commonwealth at a very early period of the Revolution. Vir- 
ginia adopted her constitution, including the " Bill of Rights," 
Vv'ritten by George Mason, on the 29th of June, 1776; and her 
position was recognized as that of each State formerly a colony 
or province of Great Britain. 

One article of the Virginia Bill of Rights abolished all titles 
of nobility and privileged orders by providing that " no man or 
set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or 

1 Ixxing, I. 195, 196. 2 Weems' Life of Washington. Irving, IV. 418, 419. 



The Revolution Itself. ^ly 

privileges from the community, but in consideration of public 
services, which not being descendible, neither ought the offices of 
magistrate, legislator or judge to be hereditary." ^ The other States 
adopted the same radical policy, by which all possibility of priv- 
ileged order and titles of nobility in the United States of North 
America was forever destroyed. The " Articles of Confedera- 
tion " afterwards adopted contained the express limitation : "Nor 
shall the United States, in congress assembled, or any of them, 
grant any title of nobility." ^ 

And when these articles were abrogated by the adoption of the 
permanent constitution of 1789? that constitution declared that 
" no title of nobility shall be granted by the United States ; and 
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emol- 
imient, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince 
or foreign State." ^ And among the inhibitions to the States are 
the following : " No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or 
confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; 
emit bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a 
tender in payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post 
facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant 
any title of nobility."* 

The studious reader will note the evil company in which priv- 
ileged orders are ranked, and the determined purpose to free the 
republic of the Western Hemisphere from the hateful abuses to 
which they had given rise in the Old World. 

The system of feudal tenures of land had been adopted all over 
Europe after the overrunning of the Roman empire by the Goths, 
Vandals and Huns. Men, for their own protection from robbery 
or death, were obliged to submit to a system in which they 
received their lands, and were protected in their cultivation and 
enjoj'ment by the strong arms and gauntleted hands of their 
feudal lord and his followers, on condition of their rendering him 
agreed rents and services. 

But before the English colonies had gained a firm footing in 
America, the worst elements of the feudal system had either been 
destroyed, or, by a happy alchemy, had been transmitted into more 
healthful forces. 

The nearest approach to feudality, in its more sinister forms, did 
not come into America from England, but from Holland. It was 
in the grants made to Killian Van Rensselaer and a few other 

1 Art. VI., Va. Bill of Rif,'hts. Code, etc., 1873, p. 6S. 

2 Art. VI., Stephens, Append., 919. 

3 Art. I., Sec. 8, Const. U. S. <Art. I., Sec. 9, Const. U. S. 



518 A History of the United States of America. 

similar grantees, of vast tracts of land in New York upon tenures 
and for purposes which enabled them to attain all the worst 
powers of feudal barons. We have already noted how deeply 
this system planted itself in the domain covered by it — how diffi- 
cult it was to deracinate it by law, how it sheltered itself in eva- 
sions, how it was defended by Fenimore Cooper, how much of 
civil war and bloodshed it caused, and how complete has been its 
overthrow.' England cannot be justly visited with the odium of 
these grants ; they were not made under her authority. 

But there were two systems as to the landed property intro- 
duced into the colonies, one of which was the direct result of the 
feudal principles, and the other the outcome of the habits and 
prejudices produced by them. These were the principle of primo- 
geniture, by which the eldest son inherited all his father's lands 
to the exclusion of the other children ; and the system of entails, 
under which estates were so bound up by a written settlement 
that, from generation to generation, they passed to the first and 
other sons, without any possibility of sale, or application to pay- 
ment of debts, or any other mode of alienation or distribution, 
except by a cumbrous proceeding in court, founded on a consent 
of parties, very rarely obtained. These principles were highly 
prized by those in the colonies, and especially in Virginia, Mary- 
land and New York, who prided themselves on family descent 
and influence. Gradually slaves on the plantations came to be 
considered as quasi real estate, and passed to the oldest son or by 
the terms of entail. 

But the yeomanry of the colonies were always opposed to these 
systems as being artificial invasions on the inherent rights of 
mankind ; and so, when the struggle with the mother country 
began, efforts to break down these two strongholds of feudality 
were promptly made, and were perfectly successful. 

Thomas Jefferson was the great leader of the measures which 
perfected the Revolution in America and established self-govern- 
ment. On October 12th, 1776, he introduced into the legislature 
of Virginia a bill to convert all entailed estates into fee-simple, 
so that the owner might sell, devise, mortgage, or otherwise dis- 
pose of them as he pleased.'^ This was an assault upon the very 
fortress of family pride, and did not prevail without stern oppo- 
sition. 

Edmund Pendleton led this opposition. He was a patriot, but 
he was cautious and cool. He had drank so deeply of the foun- 
tains of English loi-e that he did not relish the revolutionary 
1 Chapter XVII. 2 Jefferson's Works, I. 29. Tucker's Jefferson, I. 92. 



The Revolution Itself. 519 

springs. With consummate art he j^roposed an amendment to 
Jefferson's bill, to the effect that the tenant in tail might convey 
in fee-simple if he thought proper so to do. This amendment 
came Avithin a few votes of success. It \vould have left the evil 
almost imtouched ; for family pride would have preserved the 
entail in nine cases out of ten. But the friends of true freedom 
were not deceived. The amendment was rejected ; the bill was 
passed.' The tree was uprooted and felled. Other vStates adopted 
the same policy ; and yet from the torn roots there sprang up, in 
after times, many scions of evil, which were not destroyed with- 
out diligent and scrutinizing pursuit by American law-makers. 

Mr. Jefferson Avas equally successful in his attack on the law of 
primogeniture. Here, again, he encountered the strenuous oppo- 
sition of Edmund Pendleton, who, finding a strong current of 
feeling against the law, sought to preserve it, to some extent, by 
urging that the Jewish rule should prevail, which gave to the 
eldest son a double portion.' 

But Mr. Jefferson was not to be defeated either by false inter- 
pretation and application of Scripture, or false reasoning. He 
urged that unless the oldest son required a double portion of food, 
or could do a double amouflt of work, there was no justice in 
giving him a double share of property. The Jewish rule, though 
given by inspiration, was temporary and local, being intended for 
their peculiar status. The dispute was ended ; natural right pre- 
vailed.^ The law of primogeniture was abolished throughout all 
the American States. 

Third. But on no subject was the revolutionary movement in 
America more radical and more salutary than on the subject of 
religion. This subject, in its true relations, rises above all other 
forces affecting man in this world ; for it influences him for weal 
or for woe, not merely in reference to a brief, fleeting life here, 
but for all eternity. 

We have already seen enough to satisfy us that none of the 
colonies brought from the Old World safe ideas on the subject of 
religion. William Penn came nearer to the truth on this subject 
than any other colonizer. Lord Baltimore confined his principles 
of toleration to those who deserved to be called Christians — a 
limitation which admitted of wide persecution of savages, or even 
of colonists, who did not profess to be Christians. Roger Williams, 
though himself a victim of religious intolerance, yet so shaped 
the institutions of Rhode Island that a connection of church and 

1 Henry Lee ou Jefferson, 123. Jefferson's Works, I. 30. Tucker's Jeff., I. 93. Judge Tuck- 
er's Com., I. II. 155. 

2 Deuteronomy xxi. 16, 17. ^ fucker's Jefferson, I. 93, 94 



^20 A History of the United States of America. 

state was hardly to be avoided ; for, though he provided for free 
exercise of conscience and confined legislation to civil thing's, yet, 
by giving eflect to the w^ill of the majority, he left open a loop- 
hole for the entrance of religious oppression. 

The Roman church, in all ages from the time of the Emperor 
Constantine to the present day, has asserted the Divine right of 
the union of church and state, and the supremacy of the church 
in this union.' Hence have come all the persecutions carried on 
under her authority. 

The Church of England originated in the reign of King Henry 
VIII., and upheld the same principles as to the connection of 
church and state w^hich the Roman church had taught. Hence 
the persecutions which filled the mountains and glens of .Scotland 
with people suffering for conscience's sake every form of cruelty, 
oppression and death that -intolerance could invent, and which 
drove tens of thousands of the persecuted to America. 

Nevertheless, such was the eflect of education and tradition 
that most of the colonists brought over the principle of a union 
of church and state to the New World and established it in the 
forests and virgin soils of America. The Puritans, who fled 
from persecution in England, estabHshed in Alassacliusetts a re- 
ligious commonwealth, which permitted no true freedom of con- 
science, and which made it possible to drive out Roger Williams, 
to fine and chastise Qiiakers, boi'e their tongues with hot irons 
and put them to deatli, and to give full sway to such men as 
Cotton Mather, Samuel Parris, and Noyes of Salem, in torturing 
and hanging men, women and children for the alleged religious 
crime of witchcraft.^ It was a happy day when the advance of 
light and the restrictive charter of 1691 put an end to this pre- 
tended reign of the saints on earth. 

In the Virginia colony and the colony of New York, after the 
full establishment of English rule therein, the Church of England 
was established by law, and the governors, rulers and many of the 
people united in suftbcating all freedom of conscience. Fines 
and imprisonments were inflicted for want of conformity to the 
♦requirements of civil la^v concerning the church. 

It cannot be reasonably supposed that the common people of 
these two colonies looked with favor upon these persecutions ; 
yet no decisive move for religious freedom took place until the 
opening of the Revolution. Then Thomas Jeflerson was again 
the leader. 

1 Syllabus Errorum by Pius IX., Dec. 8, 1804. Decree of Vatican Council, July 18, 1870; 
III. 15, IS ; V. 23, -li, 27, 29, 32, 37 ; VI. 42, 45, 47, 53, 55 ; VII. 62, G3. 
sSee Chapter XXV. 



The Revolution Itself. 521 

He has been accused of skepticism concerning the Divine 
origin of Christianity and the Divinity of Christ. Probably his 
views on these subjects have never been fully disclosed, for, like 
all great souls, he was reserved as to his communion with God ; 
but if the spirit of Christ has ever been potent in this world it 
was so in the active exertions of Jefferson for the establishment 
of perfect religious liberty, by severing forever the unhallowed 
union between church and state. 

The overthrow of British authority and the adoption of the 
State constitution and "Bill of Rights" of Virginia in 1776 did, 
indeed, put an end to all violations of conscience by the govern- 
ment. The final clause of the bill declared that religion can be 
directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, 
and therefore all men are entitled to its free exercise according to 
the dictates of conscience ; and that it is the mutual duty of all 
to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each 
other.^ 

This clause constituted a distinct recognition of Christianity 
by the fundamental law of the State ; but, in many respects, long 
rooted evils arising from the previous connection of church and 
state still existed in the shape of glebes, tithe laws, assessments 
for the clergy of the Church of England, marriage laws and in- 
iquitous preferences. Therefore the ministers of other Christian 
denominations continued to urge upon the minds of the law- 
inakers the duty of establishing complete religious freedom and 
equality. 

It came at last in Jefferson's " act for establishing religious free- 
dom," passed into law December 26th, 178^." The preamble is 
long and argumentative, declaring that " to compel a man to fur- 
nish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which 
he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical ; " that "• to suffer the civil 
magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion is a dan- 
gerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty ; " and 
that '' truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is 
the proper and sufficient antagonist of error, and has nothing to 
fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of 
her natural weapons, free argument and debate : errors ceasing to 
be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them." 
Then it is enacted, "that no man shall be compelled to frequent 
or support any religious worship place or ministry whatsoever, nor 
shall be enforced, restrained, molested or burdened in his body or 

1 Art. XVIII., Bill of Rights, Code 1873, page 69. 

2 Rev. Code, I. 77, 78. Lit. and Evang. Mag., IX. 48, 49. 



522 A History of the United States of America. 

goods, noi* shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opin- 
ions or belief ; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by 
argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and 
that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their 
civil capacities." ^ 

This is substantially the law of all the States of the American 
Union. The third clause of the "Articles of Confederation " 
bound the States to assist each other against all force offered to 
or attacks made upon them or any of them on account of religion^ 
sovereignty, trade or any other pretence whatever ; and the con- 
stitution of 1789 provided that " no religious test shall ever be 
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the 
United States ; " ^ and by an amendment, promptly adopted and 
having all the force of the original instrument, it is provided 
that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; " ' and bv a series 
of enactments and of judicial decisions in conformity thereto, the 
unjust accretions of property in the form of glebe lands or other- 
wise by the former chui'ch establishments have been appropriated 
to the support of the poor.* 

Fourth. On the subject of self-government the colonists had en- 
joyed wide privileges long before the coming of the Revolution. 
The happy conditions arising out of their willingness to leave the 
comforts of the Old World and face the hardships of the wilder- 
ness and the unplowed fields of America had naturally brought 
freedom to an extent never known in Europe. Kings, lords and 
commons in England felt alike indifferent to the granting of lib- 
erty to govern themselves to people who were willing to sepai'ate 
themselves from all that made life pleasant and cheering to a 
society which had become intensely artificial even in the days of 
James I. Hence all the early colonies were permitted to choose 
their own law -makers and to a large extent their rulers. But as 
their numbers increased and their products multiplied and their 
commerce extended and their influence on the mother country 
grew wider and wider, their liberties were restricted and their 
rights abridged. The kings leai"ned to deny to them the power 
of making laws for themselves and to nullifv the acts of their 
assemblies. The colonists were reminded, by a thousand forms 
of restriction, that they were not independent. They bore those 
constraints as long as they were tolerable ; but when England 
claimed the right to transport a native colonist from one province 

1 Code of Virginia, 1873, 659-661. 2 Art. VI., Sec. 3, Const. U. S. Code of 1873, p. 49^ 
3 Amendment I. Code of 1873, p. 56. * Rev. Code of Va., I. 79-^1. 



'fhe Revolution Itself. 533 

to another, or even to the soil of the mother country, for the pur- 
pose of trying and punisliing him for alleged crime, and sent 
fleets and armies to support her claim, then all thoughtful men in 
America began to seek real independence and self-government. 

The dawning of independence was dim, and its progress grad- 
ual. We have seen that individuals had reached it before the 
people at large were ready for it, and that it had been assumed 
and declared by assemblages of private people before the repre- 
sentatives in congress were prepared to announce it in solemn 
forin ; but the Revolution would have been dwarfed and incom- 
plete without it, and therefore it hastened on. 

The Boston " Port Bill " was the English measure which first 
opened the eyes of the colonists to the fact that they were not 
free. The New York " Sons of Liberty " had been among the 
first organized after the great speech of Barre. They had not 
embraced the landed gentry to any wide extent, for these were 
loyalists and Tories, and many of them continued untrue to their 
country tluring the whole war ; but these " Sons of Liberty " 
embraced the merchants, and many of the lawyers and profes- 
sional men, and the mechanics and laboring classes generally. 
They are entitled to the credit of having first proposed " a general 
congress " of delegates from all the colonies.' The " Port Bill " 
was rapidly circulated, sometimes on paper with a mourning 
border. The people of Providence, Rhode Island, on the 17th 
of May, 1774, in full meeting, urged the "general congress"; 
declared " personal liberty an essential part of the natural rights 
of mankind," and expressed a desire to prohibit the importation 
of negro slaves.^ 

It is worthy of note that the earliest inhibition of the importa- 
tion of slaves came from a Southern colony. The cultured men 
of those colonies had found nothing in all their studies which 
enabled them to reconcile African slavery with the inherent rights 
of man. Jefferson and Washington were both opposed to slavery. 
In July, 1774, Jefferson sent from his sick bed a paper, substan- 
tially adopted by the Virginia convention, which said : " The 
abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those 
colonies where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state ; 
but previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves ^ve have, it is 
necessary to exclude all further importation from Africa ; yet, 
our repeated attempts to eff'ect this by prohibitions, and by im- 
posing duties which might amount to a prohibition, have been 
hitherto defeated by his majesty's negative, thus preferring the 

1 Bancroft, VII. 40-42. 2 Resolutions, May, 1774. Bancroft, VII. 42. 



524 A History of the United States oj" America. 

immediate advantage of a few British corsairs to the lasting 
interests of the American vStates, and to the rights of human nature 
deeply wounded by this infamous practice." ^ 

The convention thereupon adopted a resolution to this effect : 
" After the first day of November next, we will neither ourselves 
import nor purchase any slave or slaves imported by any other 
person, either from Africa, the West Indies, or any other place." 

The people of Baltimore, in Maryland, were among the first in 
the colonies to speak out in favor of independence and self-gov- 
ernment. Early in May, i774' ^^ey advocated suspending com- 
merce with Great Britain and the West Indies, recommended a 
continental congress, appointed a numei'ous committee of corres- 
pondence, and sent cheering words to the Boston people.^ 

Several of the colonies assumed the sovereign position of States 
before any advice to that end was given by the congress. It has 
been stated as history that New Hampshii"e led in this grand 
movement, having declared herself a State and erected a State 
government in December, i77v^ But South Carolina had pre- 
ceded her by some months in forming a provincial congress in 
August, 1775, and afterwards in adopting a vState constitution and 
assuming State sovereignty.* And Alassachusetts had, in sub- 
stance, taken the position of an independent State when, in Octo- 
ber, 1774, her general assembly, after waiting in vain two days 
for the governor (Gage) to appear, passed judgment on his un- 
constitutional proceedings, and resolved themselves into a " pro- 
vincial congress " and adjourned to Concord. From that time 
they exercised every power of a State ; appointed a committee of 
safety, of which Hancock and Warren were members ; mustered 
the militia, of whom one-fourth were to hold themselves ready to 
march at a minute's notice ; took measures to raise ninety thou- 
sand dollars and to provide ordnance, small arms, ammunition 
and military stores.^ Yet, in fact, Alassachusetts did not adopt 
her State constitution until 1780. 

In May, 1776, the congress, in view of a declaration of indepen- 
dence, recommended that each foi'mer colony which had not 
already done so should erect herself into a State. This request 
was promptly complied with by Connecticut, Delaware, Mary- 
land, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. 
Then, for the first time, the connection, in a common governor, 
between Pennsylvania and Delaware was severed." 

1 Jefferson's paper, in Bancroft, VII. S4. 

2 Resolutions of City and County of Baltimore. Bancroft, VII. 50. 

sEggleston's Jlduseiiold U. S., 191. 

< Art. South ( 'aroliiin, Amer. Eiicyclop., IV. 4(56. Stephens, 224. 

5 Bancroft, VII. 153-155. '' Art. Delaware, American Encyclop. 



71ic Revolution Itself. 535 

Georgia became a .State, l)ut did not adcjpt a Stale constitulion 
till 1777. New York showed the enthusiasm of her people for 
lil)erty by pullin<r down the leaden statue of Kinpr (ieorge III. in 
the Bowery as soon as they heard of the <leelaration of indepen- 
dence, cutting it to pieces and moulding it into bullets ; but as 
her chief city was quickly occupied and her territory threatened 
on every side by the enemy, she assumed very quietly the func- 
tions of a State. Her lirst State constitution was adopted in IVfarch, 
1777, and was revised and changed in 1801, 1821 and 1.846, each 
change making the government more truly democratic' She was 
weakened during the war by the large element of 'Joryistn among 
her people ; yet no State furnished more heroic otlicers and sol- 
diers. Iler chief city, in the prevalent sentiments of her popula- 
tion, retained her love of freedom and her tidelity to the patriot 
cause even through the long British military occupation ; and 
this was the more remarkable inasmuch as the charter of the city 
had been granted originally by James If, in 1686, and simply 
amended and enlarged by (^ueen Anne in 1708, and by (ieorge II. 
in 1730. It was so wise and liberal that it was confirmed by the 
pnnincial general assembly in 1732, and specially atbrmed after 
the Revolution by the .State legislature. It is still in sul)stance the 
city charter, although in 1830 an amended charter was ado2')ted. 

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations assumed .State exist- 
ence in 1776; yet her charter, obtained by John Clark in 1663, 
from Charles II., was regarded as so good, and enlisted so thor- 
oughly the affections of the people, that it was not superseded by 
a new constitution until 1842, and then after the throes of a local 
rebellion, in which Thomas Wilson Dorr led a large and influen- 
tial jDarty. lie had studied law under Chancellor Kent, some of 
whose centralizing views he at first adopted ; but he l)ecame a 
democrat in 1837, and convinced a majority of the people of 
Rhode Island that their charter (under which the elective fran- 
chise was limited to holders of real estate and their eldest sons, 
and only one-third of the mature citizens were voters) was wrong. 
He was overcome by arms, wielded not only by the .State militia, 
but by United States troops. He fled to Connecticut. The 
authorities of Rhode Island oflei'ed four thousand dollars for his 
apprehension. He returned of his own accord, was arrested, 
tried, convicted of high treason, and sentenced 'to imprisonment 
for life ; but he was pardoned in i8.|7, and in 18=^3 the legislature 
of his State restored his civil rights, and ordered the record of his 
conviction to be expunged. He lived to see Rhode Island adopt 

1 Art. New York, New Anicriciin Kiif-yclop., XII. 2()8. 



536 A History of the United States of America. 

a constitution in which all he had contended for was embodied, 
and his party were in full possession of the State government.' 

The " Bill of Rights" adopted by Virginia as part of her State 
constitution in 177^5 ^^^^ substantially repeated in every colony, 
established the independence and right of self-government of 
every man in the United States of America, placing them upon 
a ground planted by God himself, and therefore never to be 
shaken. This great charter of liberty was adopted on the 12th 
of June, 1776, twenty-two days before the "Declaration of Inde- 
pendence " was adopted by the American congress.'^ 

The natural rights of man are first declared ; all power is said 
to be vested in the people, and magistrates and rulers are merely 
their responsible trustees. The several departments of govern- 
ment are distinguished ; and it is declared that law-makers and 
law-enforcers should descend, from time to time, among the com- 
mon mass of society, that they may feel their burdens and sym- 
pathize in their calamities. Trial by jury in criminal cases is 
guaranteed ; excessive bail cannot be required, nor excessive fines 
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted ; the free- 
dom of the press is guarded from restraint ; standing armies in time 
of peace are declared dangerous, and the militia system is com- 
mended for public defence ; uniform government is provided for ; 
and the itnperiuni in i/iiperio, the dangerous and insidious doc- 
trine of the Roman church, is forever banished by the provision 
that no government separate from and independent of that of 
the State ought to be established within her bounds. The final 
clause declares the freedom of religion.^ 

But however well established independence and personal free- 
dom may have been in theory, they would soon have been ovei*- 
thrown but for the fortunate providential conditions which led to 
the uprising in North America of separate free and sovereign 
States, and the final union of those States into a stable confede- 
rated government of limited powers, and yet with power and 
authority to act directly on individuals for national pin-poses. To 
this we must now turn our attention. 

Some writers have adopted the crude and baseless view that 
the congress, as it existed in the early stages of the Revolution, 
was a body with powers practically unlimited, and that it might, 
if it had thought proper, have exercised powers which would 
have converted the confederated government into a great central- 
ized sovereignty, which would have ruled the people at its will 

1 Art. Dorr, New Amerieau Encvclop., VI. r)78. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 47:>, 474. 

2 R. C. Va., I. 31, 32. Origiiiiil MS. Draft, State Lib. Va. Wirt's Patrick Henry, 143, 144. 

3 Clauses 12-14, R. C. Va., I. 32. 



The Revolution Itself. 527 

and have shaped the future government as it chose. This is the 
view of the German publicist Von Hoist, and has been, in sub- 
stance, adopted by an able and thoughtful writer on the public 
history and constitution of the United States.^ 

But it has no foundation, either in theory or fact. The early 
congi-esses were purely voluntary bodies, without any authority 
or power, except such as the people chose to recognize. We 
have seen how limited was the power of the .second congress, 
which met on the tenth day of May, 177=5, the day that Ticon- 
deroga was captured by Ethan Allen.^ This congress was merely 
the creature organized by the delegates from the various colonies 
who were preparing to become States. The union, therefore, 
which existed before the "Articles of Confederation" were adopted 
was purely a voluntary union of chosen representatives. It was 
not a government at all, being absolutely dependent on the vol- 
untary submission of the people for the accomplishment of every 
measure it recommended. So far was it from being " limited by 
no law, and by nothing else but by its success in war," or from 
having " the energy and recklessness of a French revolutionary 
body," as stated of it by Prof. Johnston, it had not even power to 
raise the money needed to pay for a suitable hall in w^hich to hold 
its deliberations. The sovereign power was in the people of the 
colonies considered separately, who, for just cause, were prepar- 
ing to cast off the shackles of the British government and to as- 
sume among the powers of the earth the position of independent 
and sovereign vStates. 

Each colony assumed this position for herself. The concert 
of action for general defence, which they had shown by sending 
delegates to the congress, was entirely informal, and had imparted 
none of the powers of government. They knew this perfectly 
well, and therefore one of the fii'st measures of the congress of 
1776, which adopted the "Declaration of Independence," was to 
appoint a committee to devise and report a formal plan of union 
which would be a compact\>e.\.-\N &Qn the States and binding upon all.'* 

The committee reported "Articles of Confederation " as early as 
the I3th July, 1776; but they were not entirely satisfactory, and 
much quiet debate and proposed amendments occurred before 
they were finally adopted by the congress on the 15th day of 
November, 1777.* They were then referred to the several States 

1 Prof. Alexander Joliiiston, late of the chair of Jurisprudence and Political Economy in 
Princeton Colle;,'e. See liis IT. S. Hist, and Const., 56, 57. 

2 Chapter XXXV. Bancroft, VII. 3.')3, 351. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 22G. Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 79. 

H'ompare Stephens, 226. Prof. Johnston, 79. Arts, of Confed., Stephens, Append. C, p. 
919-922. 



528 A History of the United States of America. 

All of them adopted them promptly in 1777, except Maryland, 
who did not ratify them in full until 1781. 

These "Articles of Confederation " were the first constitution 
of the United States of America, and did really form a general 
government ; but nothing is more striking than the care exhibited 
in them to recognize each State as sovereign and as retaining all 
the powers of a sovereign except those delegated to the United 
States. 

They are declared to be "Articles of Confederation and Per- 
petual Union bet^veen the States of New Hampshire, Massachu- 
setts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Alaryland, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia." 

The first article provides that the style of this confederacy 
shall be " The United vStates of America." 

The second article is in these words : " Each State retains its 
sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, juris- 
diction and right which is not by this confederation expressly 
delegated to the United States in congi'ess assembled." 

Our purposes herein do not require a review of all the separate 
articles of this important constitution of government. It con- 
tains many provisions so wise that they have found a place in 
the subsequent and more permanent constitution. So far from 
feeling surprised that this plan did not accomplish all that was 
hoped for from it, our wonder should be that it accomplished so 
much. It was an experiment unprecedented in all the past his- 
tory of the world. 

Evidently the sages and patriots who constructed it looked 
upon it as a plan of union never to be departed from ; for the 
the thirteenth and last article declared that, "every State shall 
abide by the determinations of the United States in congress as- 
sembled on all questions which, by this confederation, are sub- 
mitted to them. And the articles of this confederation shall be 
inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be per- 
petual ; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in 
any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of 
the United States and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures 
of every State." ^ 

This was an attempt to do what is impossible to man. No 
compact between sovereigns can be so enduring that it may not 
be dissolved if the reasons for dissolution be so potent as to com- 
mand the assent of a majority in number and power of those 

1 Art. XIII., Stephens, Append., 921, 922. 



The Revolution Itself. 529 

sovereigns. This very plan of confederation was abrogated and 
laid aside, without the consent of several of the States who ori- 
ginally formed it ; and the more permanent constitution that 
succeeded it very wisely omitted all pi'ovisions for perjDetual 
union. Its originators and adopters knew well that such pi'ovi- 
sions are useless, and serve only to entrap weak consciences ; for 
if reasons for dissolution exist, so strong and exacting that they 
are recognized as sufficient by a majority in number and force of 
the States, a dissolution will certainly take place in spite of all 
opposition. 

The separate sovereignty of each of the thirteen original States 
received a crowning confirmation in the treaty of peace by which 
the war was formally ended and the United States of America 
introduced into the family of nations. 

The commissioners from America were John Adams, John Jay, 
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Henry Laurens. They 
met at Paris peace commissioners of Great Britain, France and 
Spain, and, on the 30th of November, 1783, signed a pi-ovisional 
treaty of peace. The full and final treaty was signed in Paris on 
the 3d of September, 17S3. 

The first article was in these words : " His Britannic majesty 
acknowledges the said United States, viz. : New Hampshire, Alas- 
sachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Con- 
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, to be freej sovereign and independent States ; that he treats 
them as such ; and for himself, his heirs and successors, relin- 
quishes all claiin to the government, proprietary tmd territorial 
rights of the same, and every part thereof." * 

Early in 1783, news of the treaty of peace reached America ; 
on the 23d of March, the war-ship Triumph., belonging to the 
fleet of the Count D'Estaing, arrived at Philadelphia, bringing a 
letter from La Fayette to the congress, formally communicating 
these happy tidings ; and a few days thereafter Sir Guy Carle- 
ton, in New York, informed Washington that he had received 
from his Britannic majesty's government orders to proclaim a 
cessation of hostilities by sea and land.^ On the 19th of April, 
17S3, just eight years after the battle of Lexington, a proclama- 
tion of peace was issued by the United States. 

Washington did what he could to pacify the discontented in 
the American army, and to assure them that congress would 

1 By a curious oversight " Maryland " is omitted in tlie list in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 268. 

2 Irving's Washington, IV. 388. 

.^4 



530 A History of the United States of America. 

recognize all their claims that were just, and would deal fairly 
with them. Finding his time in his camp at Newburg, on the 
Hudson, becoming irksome, he set out \vith Governor Clinton and 
made an extensive tour through the northv^^estern parts of New 
York and the adjacent territory, by way of Lake George and the 
other lakes, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Forts Stanwix and Schuy- 
ler, and through the beautiful and fertile valley of the Mohawk. 
His object was to view this country with a special eye to its i^e- 
sources and to its condition after it should be evacuated by the 
British forces according to the proposed treaty. He returned to 
Newburg on the c;th of August, 1783, having made a tour of at 
least seven hundred and fifty miles in nineteen days, and the chief 
part of it on horseback.^ 

On the 25th of November, Sir Guy Carleton accomplished the 
duty of evacuation by withdrawing his troops from New York 
and Brooklyn, and preparing to sail for England. He had given 
notice of his purpose to Washington, who ordered American 
troops, composed of dragoons, light infantry and artillery, com- 
manded by General Knox, to march from Harlem to the Bowery 
and take possession on the evening of the 3£5th, to obviate all 
possibility of disorder and pillage. A formal entry of the patriot 
army took place the next day, led by General Washington and 
Governor Clinton, with their suites, on horseback. An American 
lady, then quite young, and who had spent some years of the last 
part of the war in New York, wrote her impressions from this 
scene. After speaking of the scarlet uniforms, burnished arms, 
and splendid appearance of the British troops, she writes of the 
contrast and trf her feelings thus : "The troops that marched in, on 
the contrary, were ill-clad and weather-beaten, and made a for- 
lorn appearance ; but, then, they were our ti"oops, and as I looked 
at them and thought upon all they had done and suffered for us, 
my heart and my eyes were full, and I admired and gloried in 
them the more, because they were weather-beaten and forloi^n." ^ 

On the 4th of December, 17S3, at Fraunces' Tavern, near the 
ferry to Paulus Hook, in the city of New York, the principal 
officers of the American army assembled to take leave of their 
commander-in-chief. On entering the room and seeing himself 
surrounded by his old companions-in-arms, who had shared with 
him so much of hardship, difficulty and danger, a tide of emotion 
passed over the soul of Washington, which for a time deprived 
him of the power of utterance. 

1 Irving, IV. 399, 400. 

" Letter in Irving's Washington, IV. 40G, 407. 



71ic l\cvoliitio)i Itself. 531 

He tilled a <^lass of wine, and, turning to them a face full of 
benignant majesty, and yet saddened by the recall of the past, the 
gravity of the present and the dangers of the future, he said : 
" With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, 
most devoutly wishing that your latter days may be as prosperous 
and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honor- 
able.'" 

All drank to this farewell benediction. Then Washington 
said : " I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall 
be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand." 

General Knox, who was nearest, advanced first. In silence, 
but with eyes filled with tears, Washington grasped his hand. In 
like manner each advanced and took leave. Not a word was 
spoken. Silent and solemn they followed their loved commander 
as he left the room and proceexled on foot through saluting lines 
of light infantry to the barge at WHiitehall Ferry. Entering the 
barge, he turned to them, took ofi' his hat and waved a silent 
adieu.^ 

He went first to Philadelphia to resign his commission to con- 
gress, and to settle his accounts according to the principles of 
self-denying equity which he had announced on accepting the 
command to which they had elected him. He then went to his 
quiet and beautiful home at Mount Vernon, hoping to spend the 
rest of his days in private and domestic life. But this was not to 
be his lot ; the final crisis of his country's danger had not been 
passed. 

The war left the country in a condition far from prosperous. 
The public debts, home and foreign, had swelled to an amount 
near to one hundred millions of dollars. This amoutit now seems 
small to the United States, and might be paid by any one of sev- 
eral of her individual citizens without seriously impairing his 
means of luxurious living ; but at that time it was justly consid- 
ered enormous, and bore heavily on the resources of the people. 
Hardly could the interest due to France and Holland be raised. 
This, of course, was to be paid at the gold standard. The officers 
and privates of the army and navy were unpaid. The Continental 
currency issued by the congress had become so much depreciated 
that even the poor soldiers could no longer make it available to 
supply their pressing wants. Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, 
had helped Washington at several critical financial periods, and 

UrviiiK, IV. -407. Tliiillicimer, 177, 178. Derrv, 157,158. Scott, 218. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 
142. Taylor's (Viitcn., '^iVi, ■j;;;;. 

2 Marshall's hilb of Wusliiiigton. Irving, IV. 408. Taylor, 233. Justin Wlnsor's Amer,, 
VI. 747. 



532 A History of the United States of America. 

by his own exertions, and upon his own credit to a large extent, 
had raised money for the necessities of the army, amounting in 
all to one million four hundred thousand dollars in gold. At one 
time he had sent to the starving army a thousand barrels of flour.* 
It is sad to reflect that this patriot, not being able to obtain 
prompt and complete relief from the congress for all of his large 
advances, and by reason of unfortunate land speculations, after- 
wards became so much embarrassed that his fine fortune dis- 
appeared, and he was for a time a prisoner under process for 
debt.^ 

The powers given under the "Articles of Confederation " to the 
congress were too limited to enable that body to raise inoney or 
furnish the relief needed by the public creditors. The congress 
had no power to levy taxes, direct or indirect. It could do noth- 
ing but make requisitions on the several States. Some States 
could not raise the amounts assessed on them ; but by far the 
larger number of them ivoiild not. They had the power, but not 
the inclination.^ None of them complied ; Rhode Island was 
specially recalcitrant, and New Jersey, at one time, passed a reso- 
lution expressly refusing the aid for which congress made requi- 
sition ; and there was nowhere a coercive power. The congress 
had no power to operate directly on persons and property in the 
several States, even for the most pressing federal purposes. 

Another evil showing the impotence of the general govern- 
ment arose from the fact that only the States had the power of 
regulating commerce, foreign or domestic ; and the regulations of 
the States conflicted with each other, imposed different rates of 
duty, and paralyzed commercial energy. Yet such was the jeal- 
ousy felt by the States that they were not willing to part with 
this power and delegate its exercise to the congress.* 

It was also time that during the long war of eight years a con- 
siderable lowering of the standard of public morals had taken 
place. This has always been the effect of war. And in addi- 
tion to the loss of home influence, and of the restraints on drunk- 
enness and sensual indulgence which -war always causes, there 
were special deteriorations arising from the influx of infidelity 
and skepticism by means of the armies and officers of France.'' 

The eflect was that many people became unscrupulous and dis- 
honest. Speculators began to grind the faces of the poor, and to 
take advantage of the misfortunes of the people in order to make 
profitable bargains for themselves. This soon arrayed against 

1 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., (uote) 139. « Art. Morris, Amer. Encvelop., XI. 748. 

3 Stephens, 274-276. Barnes & Co.'s IT. S., 142, 143. Scott, 220, 221. 

« Stephens, 275. Scott, 220. Goodrich, 283. ^ Goodrich's U. S., 281, 282. 



The Revolution Itself. 533 

each o 'her the classes of the poor and the men who had grown 
rich by usury and heartless schemes of finance.^ 

There cannot be a doubt that these discontents, for which there 
was so much excuse, led to the insurrectionary movement in Mas- 
sachusetts, in August, 1786, commonly called " Shays' Rebellion," 
because it was led by Daniel Shays, formerly a captain in the 
American army. This movement extended through Worcester, 
Middlesex, Bristol and Berkshire counties, and even spread into 
New Hampshire. The opposition was to the enforcement of 
taxes by law, and was founded on the known fact that a large 
part of the public certificates of debt had passed into the hands 
of those dishonest and grasping speculators. The insurgents 
complained also of the governor's high salary, the aristocracy of 
the senate, and the extortions of lawyers. Fifteen hundred men 
obeyed Shays' command. The proceedings in the courts were 
forcibly arrested.^ 

But the insurrection was put down by the firmness of the State 
authorities. General Lincoln headed an army of four thousand 
men. On the 24th of January, 1787, two opposing armies ap- 
proached each other at Springfield — one of twelve hundred State 
militia, under General Shepard ; the other of eleven hundred in- 
surgents, under Shays. An actual collision took place. After 
firing over their heads without dispersing them, the State troops 
fired at the insurgents. Three were killed and one wounded.* 
They dispersed, and could not be rallied. Conditional pardons 
were offered by the legislature of Massachusetts. Seven hun- 
dred and ninety persons availed themselves of this offer. Four- 
teen were tried and sentenced to death ; but all were pardoned, 
one after another. Thus the rebellion ended. 

But the impression it made and the distresses of the country 
did not end. Thoughtful people everywhere felt that a stronger 
and more efficient federal government was necessary. It came at 
last, rather by a series of happy providences than by any syste- 
matic movement. 

One serious difficulty in the way of obtaining the assent of the 
States to the "Articles of Confederation" was the claim of seve- 
ral States, such as New York and Virginia, to the vast areas of 
public lands lying westward of their bounds, but within their 
primitive chartered limits or else claimed by right of conquest. 
This difficulty was removed by the liberal consent of the States 
holding these claims to cede them to the United States on 

1 Stephens, 274, 275. Goodrich's U. S., 282. = Goodrich's U. S., 284. 

3 Goodrich's U. S., 284, 285. Art. Shays, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 568. 



534 -'^ History of the LFnited States of America. 

• 
agreed terms. New York made her cession in 17S0 and Virginia 
in 17S4. Thus the congress, though not authorized by the 
" Articles " to hold or govern territonk', became the holder of a 
tract of land of some four hundred and thirty thousand square 
miles — nearly equal to the whole area of France, Spain and Por- 
tugal united.^ 

On the 23d of April. 17S4, a committee of the congress under 
the "Articles of Confederation," of which Thomas Jefferson was 
chairman, reported a plan for disposing of these public lands, 
providing for the erection of seventeen States, some north and 
some south of the Ohio river, and bestowing upon them such 
eccentric names as Sylvania, Assenisipia, ^letropotamia. Polypo- 
tamia and Pelisipia.' The plan had the following clause : "After 
the year iSoo there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary ser- 
vitude in any of the said States other than in the punishment of 
crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."' But 
at that time Mr. Jefferson's plan failed for want of the votes of 
seven States in its favor. In 17S7 an ordinance was adopted 
upon a plan reported by a committee, of which Nathan Dane, of 
Massachusetts, was chairman. It applied only to the territory 
north of the Ohio, prohibited slavery therein, but added a clause 
for the return of fugitive slaves. It provided for not less than 
three nor more than five States. The States resulting from this 
"Ordinance of 17S7" have been Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan 
and Wisconsin.' 

The evils arising from the weakness of the Federal government 
and the contumacy and conflicting action of the States became so 
great that some remedy was naturally sought. In March, 17S5, 
the Virginia legislature had appointed commissioners to meet 
similar delegates from Mar\-Iand at Alexandria, to form, if pos- 
sible, a compact as to navigation and trade in the Potomac and 
Pocomoke rivers and in the upper part of the Chesapeake Bay. 
While at Mount Vernon, in conference with Washington, the 
commissioners, knowing that their agreement, even if cordial, 
would remove only a small part of the evil, resolved to recom- 
mend the appointment of deputies from all the States to meet 
and suggest measures as to trade and commerce for the benefit of 
the Union." ' 

Virginia acted on this suggestion by appointing deputies on 
the 3 1st of January, 17S6, under a resolution written by Mr. 
Madison, but offered by Mr. Tyler ; and, in September, 17S6, Ed- 
mund Randolph, St. George Tucker and James Madison met 

1 Prof: Jolrnatoii'a U. S.. ^?2. m. - lUd., .S4. ^ /^j-rf.^ 34^ gg. 4 Majshall's Wash., H. 105. 



T%e Revolution Itself. :;35 

commissioners from fotcr other States at Annapolis ; but they had 
not long debated ere they became satisfied that improTement in 
trade and commerce -was beyond their reach so long as the con- 
federate government and the relations of the States thereto re- 
mained as they then T?rere. They accordingly recommended that 
the States should appoint commissioners to form a convention in 
Philadelphia in May. 1787, and there to devise and suggest snch 
changes and improvements as might be necessary for the articles 
of Tinion.^ 

This resolution vras sent to the authorities of all the States and 
also to the congress. On the 31st February, 17S7, that body 
adopted a resolution as follovrs : 

•'■Resolved. That in the opinion of congress it is expedient that 
on the second ^Monday in Mav next a convention of delegates, vrho 
shall have been appointed by the several States, be held in Phila- 
delphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles 
of Confederatioru and reporting to congress and the several legis- 
latures such alterations and provisions therein as shalL vrhen 
agreed to in congress and confirmed by the States, render the Fed- 
eral constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and 
the preservation of the Union." * 

On the 2:;th of !May. 17S7. this memorable convention assembled 
in Philadelphia. Deputies vrere present from all the States, ex- 
cept Rhode Island. George Washington -was elected president. 

Their debates "CT"ere generally held "with closed doors. They 
continued up to the 17th September. They prepared a form of 
government, which -was to be submitted to the people of the sev- 
eral States, vrho were to act upon it in their capacitv as sovereign- 
ties. In order to its taking effect, it provided that the ratification 
of the conventions of at least nine States should be necessarv. If 
so ratified it should go into operation on the 4th of March, 17S9, 
as to the States thus assenting. 

Before the close of the year 17SS it had been ratified by the 
votes of conventions in all the thirteen States, save Xorth Caro- 
lina and Rhode Island- Several of the States, ho-wever, had 
proposed amendnaents embodying the principles of the ** Bill of 
Rights," and all of those "w-hich vrere really important vrere after- 
vrards adopted. Virginia was prevalentlv moved to ratification 
by the example and arguments of Governor Edmund Randolph, 
who had refused in the Philadelphia convention to sign the con- 
stitution, but afterwards became its vrarm advocate.^ Xorth Caro- 

5 MflishalL IL 122. IS. Madisan Papas, IL fiSrr. Stepiifais. 276. 277. -Siephfins, 277. 

^life of Ednmnd EaridalT)li, Irr M. I». ComvaT. ciled in Jolm Seoif s '■ Tbe Hepubac as a 
ronn of GoTennaenl,'" 154. 



536 A History of the United States of America. 

lina. by her second convention, ratified the constitution Novem- 
ber 3 1st, 1789. Rhode Island, with her wonted intractability, 
refused and delayed to assent until the new government was fully 
organized, and a bill had actuallv passed the Senate directing the 
President to suspend commercial intercourse with this little State, 
and to demand from her payment of her share of the Continental 
debt. Newspaper articles had also appeared, proposing that 
Rhode Island should be divided up between her two nearest 
neighbors.^ However she mav have looked on the questions of 
ethics involved in these propositions, it is certain they had their 
etlect on her counsels, for, on the 39th ISIav, 1790, she, in regular 
form, ratified the constitution. 

An exhaustive examination of the forms under which each 
State sent her delegates to the convention and afterwards ratified 
their work has shown that the new government was the embodi- 
ment of a compact between the sovereign States who made it.* 
No other view can be taken by competent and candid students of 
the facts involved. One of the States, in her vote of ratification, 
took the precaution to use the following words : 

"We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected in 
pursuance of a recommendation from the general assemblv, and 
now in convention, having fully and freely investigated and dis- 
cussed the proceedings of the Federal convention, and being pre- 
pared, as well as the most mature deliberation hath enabled us, to 
decide thereon, do, in the name and in behalf of the people of 
Virginia, declare and make known that the powers granted under 
the constitution, being derived from the people of the United 
States, may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be 
perverted to their injurv or oppression, and that everv power not 
granted therebv remains with them and at their will ; that, there- 
fore, no right of anv denomination can be cancelled, abridged, 
restrained or modified by the congress, by the senate or house of 
representatives, acting in any capacity, by the president or any 
department or otficer of the United States, except in those in- 
stances in which power is given by the constitution for those 
purposes.''^ 

This was the express condition on which ^'irginia entered the 
great partnership of States, and as she was admitted as an equal 
partner, Avithout objection to this condition, and as she declared 
that the condition applied to all. it inured to the benefit, not only 
of herself, but of the other parties, according to established prin- 
ciples of equity. 

iProf. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const.. 123. 2 See Stephens' Comp. U. S., 2V9-362. 

3 Va. Debates, 469-470. Calhoun's Works, U. 296. So. Lit. Mess., 1862, ITS, 179. 



The Revolution Itself. £537 

It is not a. part of the plan of this work to give an analysis or 
commentary on the constitution. Students who are aspiring to 
duty as constitutional lawyers or statesmen need only to be re- 
ferred to the great sources of light thereon.' 

The congress, after approving the constitution, passed an act 
providing that the first Wednesday of January, 17S9, should be 
the day of the choice of electors, and the first Wednesday in Feb- 
ruary for the choice of President and Vice-President, and the first 
Wednesday in March for the inaugmation of the new government 
at the city of New York. This last date fell on the fourth day of 
March, which has ever since been the limit of each President's 
term. 

These elections took place accordingly, and when the congress 
counted the votes it was ascertained that George Washington 
was unanimously elected the first President of the United States. 
None were surprised at this result, but all were delighted. Al- 
ready hope began to revive and business to improve, as confidence 
was strengthened. John Adams was elected Vice-President. 

Washington, with unfeigned diffidence and reluctance, accepted 
the high trust confided to him. By a delay in counting the elec- 
toral votes, he was not officially notified of his election until the 
14th of April, 1789. 

On the 16th he left Mount Vernon. His own private record 
says : "About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to pri- 
vate life and to domestic felicity ; and, with a mind oppressed 
with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to 
express, set out for New York with the best disposition to render 
service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope 
of ansv\^ering its expectations."^ 

His progress was a continual ovation ; the ringing of bells and 
reports of cannon proclaimed his advent ; old and young, women 
and children, thronged the roads and streets to bless and welcome 
him.* 

It was a sunny afternoon when he reached the banks of the 
Delaware at Trenton. Twelve years before he had crossed amid 
storm and tempest, with howling winds around his head and 
fragments of ice threatening his boat with destruction. Now a 
scene of peace and love awaited him. 

On the bridge across the Assunpink the women of Trenton 
had caused a triumphal arch to be raised, entwined with ever- 
greens and laurels and bearing the inscription : " The defender of 

1 Madison's PaiH?rs, Va. Debates, Federalist, Calhoun's Works, Kent and Story, Stephens' 
Comp. U. S.. Prof. Jolinston's V. S., Curtis' Const. Hist. 

^ From Washington's Diarj'. Imng, IV. 467. » Irving, IV. 468. 



538 A History of the United States of America. 

the mothers will be the protector of the daughters." Here the 
matrons of the cjty were assembled to welcome him, and, as he 
passed under the arch, a number of young girls, dressed in white 
and crowned with garlands, strewed flowers before him, singing 
an ode expressive of their love and gratitude. Washington was 
deeply moved.^ 

At Elizabethtown Point he was w^elcoined by a committee of 
both houses of the congress and many civil officers. A barge of 
beautiful construction and equipment received him. It was 
manned by thirteen branch pilots, masters of vessels, and com- 
manded by Commodore Nicholson. The harbor was gay with 
ships, boats and flags. The Spanish war-ship Galveston had 
shown no signs of honor till the barge carrying Washington was 
nearly abreast. Then suddenly, as if by magic, the yards were 
manned, flags fluttered out from every part of the rigging, and 
the rapid reports of thirteen guns saluted the President and the 
occasion.^ 

On landing, Governor Clinton and General Knox received him. 
An officer, in imiform, stepped up, and, announcing himself as 
commanding his guards, asked his orders. Washington, \yith a 
composure and foresight admirable in a military man, directed 
him to carry out any directions he might have received, but added 
that for the future the affection of his fellow-citizens was all the 
guard he desired. 

On the 30th of April the inauguration took place in the hall 
and balcony of the old " Federal Hall," in New York. The 
man — the most virtuous and most symmetrically developed in 
soul and body of any then in the world — took the oath of office 
administered to him by the Chancellor of the State of New York. 
Immediately afterwards the chancellor stepped forward, waved 
his hand, and in a distinct voice cried : " Long live George Wash- 
ington, President of the United States ! " A flag was run up to 
the cupola of the building. A roar of artillery sounded the 
salute. All the bells of the city rang out a joyous peal, and the 
multitude rent the air with shouts. And so, the new President of 
the new republic of the New World entered upon his high duties. 

The congress of the confederation had long been effete and 
nearly moribund. It was so impotent for good that its members 
had ceased to attend its sessions. It is said that nothing but the 
most earnest entreaties and exertions got a quorum of them to- 
gether to ratify the treaty of peace with Great Britain.* Natu- 

1 Irving, IV. 470. Earsjleston's Household U. S., 202. - Irving, IV. 471. 

3 Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 88. 



The Revolution Itself. 539 

rally irritated by the failure of the States to give eflect to their 
requisitions, in 1784 they broke up their session in disgust, and 
the French minister reported to his country : "• There is now in 
America no general government — neither congress nor president, 
nor head of any one administrative department." It was surely 
time to reconstruct. As the new government emerged, the old 
congress continued to droop and to fade, until, on the aist Octo- 
ber, 17S8, its last record was entered, and it died.' 
1 Johustou's U. S. Hist, aud Const., 113. 



Chapter xliv. 

George Washington's Presidency. 

WASHINGTON, as President, led his country into a part of 
her career most critical and dangerous, and under a form of 
government new and untried. His own personal power and in- 
fluence did much to make it a success. 

The Congress created four departments, viz. : of Foreign Af- 
fairs (since called the Department of State), of War, of the 
Treasury, and of the government law adviser. Thomas Jefterson 
was appointed Secretary of State, Gen. Henry Knox of War, 
Alexander Hamilton of the Treasury, and Edmund Randolph 
Attorney-General. These, ^vith the President, formed the cabi- 
net, and were all that were then needed ; but the ever-increasing 
power and extent of the country have caused the Congress to add 
Departments of the Navy, the Postal Service, the Interior, and of 
Agriculture ; and by law, in case of the removal, death, resignation 
or permanent inability of the President and Vice-President, the 
members of the cabinet become President, respectively, in the fol- 
lowing order : Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secre- 
tary of War, Attorney-General, Postmaster-General, Secretary of 
the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture.' 

The judges of the Supreme Court nominated by Washington 
and confirmed by the Senate were : John Jay of New York, chief 
justice ; John Rutledge of South Carolina, James Wilson of Penn- 
sylvania, William Cushing of Massachusetts, John Blair of Vir- 
ginia and James Iredell of North Carolina, associate justices.^ 

The First Congress under the new constitution did not embrace 
so many men brilliant in oratory and in statesmanship as those in 
the First Revolutionary Congress had been ; but these later men 
were suited to the times which they faced. Fisher Ames, from 
Massachusetts, who was a member of the House of Representatives, 
thus describes this Congress : " I have never seen an assembly 
where so little art was used. If they wish to carry a point, it is 
directly declared and justified. Its merits and defects are plainly 
stated, not without sophistry or prejudice, but without manage- 
ment. There is no intrigue, no caucusing, little of clanning to- 
1 Act of Cougress, 1884, in Goodrich's U. s., 4.81. 2 Jrving's Washington, V. 26, 

[ 540 ] 



54^ ^ History of the United States of America. 

gether, little asperity in debate or personal bitterness out of the 
House.'" 

The results of this calm and clear-headed purpose to provide 
for the wants of the country were soon apparent. Confidence 
returned, the people grew daily more prosperous, agriculture 
yielded abundant harvests, manufactures in their ruder forms be- 
gan to spring up, the exports became larger, and the goods and 
produce imported yielded in custom payments, flowing daily into 
the treasury, so much money that ordinary expenses were easily 
met, and hope began to arise that even the unwieldy debt of the 
country, in all its forms, would be honorably discharged. 

This debt was the subject most pressing on the Congress and on 
Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. It was due 
from the United States and from the States severally ; but as 
very nearly the whole of it had been contracted for the purposes 
of the war, there Avas no serious question raised by any statesman 
as to the equity of casting its whole burden upon the United 
States.^ Yet some opposed this, because they feared it tended 
to consolidation of the sovereign States into the central govern- 
ment. 

The question, as to which counsels were most divided, was 
whether all the debt ought to be treated alike. Soine of it was 
to France and to Holland, and a full quid pro guo, either in hard 
money or in ships, arms and military stores at fair and agreed 
prices, having been received, no question could be raised with them. 
But the larger part of the debt was in the form of unredeemed 
Continental currency in the hands of at least two distinct classes 
of holders. One of these classes had paid full value either in 
services or in money -or property ; the other class had obtained 
large face amounts of this currency at rates of enormous depre- 
ciation, in some instances by speculation, in other instances by 
brokerage and exchange, and actual advantages taken of the 
necessities of the original holders. This last class had in many 
cases gotten rich during the war or in the years following it. 
Many, in and out of the Congress, felt that this class ought not to 
be paid at face value.^ 

But the Congress had asked that the executive department, 
through the Secretary of the Treasury, would report a scheme for 
the settlement of the public debt. Hamilton devoted to this his 
finest powers, and made a report, the recommendations of which 
were, in substance, adopted by the Congress of 1790. 

1 Letters of Fisher Ames, in Irving's Washinj»-ton, V. 27. 

2 Irving, V. 5:J, 54. Marshall's Washington, II. Stephens, 368, 369. 
sirving, V. 52, 53. Goodrich, 289. Prof. Holmes' U. S., 164. 



George Washingto7i s Presidency. 543 

Under this plan the State debts were assumed, and the whole 
unfunded debt, without distinction as to classes of holders, was to 
be funded, and certificates of debt issued therefoi", the interest to 
be paid semi-annually. Taxes and customs on imports were im- 
posed, and a determined purpose shown to deal justly with the 
public creditors. The effects of this policy \vere soon manifest. 
Confidence became strong. A part of Hamilton's plan was the 
negotiation of a loan of two millions of dollars at five per cent, 
interest, and no difficulty was experienced in obtaining it. The 
debt to foreign countries ■w^as only eleven million five hundred 
thousand dollars, and, as punctual payment of the interest was 
provided for, and what was chieffy needed, the creditors were 
satisfied.' 

A part of Alexander Hamilton's financial plan was the estab- 
lishment of a national bank with a capital of ten millions of dol- 
lars, to act as the depository of the government, and to aid in 
establishing the public credit. The constitutionality of this 
measure was earnestly debated in Congress, but finally a charter 
was granted, to extend to March 4th, 181 1. Washington, after 
mature deliberation, signed the bill.'^ 

During the vacation between the sessions of Congress, in 17S9 
and 1790) Washington made a tour through the Northern and 
New England vStates to inform himself as to the condition of the 
country, and also to recuperate his health, which had suffered 
early in the year from acute disease. 

Thomas Jefferson had not yet returned from France to assume 
the duties of the State Department. Leaving foreign affairs in 
the hands of John Jay, Washington set out from New York on 
the 1:5th of October, 1789, traveling in his carriage, with four 
horses, and accompanied by his official secretary. Major Jackson, 
and his private secretary, Tobias Lear. 

He desii'ed to be private, but the people everywhere welcomed 
him with ringing of bells, firing of guns, militar}' parades and 
civic processions.^ As he approached Boston he received an 
invitation from Governor Hancock asking him to be his guest at 
his private residence. But Washington declined this courtesy, 
from the praiseworthy motive of avoiding all appearance of dis- 
crimination. A curious question of etiquette then arose between 
Governor Hancock and the members of the city government as 
to who were entitled to precedence in receiving the President at 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 2S9, 290. Stephens, 360. 

i^MarshaU's Washington, II. Compare Goodricli, 290, and Art. Bank, Anier. Eneyclop., 
II. 579. 

^Irving, V. 38, 39. 



544 ^'^ History of the United States of America. 

Boston Neck, as he entered the city. This controvei'sy was so 
protracted that two rival lines of carriages were kept waiting, 
and Washington and his secretary. Major Jackson, were detained 
on the Neck in a raw and murky day, until the President became 
chilled, and, when informed of the cause of detention, asked : " Is 
there no other avenue into the town ?" Then the governor and his 
council gave way, and the municipal authorities took precedence. 

Governor Hancock was then fifty-two years old, rich and punc- 
tilious, and perhaps unduly sensitive as to his own dignity and 
importance. He had conceived the idea that, as he was governor, 
the first visit ought to be from Washington to him. Therefore, 
he excused himself from calling on the President by the plea 
of indisposition, and invited Washington to an informal dinner. 
This the President politely declined, and dined at his lodgings, 
having the Vice-President, John Adams, as hig guest.' 

Again Governor Hancock was obliged to yield. He wrote 
announcing his coming. Washington wrote him a brief note 
saying he would be at home until two o'clock, and that he would 
be pleased to see the governor, but begged earnestly that " the 
governor will not hazard his health on the occasion." ^ Governor 
Hancock came, but he was enveloped in baize, and was borne in 
the arms of servants into the house. '^ In this contest of etiquette 
he did not appear to advantage. George Washington, almost in 
boyhood, had written " Rules of Civility " for his own guidance, 
but never permitted form and ceremony to take the place of 
duty. 

Between March iith and July 6th, 1791, Washington made a 
similar tour through the Southern States, traveling one thousand 
eight hundred and eighty-seven miles in his carriage, with one 
set of horses, and with pleasm'e to himself and profit for his 
high duties. 

Soon after his return from this tour, he found his country in- 
volved in another Indian war. Settlers from Virginia and North 
Carolina began to penetrate the rich forests and fertile lands 
of Kentucky and Tennessee, and settlers from the Ne^v England 
States, New York and Pennsylvania advanced to the region north 
of the Ohio river. Kentucky had been a soil so sternly contested 
in bloody battles among the savages themselves, and with the 
whites, that the name means " the dark and bloody ground." 

Daniel Boone was the first of the bold spirits from the east who 
made permanent settlement in Kentucky. He came in 1769, 

1 Irving's Washington, V. 41-43. ^Note in Irving, V. 42. 
3 Sullivan's Letters on Public Characters, 15. Irving, V. 43. 



George Washington'' s Presidency. 545 

with hunting shirt and i-ifle, and was so pleased with the beauty 
and native riches of this country, that, notwithstanding daily per- 
ils from savages, he founded Boonesborough, and occupied that 
region ^vith his familv. He was followed by a number of men 
who vied with him in courage and love of adventure, such as 
Knox, Bullitt, Harrod, Henderson, Kenton, Calloway and Logan. 
The red men contended in vain against white resolution and skill. 
Boone, with a little army of one hundred and eighty-two men, 
gave them a decisive defeat at Blue Lick Springs on the 19th 
August, 17S3. Kentucky was first a county of Virginia, and held 
her first court at Harrodsburg in 1777. In 1786 she was ele- 
vated into a district, and on June ist, 1792, was admitted as a 
State to the Union.' Vermont, whose people had so distin- 
guished themselves by their heroism during the Revolution, had 
been admitted as a State on the i8th February, 1791. 

The Indians of the Northwest were greatly irritated by the 
steady advance of the settlers of Kentucky and Ohio, and made 
frequent and bloody attacks. With the Creeks of Georgia a 
treaty of peace was made August 7th, 1790, chiefly by negotiations 
between General Knox, Secretaiy of War, and McGillivray at 
the head of thirty Indian chiefs. By this treaty, a considerable 
territory within the limits of Georgia was relinquished. The 
State was dissatisfied ; but Mr. Jefferson thought the treaty very 
important for the interests of the country, claiming it as " dra^v- 
ing a line betw^een the Creeks and Georgia, and enabling the 
government to do, as it will do, justice against either party of- 
fending." ^ 

But the Indians of the Wabash and Aliami were restless and 
warlike, making frequent incursions, burning the infant settle- 
ments of the whites and destroying their improvements. These 
savages Avere well armed, obtaining weapons and ammunition 
from the posts still retained bv the British in violation of the 
treaty of peace.^ 

Washington determined to send a militarv force against them, 
under authority of an act of Congress obtained for the purpose. 
This force consisted of three hundred and twenty regulars, with 
militia detachments from Pennsylvania and the western parts of 
Virginia, making a total of fourteen hundred and fifty-three men, 
under command of Brigadier-General Harmer, a veteran of the 
Revolution. 

1 Horace E. Scudder's IT. S., 262, 263. Art. Kentucky, Amer. Encyclop., X. 146. Stephens, 
371, 372. 

2 Compare Stephens, 370. Irving, V. 63, 64. Goodricli's Pict. U. S., 291. 
3 Irving, V. 74, 75. 

35 



54^ A History of the United States of America.' 

They marched on the 30th September, 1790, from Fort Wash- 
ington, on the site of the present city of Cincinnati. In seven- 
teen days they came to the principal village of the Miamis. The 
Indians set fire to their huts and fled. The village was destroyed 
with large quantities of provisions there collected by the savage 
w^arriors. 

Now was the time for caution against Indian wiles ; but it was 
not used. An advance of one hundred and fifty militia and thirty 
regulars was made, headed by Colonel Hardin, of the Kentucky 
militia. They followed a trail, and, on the 17th October, were 
decoyed into an Indian ambush, where they were beset on every 
side by seven hundred warriors, under the great chief Little 
Turtle. The foes could not be seen, but their rifles poured death 
upon the whites. The militia broke and fled at the first fire. 
The regulars stood their ground and fought the Indians with the 
bayonet. All of these brave troops were slain, except five privates 
with Captain Armstrong and Ensign Hartshorn. On the 3istof 
October, about ten miles west of what is now Chillicothe, Colo- 
nel Hardin, having collected most of the scattered militia, made 
an eflbrt to retrieve the campaign. Another bloody battle oc- 
curred. The militia behaved well and supported the regulars ; 
but Major Willys was killed, and Colonel Hardin retreated, leav- 
ing dead and wounded in the hands of the enemy The expedi- 
tion returned to Fort Washington.^ 

The President was disturbed by this disaster, although the main 
purpose of the expedition had been eft'ected, which was the driv- 
ing of the Indians from their lines of settlement. Another mil- 
itary expedition against them was organized. It was to consist 
of two thousand regulars and one thousand militia. Gen. Arthur 
St. Clair was to command. He had been appointed Governor of 
the Northwest. Notwithstanding his misfortune at Ticonderoga, 
Washington seems to have felt great regard for him ; but, on 
taking leave of him, he gave him a solemn warning. He said : 
" You have your instructions from the Secretary of War. I had 
a strict eye to them, and will add but one word — beware of a sur- 
prise ! You know how the Indians fight. I repeat it — beware of 
a surprise! " With these words sounding on his ear, St. Clair 
went his way.^ 

Meanwhile two volunteer expeditions against the savages, 
commanded by Gen. Charles Scott and General Wilkinson, had 
accomplished nothing, and were considered failures. Much was 
expected from the advance of St. Clair. 

1 Irving, V. 75-77. Scott, 234. Goodrich, 291. Butler's Kentucky, 192. 
* Rush's Washington in Domestic Life, 67. Ir-\dng, V. 84. 



George Washitigioi'^s Presidency. 547 

His army was not in the most efficient state. Even the regu- 
lars were unreliable. Picked up and recruited from the ofl"-scour- 
ings of large towns and cities, enervated by idleness, debauchery, 
and every species of vice, they were little prepared for the stern 
exigencies of Indian warfare. Desertions were frequent, and in- 
dicated their low standard of duty.^ 

General St. Clair. was suffering with gout, and had to be helped 
on and off from his horse. As they advanced from Fort Wash- 
ington, by new roads, cut with difficulty and labor through the 
swamps and woods, ill omens crowded on tliem. Part of the 
Virginia militia claimed their discharge, their time being out. 
On the 30th of October, sixty of them deserted in a body, intend- 
ing to plunder the convoy of provisions coming forward in the 
rear. To stop these outlaws and protect the provisions. Major 
Hamtranck, with the First United States regiment, consisting of 
three hundred of the best troops of the army, was detached to the 
rear. 

The rest, consisting of only about one thousand four hundred 
eflective troops, continued their march to a point ninety-seven 
miles from Fort Washington and about fifteen miles south of the 
Miami Indian villages. Here they encamped, November 3d, 
1791, on a rising ground, with a stream forty feet wide in their 
front, running westwardly. Their ground was well chosen for 
defence against regular civilized troops ; but, being surrounded 
by close woods, dense thickets and the trunks of fallen trees, 
with here and there a ravine, it could not have offered fitter op- 
portunities for an attack after the manner of stealthy Indian war- 
tare.' 

And the attack came. Half an hour before sunrise of Novem- 
ber 4th, the war-whoops burst forth from the woods like " the 
jangling of an infinitude of horse bells." The Indians fired from 
ambush, and the militia broke and fled. St. Clair did all that a 
brave man could. Carried on a litter, he hm^ried from point to 
point, giving his orders. The regulars acted firmly for awhile, 
and rushed on the concealed Indians with the bayonet, putting 
many to death ; but the deadly fire from the thickets was kept 
up, and numbers fell. The light artillery, loading with grape and 
canister, fired into the woods, but with little etTect. The artil- 
lerists were exposed to a murderous fire. Every officer and two- 
thirds of the men were killed or wounded. The slaughter was 
such as had not been known since the battle on the Monongahela, 
and the result was the same. A retreat was ordei"ed. Just as it 

1 Diary of Col. Winthrop Sargent, Adj.-Gen. V. S. A., Campaign 1791. Irving, V. 95. 

2 Irving's Washington, V. 97. Quackenbos, olO. Derry, 170. 



548 -4 History of the United States of Atnerica. 

commenced, General Butler was shot from his horse. A savage 
rushed forward, tomahawked and scalped him ; but ere this In- 
dian could bear ofi' the bloody trophy he was himself shot down.' 

Colonel Darke, with his regiment of regulars, performed signal 
service in meeting the enemy and repulsing their advance by the 
bayonet. But already the combat had continued nearly three 
hours, and more than half the army were disabled. The retreat 
was disorderly. Many of the troops threw away their arms, am- 
munition and accoutrements. Fortunately, the savages did not 
long pursue, being drawn back by the resistless bait of a camp to 
be plundered. 

The fugitives met Major Hamtranck with his regiment ; but 
this did not re-instate them. The retreat was continued to Fort 
Washington. The army had met a loss of six hundred and 
seventy-seven killed, including thirty women, and two hundred 
and seventy-one wounded.^ 

When President Washington heard of this great public disas- 
ter he became excited beyond what he had ever experienced in all 
his life. The seat of government had been transferred from New 
York, and Washington was in Philadelphia, when an officer bear- 
ing dispatches from the Western army arrived. Washington was 
at his dinner-table with a numerous company. The officer was 
importunate. The President came out, read the dispatches, came 
back and briefly apologized for his absence, but made no allusion 
to the frightful tidings. Neither did he lose his composure while 
Mrs. Washington held her drawing-room that evening. But 
when, at ten o'clock, he was left alone with Mr. Lear, his secre- 
tary, after a few moments of intense agitation, he broke out sud- 
denly with the words : " It is all over ! St. Clair is defeated — 
routed ; the officers nearly all killed, the men by wholesale ; the 
rout complete ; too shocking to think of, and a surprise into the 
bargain ! "* 

He spoke with great vehemence. Then pausing and rising 
from the sofa, he walked up and down the room in silence, vio- 
lently agitated, but saying nothing. When near the door he 
stopped short, stood still for a moment, and then there was another 
terrible outburst of feeling. 

He repeated the words of his warning to St. Clair, and then 
added : " And yet ! to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, 
butchered, tomahawked by a surprise — the very thing I guarded 
him against. O God ! O God ! " he exclaimed, throwing up his 

' Irving. V. 99. =(Y)1. Sargent's estimate, in Irving, V. iOl. 

5 Lear's narrative, Rusli's Washington in Domestic Lite. Irving, V. 102. 



George \Vashingto)i' s Presidency. c;49 

hands, Avhile his very frame shook with emotion, " he is worse 
than a murderer! How can he answer it to his country? The 
blood of the slain is ujDon him — the curse of widows and orphans — 
the curse of Heaven ! " 

Mr. Lear was awed into breathless silence by the appalling 
tones in which this invective found words. But the storm 
passed ; the mighty sj^irit resumed its composure. In a Xo^n tone 
he said : " General St. Clair shall have justice. I looked hastily 
through the dispatches — saw the whole disaster, but not all the 
particulars. I will receive him without displeasure ; I will hear 
hiin without prejudice ; he shall have full justice." 

And Washington kept his word. General St. Clair asked for 
a court of inquiry upon his conduct ; but Washington could 
not comply with this request by reason of " a total deficiency 
of officers in actual service of competent rank to form a legal 
court for that purpose." St. Clair then declared his purpose to 
resign, and his willingness to give to his successor all the ii:iforma- 
tion in his possession as to his field of duty. Washington, in a 
letter, courteously recognized this as an additional evidence of 
the goodness of his heart, and of his attachment to his country.^ 

But the Congress directed an investigation and report as to 
the causes of the disaster. St. Clair then wrote to Washington, 
urging reasons for retaining his commission " until an opportunity 
should be presented, if necessary, of investigating his conduct in 
every mode presented by law." Washington replied, reminding 
him that only one major-general was allowed, and that, as he had 
signified his intention to retire, his successor ought to be imme- 
diately appointed.^ 

St. Clair resigned. The committee of Congi'ess reported favor- 
ably to him, the evidence being distinct that in the battle he had 
acted with courage and skill ; but the people had lost confidence 
in him as a leader against Indians.' 

General Wayne (the "Mad Anthony" of the Revolution) suc- 
ceeded him in command of the Western army. Various causes of 
delay prevented him from moving against the Indians until the 
summer of 1794 ; then he moved with a caution and skill which 
indicated anvthing but rashness in his character, however impet- 
uous it may have been. By the 8th of August he had reached 
the junction of the rivers Au Glaize and Miami, in a fertile and 
populous region where the Western Indians had their most im- 
portant villages. He threw up intrenchments and guarded 

1 Letter of Washington, quoted in Irving, V. 111. - Letter in Irving, V. 111. 

3 Irving, v. 112. 



550 A History of the United States of America. 

against surprise. The savages called him " the black snake " 
and " the chief who never sleeps." Little Turtle was so im- 
pressed by his warlike caution that he advised peace ; but his 
comrades decided on war, and two of Wayne's scouts, penetrating 
to the savage camp, actually succeeded in seizing and carrying off 
an Indian girl, who revealed their purpose to fight.' 

Wayne was joined by eleven hundred mounted volunteers from 
Kentucky. His force exceeded that of the Indians, which was 
about two thousand ; but the savages held a strong position near 
Fort Miami, which, though far within the American limits, was 
still held by a British garrison, from whom the Indians hoped to 
receive help.'' Their position was just north of the Maumee river, 
which empties into Lake Erie. 

Wayne advanced, and his men were eager for the fight ; but, 
remembering his instructions, he restrained them, and offered 
terms of peace. He received an ambiguous reply. His wily 
foes sought to lure him on. 

But on the morning of the 20th of August, 1794, his advance 
guard was fired into from ambush. This called out from Wayne 
an order for an immediate attack. His whole force bore down 
on the Indians, the mounted men assailing their flanks, while the 
infantry roused them from their lairs by strokes of the bayonet. 
They were soon routed and driven at all points, and with heavy 
loss, at least two miles from the field of battle. The pursuit was 
continued to tbe outworks of the British fort.^ Wayne reported : 
" We remained three days and nights on the banks of the Miami, 
in front of the field of battle, during which time all the houses 
and corn were consumed or otherwise destroyed for a considerable 
distance both above and below Fort Miami ; and we were within 
pistol shot of the garrison of that place, who were comj^elled to 
remain quiet spectators of this general devastation and confla- 
gration." 

This decisive overthrow led to a final treaty of peace with the 
Indians, by which their title was extinguished in extensive tracts 
of country west of the Ohio river.* 

The constitution provided that an actual enumeration of the 
people of the United States should be made within three years 
after the first meeting of the Congress and within every subse- 
quent term of ten years, in such manner as should be provided for 
by law.^ The first census was taken in 1790, and another has 
been taken at the end of each period of ten years thereafter, the 

1 Quackeubos' U. S., 322, 323. Eargleston's Household U. S., 219. 2 Irving, V. 207. 

3 Wayne's Report. Irving, V. 208. « Stephens' Comp. U. S., 375. 

5 Const. U. S., Art. I., sec. 2, clause 3. 



George Washington s Presidency. 55 1 

subjects inquired into and reported having been constantly added 
to in species and interest. We are thus enabled to mark the pro- 
gress of the country. 

In 1790 the total population, in round numbers, was three mil- 
lion nine hundred and thirty thousand, of whom six hundred and 
ninety-eight thousand were slaves. This total had been reached 
in the period of one hundred and eighty-three years from the first 
settlement at Jamestown, in 1607, making an average of about 
twenty-one thousand five hundred for each year. But in 1800 the 
total population was five million three hundred and six thou- 
sand, showing an increase of one million three hundred and sev- 
enty-six thousand, or an average of one hundred and thirty-seven 
thousand six hundred in each year.' This proved that the country 
was beginning to bound forward with a vigor never before known. 

In the years 1789, 1790 and 1791, the yearly receipts from du- 
ties on goods and products imported did not exceed one million 
five hundred thousand dollars; but in 1792 these duties on im- 
ports reached the sum of three million four hundred and forty- 
three thousand dollars, showing an advance in business, which re- 
sulted from constantly growing confidence and prosperity ; and 
by the year 1800 the duties on imports amounted to more than 
nine million dollars. The total annual receipts into the treasury 
of the United States went up from an average of three million 
four hundred and three thousand dollars for each of the years 
1789, 1790 and 1 79 1, to the sum of twelve million four hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars in 1800.^ Such was the result of a 
good government and faithful administration. 

Discoveries and inventions of permanent value to the United 
States and the world went forward. In 1793, Capt. Robert Gray, 
in the ship Columbia Rediviva, of Boston, Massachusetts, was 
exploring the northern Pacific Ocean, and on the nth of May en- 
tered the vast mouth of the Columbia river, and went up as far 
as the expanded bay, seven miles wide, which is thirty miles from 
the ocean and which is yet I'egarded as the true mouth of the 
river.* This is the largest river that enters the Pacific from the 
American continent, and its discovery by Captain Gray and sub- 
sequent exploration by Lewis and Clark were potent factors in 
establishing the territorial claims of the United States. In 1793, 
Eli Whitney, a native of Alassachusetts, but long employed in 
teaching in the Southern States, invented the cotton-gin, by which 
the work of getting out the seed, once performed by hand and 

1 Tables in Art. United States, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 784. 2 1 bid., 816. , 
» Art. Columbia River, Amer. Encyclop., V. 513. 



552 A History of the United States of America. 

with tedious labor and delay, is expeditiously done by machinery, 
This greatly increased the production of cotton and the value of 
slave labor in the South. ^ 

Washington is well known to have been opposed to the slave- 
trade and the expansion of slavery by importation, and in favor 
of a system of gradual emancipation ; but he was equally opposed 
to all illegitimate interference of pseudo philanthropists with the 
recognized rights of slave-holders. He held that no power ex- 
isted in the Federal government to abolish slavery or to restrict its 
vested relations.^ 

Within less than a year after his inauguration the first attempt 
was made to induce the Congress to overleap the bounds of the 
constitution on the subject of slavery. This attempt was headed 
by a man no less eminent than Benjamin Franklin. His name 
was the first signed to a petition presented to the Congress on the 
1 2th February, 1790, asking that body to adopt measures with a 
view to the ultimate abolition of African slavery as it then ex- 
isted in the respective States.^ 

But, happily, the Congress saw the question of right in its real 
proportions. After a thorough discussion, chiefly in the House of 
Representatives, on the 33d March, 1790, the following resolution 
was adopted : 

" That Congress have no authority to interfere in the emanci- 
pation of slaves, or in the treatment of them, within any of the 
States ; it remaining with the several States alone to provide 
any regulations therein which humanity and true policy may re- 

"4 

quire. 

Benjamin Franklin died on the 17th April, 1790, at the advanced 
age of eighty- four years. His few errors, leaning to virtue's side, 
could not neutralize the sentiments of love and veneration which 
his countrymen cherished for him. 

The Northern vStates found slavery unprofitable and unsuited to 
their agricultural conditions. This led them to get rid of their 
slaves by sales to the Soutli and by systems of gradual emanci- 
pation. No imperative sense of duty impelled them. They had 
all held slaves, and their ships had been employed in the importa- 
tions from Africa and the West Indies. At the opening of the 
Revolution, in 1775, no State had indicated a purpose to destroy 
slavery within her bounds.^ But Vermont abolished slavery in 
1777, before she became a State. Pennsylvania provided for grad- 
ual emancipation in 17S0. Massachusetts, in her constitution of 

1 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 172 (note). 2 irving's Washington, V. 298, 299. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 367. ''Annals of Congress, II. 1523-4. 

6 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 367. Art. Slavery, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 710, 711. 



George Washington s Presidency. 553 

1780, adopted a clause which her Supreme Court decided to have 
destroyed slavery. Rhode Island and Connecticut did the same 
from 1790 by gradual assumptions of freedom, though Rhode Island 
had five slaves and Connecticut seventeen in 1840. New York 
adopted graded emancipation in 1799 and New Jersey in 1804. 
In the Southern States, in which cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar- 
cane were cultivated, slavery continued to be profitable, and the 
white people regarded it as an institution sanctioned by law. Di- 
vine and human ; but requiring prudence, humanity and forbear- 
ance in order to its continuance, in consistency with Christian 
faith and life. 

The presidency of Washington was a time of serious strain to 
the institutions of his country. It had not been expected that any 
dangers would come from France, whose king had been the ally 
exercising a decisive influence in favor of American independ- 
ence, and whose people had become imbued with desires for civil 
freedom ; but from these very sources came the dangers. 

After the French people rose and overthrew the monarchy, 
they ^vould have prospered under a republic had it not been for 
the surrounding kingdoms, whose monarchs refused to tolerate a 
government of the people in their midst. Hence those persist- 
ent wars in which the young French republic was forced to em- 
bark, and in which she exerted so much of revolutionaiy fervor 
and might that she shattered the armies of her enemies on every 
side ; hence came the career of " the man of destiny," Napoleon 
Bonaparte ; and hence came those excesses, chiefly exhibited in 
Paris and the larger cities, which caused blood to flow in streams, 
and filled with horror the friends of humanit}' all over the civil- 
ized world. None of these excesses would have been committed 
by the people of France had they not been lashed into frenzy by 
the crusade against their liberties systematically carried on by the 
crowned heads of Europe. 

It could not have been expected that a mind born and trained 
in the school of regulated order, as that of Washington had been, 
should have looked with any feelings save of aversion and dis- 
approval upon the scenes through which France passed between 
1789 and 1793. We cannot censure him for the reserved and pru- 
dent course of neutrality adopted by him. 

In 1792, under the constitution and laws, another election was 
held for electors to vote for President and Vice-President. Again 
Washington received all the votes, and could not refuse to com- 
ply with the unanimous call of his country. John Adams was 
also again elected Vice-President. 



i^^4 ^ History of tJie United States of America. 

It was under gloomy auspices, with a divided cabinet, growing 
party exasperation, a suspicion of monarchical tendencies, and a 
threatened decrease of popularity, that Washington entered, on 
the 4th of March, 1793, upon his second term as President.^ 

Very soon came news of the capital execution of Louis XVI., 
under sentence of the revolutionary assembly of France. Wash- 
ington remembered this unfortunate monarch with respect, as the 
sincere friend <ff his country in her great struggle for independ- 
ence. Others in America sympathized with the French people, 
and regarded the republic as best secured by the death of the king. 

Early in April came tidings that France had declared war 
against England, and would soon send a special minister to the 
United States. Now, indeed, it was needful that the course of 
the republic of the New World should be such as would be vin- 
dicated by the highest wisdom. 

Washington was at Mount Vernon when he heard of the war 
and that preparations were already in progress to fit out privateers 
in American ports to prey on English commerce. He wrote to 
Mr. Jefferson : " War having actually commenced between France 
and Great Britain, it behooves the government of this country to 
use every means in its power to prevent the citizens thereof from 
embroiling us with either of those powers, by endeavoring to 
maintain a strict neutrality."* 

On the 19th of April, 1793, the President assembled his cabinet 
in council, and it was unanimously decided that a proclamation 
should be issued " forbidding the citizens of the United States to 
take part in any hostilities on the seas, and warning thein against 
carrying to the belligerents any articles deemed contraband ac- 
cording to the modern usages of nations, and forbidding all acts 
and proceedings inconsistent with the duties of a friendly nation 
to^vards those at war."^ 

When we reflect that Jefferson was, by study, and by long resi- 
dence in France, deeply imbued with democratic predilections, 
we cannot but admire the wisdom and self-control which brought 
him into unison with Washington on the subject of American 
neutrality. On the i6th of December, 1793, he submitted to Con- 
gress, with the concurrence of the President, his celebrated report 
on the relations of the United States with foreign nations, and her 
attitude towards them — a report so able and exhaustive that to 
this day it is the most trustworthy guide on those subjects that 
can be consulted. On the 31st of December, Mr. Jefferson re- 

ilrving's Washing-ton, v. 144. 2 Washington's letter, Irving, V. 145. 

5 Proclamation as resolved, Irving, V. 145. 



George Washingto)i' s Presidency. 555 

signed his place in the government, and retired to his home at 
Monticello. Edmund Randolph succeeded him as Secretary of 
State, and William Bradford, of Pennsylvania, became Attorney- 
General. 

Meanwhile stirring events were in progress. Edmond Charles 
Genet, generally called " Citizen Genet " by the Revolutionists of 
France, had been appointed Minister to the United States. Gou- 
verneur Morris was then the American minister in Paris. He 
wrote to Mr. Jefferson that the French executive council had 
furnished Genet with three hundred blank commissions for pri- 
vateers to be delivered clandestinely to such persons in America 
as he might find willing to act on them.^ Morris added : "They 
suppose that the avidity of some adventurers may lead them into 
measures which would involve altercations with Great Britain, 
and terminate finally in a war." 

Genet was a young man of attractive person, pleasant manners 
and excellent education. He had been a bureau clerk of foreign 
affairs under Vergennes, but had turned republican, and was 
warm in his new love. 

Instead of coming to Philadelphia to present^ his credentials 
and take his place as minister, he landed from the French frigate 
Ambuscade at Charleston, South Carolina, on April 8th, 1793. 
He was cordially received. But he soon manifested his purpose 
in thus coming into a port near to the West Indies. He began to 
issue commissions for privateers to be manned by Americans.^ 

As he journeyed north the newspapers were enthusiastic in 
comments on the ovations he received. An encounter between 
the Ambuscade and the British frigate Boston, in which the latter 
was worsted, increased the excitement in favor of Genet. But 
Washington was not led away by a popular current. He received 
the French minister courteously, though gravely and calmly, and 
soon caused to be communicated to him the neutral position of 
America and the duties thus required of himself as President. 

Genet immediately took otfence, and made an effort to aiTay 
the people against the President. His first effort was to influence 
the Congress, upon which he believed that popular excitement 
would be irresistible ; but in a conference with Mr. Jefferson he was 
greatly astonished to find that Congress had no direct power over 
the subject, and that the duty of preserving neutrality, having 
been decided on in the cabinet, threw all power and responsibility 
in the matter into the hands of the President.^ 

1 Letters from Gouv. Morris to Th. Jefferson, Irving, V. 1-16, 147. 

' Stephens, 374. Irving, 147. Goodrich, 297. ^ irving's Washington, V. 160, 161. 



556 A History of the United States of America. 

Genet asked, with surprise, if Congress were not the sovereign. 
" No," replied Jefferson, " they are sovereign only in making 
laws ; the executive is the sovereign in executing them, and the 
judiciary in construing them, where they relate to that depart- 
ment." 

But the French minister had gone too far to undo his own work. 
Several cases occurred arising from his commissions. Two Amer- 
ican citizens Were arrested on board a privateer, conducted to 
prison, and prosecutions commenced against them. Genet was 
in a rage, and openly defied the government by writing that " the 
crime laid to their charge is the serving of France, and defending 
with her children the common glorious cause of liberty." ^ 

A British merchant ship, the Little SaraJi^ had been cap- 
tured by a French privateer, brought into Philadelphia, armed 
and equipped for privateering, manned with a crew of one hundred 
and twenty, many of whom were Americans, and her name 
changed to Le Petit Democrat. During Washington's tempo- 
rary absence, she was detained by Governor Mifflin, of Pennsyl- 
vania ; but. in spite of the remonstrances of Hamilton and Jeffer- 
son, Genet succeeded in getting her oft' to sea.^ 

Washington hesitated no longer to adopt the most stringent 
means for arresting these outrages upon the neutral attitude of 
America. The Congress approved his course, and advised that 
the recall of Genet be demanded from the French government. 
Washington made the demand, and in a short time M. Genet's 
commission was withdrawn, although he continued to reside in 
America. M. Fauchet was appointed minister in his stead. 
Citizen Genet afterwards married a daughter of Gov. George 
Clinton, of New York.' 

This subject of anxiety, caused by a foreign nation, was speedily 
followed by one entirely domestic, and yet of a very dark and 
perj^lexing character. The people of northern Europe had in- 
vented the process of distilling intoxicating liquors from wine, 
fruits and grain, and had thus added to the curses afflicting the 
human race. When the American Congress, upon reports from 
Alexander Hamilton, began to investigate the subjects on which 
internal taxes might be imposed with most benefit and least bur- 
den to the public, they readilv concluded that distilled liquors 
would be one of those subjects ; for the tax finally fell on the 
consumer, and to the extent that it discouraged consumption of 
intoxicants as beverage, it would, beyond doubt, benefit the public 
health and morals. 
1 Genet's letter, Irving, V. 456. "- Irving, V. 159-164. 3 Thalheimer's U. S., 198 (note) 



George Washington s Presidency. 557 

Accordinj^lv, in 1791, the Congress, by an excise law, imposed a 
direct tax on spirits distilled within the United States. From the 
time it first took effect this law was obstinately opjjosed by the 
people resident in the western counties of Pennsylvania. They 
I'aised great quantities of Indian corn, or maize — far more than 
they needed for their own use ; and, as roads were bad and water- 
carriage limited, they had found it more profitable to distill their 
grain into whiskey and transport it to market in that form than 
in bulk as grain.' The moral aspects of the question seem to 
have made little impression on these j^eople — less, perhaps, than in 
later times. Similar questions have moved distillers and liquor- 
dealers to abandon a business which yields them money. The law 
was modified in several points, but the opposition grew until it 
reached the stage of insurrection. 

When the revenue officers attempted to collect the excise tax, 
riotous opposition was made. In 1794 some of the rioters were 
indicted by grand juries ; but when the United States marshals 
attempted to serve writs of capias, armed men fired on them, 
.and their lives were threatened. The chief marshal was seized 
and compelled to renounce his duties. The house of General 
Nevil, inspector of the revenue, was assailed, and the assailants 
were with difficulty repulsed. Greater numbers of them assem- 
bled ; magistrates and militia officers shrunk from duty. A few 
regular soldiers from Fort Pitt were shut up in a house, which was 
set on fire, and all were compelled to surrender. The law-breakers 
waxed in numbers. Seven thousand of them were said to be in 
arms. The marshal and inspector wnth difficulty escaped out of 
the insurgent region, descended the Ohio, and, by a circuitous 
route, reached Philadelphia, and reported the facts." 

Washington was not the man to hesitate in such an emergency, 
and his action was the more prompt and stern because he verily 
believed that this insurrection had been increased in its lawless 
spirit and proportions by organizations called " Democratic Soci- 
eties," nursed into being by M. Genet and his sympathizers.^ On 
the 7th of August, 1794, the Pi^esident issued a proclamation 
warning the insurgents to disperse, and declaring that, if all at- 
tempts to oppose the law by force were not abandoned by the 
1st of September, force would be used to compel submission. On 
the same day he made requisition on the Governors of New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for twelve thousand armed 
militia, and soon increased the required number to fifteen thousand, 

1 Egglestotf s Household U. S., 220. ^jrving's Washington, Y. 197, 198. 

3 Letter to Gov. (" Light Horse Harry ") Lee. Irving, V. 198,' 199. 



^58 A History of the United States of America. 

He appointed Gov. Henry Lee (" Light Horse Harry "), of Vir- 
ginia, to command the force, with the rank of general. Gen. 
Daniel IMorgan was roused fiom his quietude in his valley home, 
and volunteered to command a division of the Virginia militia. 
Washington himself made preparations to join the troops at Fort 
Cumberland, and treated with indifference the point raised by a 
Mr. Bache, editor of a partisan newspaper, that the President 
could not constitutionally act as commander-in-chief of the armv 
while the Congress was in session.^ This cavil was plainly con- 
demned by the constitution itself.^ 

But his personal presence was not needed. The march of this 
imposing force under General Lee instantly cowed the spirits of 
the insurgents. They were alarmed, and, at Lee's approach, 
hastened to lay down their arms, give assurances of submission, 
and crave the clemency of the government. Only three men had 
been killed. A few were tried for treason, but no convictions 
took place. Morgan, under orders, remained with a detachment 
of troops during the winter in the disaffected region.^ The in- 
surgents found themselves in the hands of a government able 
and determined to enforce obedience to its laws. They rose no 
more ; but in modern days the same lawless spirit has exhibited 
itself in illicit distilling by " moonshiners " in the mountain re- 
gions of West Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. 

England gave Washington trouble throughout his presidency. 
She had never appointed a minister to represent her with the 
United States. She had continued to hold the Northern and 
Western forts, although the treaty required her to surrender them 
to the United States, alleging as her reason for this breach of 
treaty that obstructions were thrown in the way of collections 
of debts due from Americans to British citizens or subjects ; and 
^vhen the war with revolutionary France broke out, and provi- 
sions began to grow scarce in France, England saw her oppor- 
tunity to increase the distress of her enemies. She instructed her 
arined ships to stop all vessels bound to France with corn, flour, 
ineal or meat ; take them into port, unload them, purchase the 
cargoes, make a proper allowance for freight, and then release the 
vessels ; or to allow the masters, on stipulated security, to dispose 
of their cargoes in ports friendly to England.* Aloreover, Eng- 
land was driven by her great need of seamen to make frequent 
impressments from American vessels. 

These measures roused renewed indignation against England 

1 Letter in Irving, V. 201. - Art. II., sec. 2, clause 1. 

3 Irving, v. 203. Eggleston, 220. Goodrich, 299, 300. 
♦Irving. V. 176, 177. D. B. Scott, 230. Goodrich, 298. 



George Washington s Presidency. 559 

in the United States. They were condemned as against the laws 
of nations ; and it was justly believed that England had no excuse 
for thus using her overpowering strength at sea. Those who 
sympathized with France (and they were many) industriously 
fomented these discontents. 

But Washington strove earnestly to avoid an open rupture 
between Great Britain and his own young republic. His govern- 
ment made calm and unanswerable remonstrances with the British 
State Department. Finally he determined to send a special en- 
voy to represent the United States at the court of St. James, and 
seek to make a treaty which should keep the two countries at 
peace. 

The party in Congress who claimed to be specially democratic 
and who favored France were greatly excited by the fear that 
Alexander Hamilton would be the envoy ; but that statesman 
magnanimously urged the President not to appoint him, and re- 
commended John Jay, who already filled the office next in dignity 
to that of the President. Accordingly Mr. Jay was nominated, 
and resigned the office of Chief Justice. A majority of ten in the 
Senate confirmed the nomination. 

Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, was acting temporarily 
as American minister in London. He had "written to his govern- 
ment advices that the British ministry had revoked their instruc- 
tions to their armed ships given 6th November, 1793.^ Lord 
Grenville had also explained that no special vexation to American 
vessels had been intended. Washington hoped that Mr. Jay, as 
special envoy, would secure permanent peace. 

At that time so many and varied were the causes operating in 
America to engender irritation against England, that no treaty 
to which the consent of England ministers could have been ob- 
tained would have been satisfactory to the malcontents on each 
side. Jay's duty was, therefore, as trying as it was delicate. 
Washington's mind was full of anxiety, but his purpose was fixed 
to preserve the peace of his country if it could be done consist- 
ently with her honor and safety.^ 

On the c;th of August, 1794, Mr. Jay wrote to him, expressing 
his belief that the English ministry were prepared to settle the 
matters in dispute upon just and liberal terms. On the 7th March, 
1795, a treaty signed by the ministers of the two nations was 
forwarded to Washington by Mr. Jay. 

It was submitted to the Senate, who debated it with closed 
doors from the Sth to the 24th of June. This treaty was not 

1 Irving's Washington, V. 191. "-Ihid., 212. 



c6o A History of the United States of America. 

entirely satisfactory to Washington, thougii, on the whole, he 
regarded it as containing the best terms that could be secured. 
It provided a definite plan for determining the eastern boundary 
of the United States by ascertaining what was the river meant 
by the title "St. Croix" in the treaty of 1783; it provided for 
payment by the United States of the losses sustained by British 
subjects in consequence of legal impediments to the recovery of 
pre-revolutionary debts ; it provided for an estimate of the losses 
sustained by Americans from illegal captures by British cruisers, 
which losses wei^e to be paid by the British government, and, in 
consequence of this treaty, were afterwards actually so paid to the 
amount of ten million thi-ee hundred and forty-five thousand dol- 
lars ;' it provided that the Western forts and military posts occu- 
pied by English troops should be surrendered and vacated by 
them on the ist of June, 1796 ; it provided that fugitives from 
justice charged with murder or forgery should be surrendered ; 
the list of articles contraband of war was to include all articles 
serving directly for the equipment of vessels, except unwrought 
iron and fir plank ; no vessel attempting to enter a blockaded port 
was to be captured unless she had first been informed of the 
blockade and turned away ; neither nation was to allow enlist- 
ments within its territories by any third nation at war with the 
other ; nor were the citizens or subjects of either to be allowed to 
accept commissions from such third nation, nor to enlist in its ser- 
vice ; reciprocity was to exist as to inland trade and intercourse 
between the North American territories of the two nations, 
including the navigation of the Mississippi ; the British were to 
be admitted into all American harbors, with the right to ascend 
all rivers to the highest port of entry ; but this reciprocity did not 
give admission of American vessels to British North American 
harbors or rivers.^ 

The twelfth article of the proposed treaty caused the warmest 
debate in the vSenate. It provided that direct trade might exist 
between the United States and the British West India Islands in 
American vessels not exceeding seventy tons burden conveying 
the produce of the States or of the islands ; but it prohibited the 
exportation of molasses, sugar, coffee or cotton in American ves- 
sels, either from the United States or the islands, to any part cf 
the world. ^ 

This article savored of the worst restrictions of colonial times, 
and was especially distasteful because another article provided 

1 Art. John Jay, New Araer. Encyclop., IX, 750. 

2 Sketch of Treaty, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 750, 7.51. 

3Irving's Washington, V. 214, 215. Compare with Amer. Encyclop., IX. 760. 



George Washington'' s Presidency. =^6i 

that " British vessels were to be admitted into American ports on 
the same terms as the most favored nation." The only explana- 
tion of Mr. Jay's assent to it was the fact that he considered the 
admission of vessels of seventy tons sufficient, having no concep- 
tion of the possible future of cotton culture in the Southern 
American States. 

But the Senate was more far-seeing. On the 24th of June, by 
a vote of two-thirds, they voted to ratify the treaty, with an ex- 
press stipulation that an article be added suspending so much of 
the twelfth article as respected the West India trade, and that the 
President be requested to open, without delay, further negotia- 
tion on that head.^ 

After mature deliberation, Washington adopted the treaty as 
thus modified, and the change was agreed to by the British gov- 
ernment. In the light of history it is no longer doubtful that 
this treaty was the means of keeping the peace between Great 
Britain and the United States, and of securing to the latter many 
important advantages.^ 

But as soon as its terms became known it excited the most 
bitter opposition from some cjuarters, and especially from those 
who sympathized most deeply with France. The partisan news- 
papers assailed it, and even Washington himself was assailed 
with abuse and vituperation. He was charged with having 
drawn from the treasui'y for his private use more than the salary 
annexed to his office.' 

This injurious charge was promptly met and refuted by a re- 
port from the United States Treasury, which proved that the 
President himself never received or disbursed any part of his 
salary, the matter being managed by the gentlemen of his house- 
hold. Sometimes advances were made, but the aggregate always 
fell -within the allowance of the year.* 

But no character is too sacred to escape the assault of the par- 
tisan. In New York, Jay had been elected governor, and a copy 
of the treaty was burned before his house. In Philadelphia a 
copy was suspended on a pole, carried aTjout the streets, and 
finally burned in front of the British minister's house, amid the 
shouts and hootings of the populace." 

The President preserved his equanimity, and never swerved 
from what he believed to be the right line. His words were : 
" There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and 
pursue it steadily."® 

1 Vote of U. S. Senate, 24th June, 1795. Irvin?, V. 215. 2 Stephens, 376. Scudder, 272. 

SMcarshall's Washington, 11. 270. Irving, V. 226. <Irvins, V. 226, 227. 

^Amer. Encyclop., IX. 751. Irving, V. 216. ^ Washington's Writings, XI. 45-51. 

36 



1^63 A History of the United States oj" America. 

It was amid these disquietudes that a revelation was made by 
a dispatch sent, in the previous Novembei', by the French minis- 
ter, M. Fauchet, to his government, which for a time unfavorably 
affected the reputation of Edmund Randolph, who had succeeded 
Mr. Jefferson in the Department of State. This dispatch had 
been captured on a French privateer, and was sent by Lord Gren- 
ville, the British Premier, to IMr. Hammond, the English minister 
in America. He exhibited it to Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the 
Treasury, who showed it to the Secretary of War, Mr. Pickering, 
and to the Attorney-General. 

In this dispatch, M. Fauchet, alluding to the insurrection in 
western Pennsylvania, and the proclamation of the President 
relative thereto, used the following words : 

" Two or three days before the proclamation was published, 
and, of course, before the cabinet had resolved on its measures, 
the Secretary of State came to my house. All his countenance 
was grief. He requested of me a private conversation. ' It is all 
over,' he said to me ; ' a civil war is about to ravage our unhappy 
country. Four men, by their talents, their influence, and their 
energy, may save it. But — debtors of English merchants — they 
will be deprived of their liberty if they take the smallest step. 
Could you lend them instantaneously funds to shelter them from 
English prosecution ? ' This inquiry astonished me much. It 
was impossible for me to give a satisfactory answer. You know 
my want of power and deficiency in pecuniary means. Thus, 
with some thousands of dollars, the republic could have decided 
on civil war or peace. Thus the consciences of the pretended pa- 
triots oj" America have already their price. What will be the old 
age of this government if it is thus already decrepit.?"^ 

When this intercepted dispatch was brought to Washington's 
notice he was surprised and perplexed. In the presence of the 
other members of the cabinet he gravely and courteously handed 
it to ]Mr. Randolph, and asked an explanation. As all the cabi- 
net officers knew of it, and the Secretary of War had brought it 
before Washington, it'was eminently proj^er and just to Mr. Ran- 
dolph that, in the presence of all, he should be asked for his vin- 
dication ; but that gentleman took serious offence, and complained 
that Washington had not sought a private interview with him on 
the subject.^ 

He tendered his resignation, which was accepted. He wrote a 
letter to the President, using the following language : " I here 
most solemnly deny that any overture came from me which was 

1 Irving's Washington, V. 221, 222. 27^/^., 223. 



George Washington' s Presidency. ^^63 

to produce money to me or any others for me ; and that in any 
manner, directly or indirectly, was a shilling ever received by me, 
nor was it ever contemplated by me that one shilling should be ap- 
plied by M. Fauchet to any purpose relative to the insurrection." 

The hvpothcsis that Randolph was " ejected " from the cabinet 
because the President had yielded himself to Northern influence 
has no foundation.^ 

Washington, in accepting his resignation, wrote : " Whilst you 
are in pursuit of means to remove the strong suspicions arising 
from this letter, no disclosure of its contents will be made by me." 

M. Fauchet was about to sail for France, but, learning that his 
dispatch had been intercepted and that its contents were known 
to the President and his cabinet, wrote a declaration, denying 
that Mr. Randolph had ever indicated a willingness to receive 
money for personal objects, and affirming that he had no intention 
to say anything in his dispatch to the disadvantage of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's character.^ 

Carefvdly worded as this writing was, it has been always con- 
sidered as in fatal conflict with the terms of his dispatch. Air. 
Randolph yielded so far to his sense of injury and mortification 
that he published in December, 1795, a pamphlet, seeking to vin- 
dicate his own course, but really damaging his cause by the em- 
bittered feelings manifested by him, and especially by the asperity 
and insult with which he wrote of Washington. lie lived long 
enough to regret this, having, in 1810, written a letter to Hon. 
Bushrod Washington, in which he said :^ " If I could now pre- 
sent myself befoi'e your venerated uncle, it would be my pride to 
confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, let the cause 
be what it might, to use some of those expressions respecting 
him, which, at this moment of indifference to the ideas of the 
world, I wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent 
conviction." In our own day an elaborate life of Edmund Ran- 
dolph has been prepared, which confirms the impression already 
expressed by a genial historian, that we may "attribute to miscon- 
ceptions and hasty inferences of the French minister the con- 
struction put by him, in his dispatch, on the conversation he had 
held with Mr. Randolph." * 

Fauchet was succeeded by ]M. Adet as French envoy, whose 
course was almost as objectionable as that of Genet ; but nothing 

1 Life of Edmund Randolph, by M. D. Conway. Note in John Scott's " The Republic as a 
Form of Government," 200. 

"Washington's Writings, Sparks, IX. 90. Irving, V. 224, 225. 

8 Marshall's Washington, II. note XX. Irving, V. 228. 

* living's Washington, V. 228. Life of Edmund Randolph, by Moncure Daniel Conway. 



^64 A History of the United States of America. 

could divert Washington from the course of firm neutrality, 
which he had determined on as the policy of his country. 

James Monroe, of Virginia, had been sent as minister to France, 
and had been specially instructed to explain the views and con- 
duct of the United States in forming the treaty with England, 
and had been amply furnished with documents for the purpose ; 
but, from causes unexplained, but probably arising from his own 
dislike to the treaty and sympathy with France, Mr. Monroe had 
failed to perform this part of his duty. The result was that the 
French government misconceived the position of the United 
States and became openly hostile, going so far as to give orders 
under which an American merchantman was captured by a 
French privateer. Washington and his cabinet promptly re- 
called Mr. Monroe and appointed Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
of South Carolina, in his place. ^ 

Tennessee had been settled by a hardy and independent race of 
men, chiefly from North Caroling. The name is Indian, and 
means the "river of the great bend." In 1795 the census taken 
showed a population of over seventy-seven thousand. Organization 
followed. Fifty-five delegates from eleven counties met at Knox- 
ville. They took action which showed self-denial. They were 
allowed two dollars each per day ; but no provision had been 
made for a secretary, doorkeeper and printer. The convention 
thereupon resolved as follows : 

" Whereas economy is an amiable trait in any government, and, 
in fixing the salaries of the officers thereof, the resources and sit- 
uation of the country should be attended to ; therefore, one dollar 
and a half per diem is enough for us, and no more will a man of 
us take ; and the rest shall go to the payment of the secretary, 
printer, doorkeeper and other officers." ^ 

They called their State " Frankland." In June, 1796, by act of 
Congress, of which Washington approved, Tennessee was admit- 
ted as a State into the Union.^ 

One noted fact in modern history is that the piratical powers 
of the Barbary States, in the north of Africa, bordering on the 
Mediterranean Sea, should have been tolerated so long by the 
great war powei's of Europe. They had brought piracy to a na- 
tional system, and such were the facilities afforded for their attacks 
and impunity, by the almost numberless secret straits and harbors 
of the inland sea, that nearly every state in Europe whose people 
sent merchant ships into the Mediterranean had a treaty with 

1 Irving, V. 241, 242. 2 Resolution in Scudder's U. S., 264. 

3 Holmes' U. S., 159. Goodrich, 391. Derry's U. S., 174, 175. 



George Washington s Presidency. 565 

Morocco, Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, under which a money tribute 
was paid to exempt the vessels and cargoes of such state from 
capture.* 

These facts, taken in connection with the fact that the United 
States had then no adequate navy, constitute the only excuse for 
the treaty concluded with Algiers in 179s? by which a large pay- 
ment in money — no less than eight hundred thousand dollars — and 
a frigate were given, and an annual tribute of twenty-three thou- 
sand dollars was agreed to be paid by the United States ; in return 
wherefor, the Dey of Algiers agreed to release many poor seamen 
and passengers from America who had been captured by his pi- 
rate ships and were held in bondage in Algiers. He also agreed 
to abstain from future captures of United States ships. We need 
not wonder that such a treaty did not continue long unviolated 
by the barbarous outlaw with whom it was made. It must have 
cost Washington a bitter pang to sign it. His great biographer 
does not even allude to it. 

A more creditable treaty was made with Spain in this year, i79'?» 
being negotiated 37th October, between Thomas Pinckney and 
the Spanish official at St. Lorenzo, by which the boundary lines 
between Louisiana and Florida and the United States were defi- 
nitely settled. Spain also ceded to the United States the right of 
free navigation of the Mississippi river, and the right, for ten 
years, to make New Orleans a place of deposit for merchandise 
upon equitable terms. ^ 

Washington was urged by his friends to permit himself to be 
voted for again as President ; but he steadfastly declined, and 
thus established a precedent against a third term, which has never 
since been departed from. When his purpose to retire was defi- 
nitely announced, a farewell address to him was voted by both 
Houses of Congress, full of expressions of veneration and of re- 
gret for his decision. In the Senate the vote was without dis- 
sent ; but in the House of Representatives, William B. Giles, of 
Virginia, moved to expunge all those parts of the address which 
eulogized Washington's administration, and which spoke of his 
wisdom and firmness, and which expressed regret at his retiring 
from office. Mr. Giles was an admirer of France in all her revo- 
lutionary proceedings, and therefore had no sympathy with the 
retiring President. He made a speech, concluding by expressing 
his hope that Washington would be happy in his retirement, and 
his hope that he -ivould retire? He believed his retiring would 

' Stephens, 376. Scudder, 283. Thalheimer, 195. Holmes' U. S., 167. Art. Algeria, Amer. 
Encyclop., I. 349. -'Derry's U. S., 172. Holmes, 167. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 375. 

3 Mr. Giles' speech, in the Aurora newspaper. 



^66 A History of the United States oy America. 

not be a calamity, but a blessing ; and that the United States had 
then " a thousand citizens capable of filling the presidential 
chair." Mr. Giles' I'esolution to expvmge received only twelve 
votes, including his own ; but among those who voted for it was 
a young man from Tennessee, named Andrew Jackson, then only 
twenty-nine years old, but afterwards to fill the civilized world 
with his fame.' 

Washington sent forth to the people of his country a " farewell 
address," full of wisdom and love, and w^hich, if more carefully 
heeded, would have saved them from suffering theretofore un- 
told.^ He then retired to his home at Mount Vernon. 

1 Irving' i3 Washington, V. 249, 250. 2 Appendix II., Irving, V. 330-351. 



CHAPTER XLV. 
The Presidency of John Adams. 

IN the election of 1796, the party known as "Federalists" were 
considered as achieving a triumph. They were not in warm 
sympathy with the Revolution in France, and were favorable to 
such interpretation of the American constitution as gave largest 
powers to the national government. Washington had been held 
as the exponent of this party, although he had never encouraged 
any legislation by the Congress which impinged upon the rights 
and powers of the State governments. 

The opposing party were then called " Republicans," and many 
of their principles were perpetuated by their successors, aftet- 
wards known as " Democrats." They thought favorably of the 
Revolution in France, as a movement tending to establish the 
rights of the people as against kings. Many of them deeply re- 
gretted the bloody excesses and ostentatious atheism afterwards 
developed by the Revolution ; yet, with much reason, they believed 
that those deplorable phenomena had been the results of the war 
on republican France made by the kings around her. They be- 
lieved that the principles of her Revolution were sound, and that 
her people would yet enjoy the blessings of regulated self-govern- 
ment by their own trusted representatives. Events of our own 
day seem to vindicate this hope. 

The " Republicans " were in favor of a strict construction of the 
constitution, so as to keep the general government within its own 
proper limits and prevent any encroachment by it on the rights 
of the States in their separate capacities. Thomas Jefferson was, 
with justice, regarded as the exponent of this party. Yet, one 
strange result of the electoral law as it then stood was, that, in 
the college of electors, which assembled early in 1797, John 
Adams, the leader of the " Federalists," receiving the largest num- 
ber of votes, was elected President, and Thomas Jefferson, the 
leader of the " Republicans," receiving the next largest number of 
votes, was elected Vice-President. 

It is certain that the framers of the constitution expected the 
electors in their college to exercise each his own individual 
choice ; but such has not been the tendency of the democratic 

[ 567 ] 



568 A History of the United States of America. 

sentiment which rules in the United States. Under constitutional 
amendment, and the party machinery invented under the exigen- 
cies that have arisen, the President and Vice-President represent 
the same political views and policy ; yet it has always been, 
and still is, true that both of these high officers may be elected, 
although a large majority of the popular vote of the country may 
be thrown against them. This anomaly in a government claim- 
ing to be " of the people " will probably be corrected by another 
amendment. 

In the sixty-second year of his age, and on the 4th of March, 
1797, dressed in a full suit of pearl-colored cloth, and with his 
hair powdered, John Adams was inaugurated in Philadelphia as 
President of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson was sworn 
in as Vice-President. The oath was administered by Oliver Ells- 
worth, Chief Justice, who had succeeded John Jay. 

The new President retained Timothy Pickering as Secretary 
of State ; Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury, and James 
McHenry, Secretary of War. 

Mr. Jefferson did not always preside in the Senate ; but he 
filled the chair there occasionally. Feeling the necessity for such 
a work, he compiled "Jefferson's Manual," a body of parliament- 
ary law, rules and principles, which has retained its high author- 
ity ever since.' 

The new President took the helm when his country was in a 
prosperous state. Agriculture was yielding abundant harvests ; 
food was plentiful and cheap ; wages were high and increasing, 
so as to keep the laboring classes in good spirits ; exports were 
multiplying ; necessary manufactures were springing up ; im- 
ports and moderate internal taxes, yielding abundant revenues, 
paid all public expenses and kept down the national debt ; the 
yellow fever, which had desolated Philadelphia in 1793, had dis- 
appeared ; new remedies and preventives for small-pox had been 
discovered ; the fisheries were bringing in large returns. 

But his administration of four years was not to be without its 
troubles. The first was from France, and led to unexpected i-e- 
sults in the development of democratic ideas. ^ The fierce Revo- 
lutionists who governed France in i796-'98 had taken great 
offence at the determined neutrality of the United States. They 
regarded America as the quasi ally of Great Britain in the war. 
Consequently, when James Monroe was recalled and Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney sent as minister in his stead, the French 
government declined to receive him unless assurances could be 

; 1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 379. - Prof. Johnston's II. S. Hist, and Const., 429. 



The Presidency of John Adams. 569 

given that the treaty with England would be abandoned, and 
direct aid in the war given to France.' 

In taking leave of Mr. Monroe, Barras, the President of the 
Directoiy, had addressed him in terms as complimentary to him- 
self as they were insulting to his country. He said : " The 
French republic hopes that the successors of Columbus, of Ra- 
leigh, and of Penn, ever proud of their liberty, will never forget 
that they owe it to France. In their wisdom they will weigh the 
magnanimous benevolence of the French people with the artful 
caresses of perfidious designers, who meditate to draw them back 
to their ancient slavery." ^ 

Under orders given by the Directory the rules as to blockade 
and impressment recognized in the English treaty were perverted, 
to the oppression of American merchantmen, by the French 
cruisers. Several vessels from the United States were captured 
and carried into French ports. 

President Adams summoned Congress to meet in special ses- 
sion on the I =;th of May. Still hoping to preserve peace, he united 
John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry with Mr. Pinckney as envoys 
extraordinary to France to adjust, if possible, the complications 
under which the two nations were drifting into war. 

But in the meantime he urged the Congress, in his message, to 
prepare for the gravest contingency. Accordingly, on the zSth 
of ]May, the Congress passed an act authorizing the President to 
enlist ten thousand men as a provisional army, to be called into 
actual sei'vice in case of hostilities with France. He was also 
empowered, if he deemed it necessaiy, to call out militia and vol- 
unteers to the number of eighty thousand men. Taxes by way of 
stamps on papers and parchments used in business were author- 
ized.* 

The President acted promptly in writing to George Washington 
for aid and counsel. McHenry, the Secretary of War, wrote to 
him : " You see how the storm thickens, and that our vessel will 
soon require its ancient pilot. Will you — may we flatter our- 
selves that in a crisis so awful and important you will — accept the 
command of all our armies? I hope you will, because you alone 
can unite all hearts and all hands, if it be possible that they can 
be united." * 

He was nominated July 3d, 1798, and immediately confirmed 
by the Senate as commander-in-chief of all the armies raised or 
to be raised, under the title of lieutenant-general. His reply, 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 30i. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 379, 3S0. 

2 Address quoted by Irving, V. 265, 26fi. ■■' Irving, A'. 272. Stephens, 379, 380. 
* Letter of Secretary of War, Irving, V. 272. 



570 A HistorY of the United States of America. 

dated Tulv 4th, to the President's letter, stated that in case of 
actual i/ivasiofi bv a formidable force, he Avould feel bound to ac- 
cept the command oflered to him. 

Washintjton and all other patriots in America might well dis- 
trust the revolutionary soundness of France when they saw how 
indiscriminate and bloody was her proscription of her best men. 
The veteran Count De Rochambeau, who had so eftectively acted 
with Washington in the final triumph at Yorktown, had fallen 
under the displeasure of the triumvirate during the Reign of 
Terror, had been thro^\in into the concicrgcrie and condemned to 
the guillotine. When the car came for victims, he was about to 
mount into it ; but the executioner, seeing it full, thrust him back 
with the rough words : " Retire toi, vieux mnrecJtaL ton tour 
viendra plus tard.'" Thus his life w^as spared that day. A change 
in the political currents came ; he was released, and enabled to 
retire to his country-seat at Vendome.' In 1S03 he was presented 
to Napoleon, who, pointing to Berthier and other generals, said : 
" T^Iarshal, behold your scholars." He received the grand cross of 
the legion of honor and a marshal's pension, and died full of years 
and honors in iSoy. 

But the meanest spirits had risen during the Directory. When 
Pincknev, Marshall and Gerry presented themselves in Paris ;t?s 
envovs from the United States, in October, 1797, the talented, but 
unprincipled and perfidious, Charles Maurice, Prince De Talley- 
rand Perigord, was at the head of the Department of State. He 
had been obliged to fly from France in 1793, had been ordered to 
quit England in twenty-four hours after notice, and had found a 
land of refuge in America. Here he engaged in speculations, 
which were so successful that he accumulated a fortune. He 
carefullv studied the institutions of the United States, and yet 
he never learned the two truths that money is not omnipotent, 
and that public honesty may exist. 

He declined to receive the American envoys otficially ; but 
through his agents he entered into correspondence with them, 
pretending to ignore their real names, and addressing them as 
X, Y and Z.'^ M. Bellarni, the secret agent of Talleyrand, visited 
Mr. Pincknev, and in their conference assured him that his chief 
had the highest esteem for America and the citizens of the United 
States, and woidd secure a full reconciliation and favorable treaty 
if some oftensive passages in President Adams' message of May, 
1797, were expunged, and a douceur of two hundred and fifty 

1 Irvine's Washington. V. 269, and note, 
a Scudder's U. S., 275, 276. Stephens, 3S0. 



The Presidency of yohn Adams. 571 

thousand dollai's put at the disposal of M. Talleyrand for the 
use of the Directory, and a large loan made by the United States 
to France.^ ]Mr. Pinckney's reply to this dishonoring suggestion 
has become immortal in history: "Millions for defence, but not 
one cent for tribute." 

Still the conferences went on. Another was held October 30th, 
when, besides the secret agent, an intimate friend of Talleyrand 
was present. The expunging was again insisted on, but the 
burden of the demand was money. " We must have money — a 
great deal of money," were the words of the agent. On the next 
day the sum was fixed at thirty-two million francs, or six million 
four hundred thousand dollars, to be loaned, secured by assign- 
ment from Holland, to whom the United States were indebted, 
and the douceur of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

On the 27th October, matters reached their crisis. The secret 
French agent said : " Gentlemen, you mistake the point. You 
say nothing of the money you are to give — you make no offer 
of money; on this point you are not explicit." The 'American 
envoys promptly replied : " We are explicit enough. We will 
not give you one farthing ; and before coming here we should 
have thought such an oft'er as you now px'opose would have been 
regarded as a mortal insult."" 

Yet this wily and pertinacious agent made one more efibrt by 
suggesting that the sum for M. Talleyrand was to be considered 
as simply paid as fees to a lawyer for important services, and that 
upon its payment they could remain in Paris until they heard 
from their government as to the loan.^ 

All this was rejected with scorn ; and very soon orders came 
that Pinckney and Marshall shovild leave France without delay. 
Gerry was permitted to remain. This ^vas probably because he 
was known to be a democrat. The two other envoys were Fed- 
eralists ; but all three retired fi'om a country where bribery, ava- 
rice and perfidy were then held as virtues by high officials. Such 
was not the character of the generous and chivalrous people of 
France. Talleyrand did not represent them. 

The Directory, believing the people of the United States would 
not sustain their government in a war with France, enacted a law 
subjecting to capture and condemnation neutral vessels and their 
cargoes, if any portion of the latter was of British fabric or pro- 
duce;, although the entire property — vessels and cargoes — might 
belong to neutrals. As the United States vessels, being neutrals, 

'Report of Envoys, in Amer. State Papers, Vols.. III. and IV. 

- Report in Ir\'inpr, V. 270. 

SMcHarg'sLife of Talleyrand, 160-162. Irving, V. 270, 271. 



cjys A History of the United States of America. 

were then doing the carrying of the civilized world, this unjust 
law threatened heavy loss. Many merchant ships (estimated as 
high as a thousand in number) were captured by the French 
cruisers and privateers.^ 

When tidings of these events and the report of the envoys 
reached the United States, honest indignation against France, or 
at least against her governing powers, pervaded all classes. War 
was universally insisted on. " The Federalists at last had the op- 
portunity of riding the whirlwind of an intense popular desire 
for war with France." ^ 

In truth, although neither nation had formally declared war, it 
already existed ; for the acts of the French cruisers were defi- 
nitely hostile. But the w^ar lasted only a short time and was 
confined to the sea. 

Capt. Stephen Decatur (father of him of the same name after- 
wards so distinguished) had acquired reputation during the Rev- 
olutionary war by capturing u number of English ships in priva- 
teers commanded by him. In view of hostilities with France he 
was commissioned as captain in 179S, and in the United States 
sloop Dcla-uare, of twenty guns, he cruised for two years on the 
American coast and in the West Indies. He captured three 
French privateers — Lc Croyable^ of fourteen guns, the Marsidn, 
of ten guns, and another, which was brought into port, refitted, 
and armed and sent to sea as a United States war-ship, under the 
name of TIic Reconciliation? Her name ought to have invited 
France to peace, but her career was then brief. 

She was chased and captured by the French frigate L'Insur- 
gente, of fortv guns and a crew of four hundred and nine men, 
commanded bv Captain Barreault ; but this fine frigate was also 
hurrving to her fiite. 

Capt. Thomas Truxtun, born on Long Island, had rendered 
valuable naval service to America in the Revolution. He was 
appointed captain in 1795, and was in command of the United 
States frigate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns. On the 9th 
February, 1799, oft' the island of Nevis, of the British West In- 
dies, he encountered L' Insurgente, and fought her for one hour 
at close quarters. She surrendered, after being much cut up and 
losing twenty-nine men killed and forty wounded. The Constel- 
lation was very little injured, and had only three men wounded.* 

Within one year thereafter, on the ist February, 1800, Trux- 
tun, in the same American frigate, fell in with the French frigate 

1 McHar?'s Talleyrand, 160. Irvina:. V. 271. Quackenbos, 326. Scudder's U. S., 274, 275. 
- Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const.. 128. sDerry's U. S., 176. 

* Art. Truxtun, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 625. Quackenbos, 326, 327. 



The Presidency of John Adams. 573 

La Vengeance., of fifty-four guns, Captain Pitot. The encounter 
was off Guadeloupe, and was long and severe. Both ships were 
badly damaged ; but La ^\^no-cancc, finding herself beaten, sheered 
off, and got into Cura9oa dismasted and in a sinking condition, 
with a loss of fifty killed and one hiuidred and ten wounded. 
The Constellation lost fourteen killed and twenty-five wounded. 
Her main-mast went by the board at the close of the action ; but 
for this, she would have captured her adversary.* 

The Congress voted a gold medal to Truxtun. At one time 
he was in command of a fieet of ten war-ships. In 1S03 he le- 
signed his commission, and afterwards filled important civil 
offices. 

Thus, in these naval operations, the attitude of the belligerents 
was curiously realized. '■'Reconciliation " failed ; the '•'•Insiirgoit " 
of France was put down, and her " Vengeance " was glad to re- 
tire considerably worsted ! 

M. Talleyrand began to regret his wily and avaricious course, 
which had embroiled the two republics. He wrote a subtle letter 
to M. Pichon, secretary of the French legation at The Hague, in- 
timating that a plenipotentiary from the United States would be 
graciously received by France. A copy of this letter was com- 
municated to William Vans Alurray, the American minister to 
Holland, who delayed not to send it to his government.^ 

President Adams was too much pleased at the prospect of a 
return of peace to take exception to the indirect and disingenuous 
mode in which the door was opened. He forthwith sent a mes- 
sage to the Senate with Mr. Murray's letter, and nominating him 
as envoy to France. Before the .Senate acted, the President nom- 
inated also Oliver Ellsworth and Patrick Henry ; but Mr. Henry 
declined because of feeble health, and William Richardson Davie, 
born in England, but from his sixth year a resident of North Caro- 
lina, was nominated in his place.* 

The Senate promptly confirmed these nominations ; yet the 
President's action had been taken without consulting his cabi- 
net officers. Pickering and McHenry disapproved of his course. 
Washington, also, was surprised at it, as the government of 
France had made no direct overture for an opening of negotia- 
tions, and his great soul revolted against " the loose and round- 
about game " played by Talleyrand, " which might mean any- 
thing or nothing, as would best subserve his purposes." * There- 
fore, the conjecture of a modern historian that the President, in 

> Amer. Encvclop., XV. 626. Quackenbos, 327. 

^Irving's Washington, V. 2sr>. ^ Stephens, 382. Irving, V. 287. 

< Washington's letter, in Irving; V. 2SG. 



574 -^ History of the United States of America. 

this matter, "acted under the urgent private advice of Washing- 
ton"^ is not only without foundation, but is contradicted by the 
ascertained facts of the case. 

But the result was so fortunate that it constitutes the happiest 
part of Mr. Adams' somewhat beclouded administration. When 
the three envoys reached Paris they found the Directory over- 
thrown, the Consulate established, and Napoleon Bonaparte, as 
First Consul, wielding almost the power of a monarch, popular 
with all classes because of his brilliant military career and suc- 
cesses, and his ability to understand and control men. 

This great man regarded England as the inevitable enemy of 
France, and, with prophetic eye, saw in the United States the 
germ of a power which would counterbalance the influence of 
England in the Old and New Worlds. Pie received the Ameri- 
can envoys courteously, and in 1800 concluded with them a treaty 
of peace and amity, which settled nearly eveiy question then in 
dispute between the two nations.^ It was ratified by both gov- 
ernments. 

But before it was made, a greater — because a better — man than 
Napoleon Bonaparte had passed away from this world. George 
Washington died on the 14th of December, 1799. He died, not 
from decay or failure of his powers, but from acute disease of the 
throat and breathing apparatus, brought on by exposure to snow 
and rain.^ 

This event carried an emotion of sadness to the whole civilized 
world. Napoleon did honor to his memory in an address to the 
French iiation; * and he ordered that all standards and flags 
should be shrouded in black crape for ten days. John IMarshall, 
in the House of Representatives, delivered a brief eulogy and 
oftered resolutions of love and veneration, which were unani- 
mously adopted ; and, by a happy selection, Henry Lee, of Vir- 
ginia, the trusted companion-in-arms of Washington, was chosen 
by the Congress to make the funeral oration, and in it he trul}^ 
described his great chief as " first in war, first in peace, and first 
in the hearts of his countrymen."^ 

This expression, so simple and so impressive, had been used, in 
substance, by John Alarshall in his resolutions adopted by the 
House of Representatives December 19th, 1799 ; ** but Henry Lee 
was the author of the expression and the writer of the resolu- 
tions, which, in his absence, were presented by Marshall.' 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 382. "- Ibid , 3S2, 383. 3 Irving-, V. 293-296. 

* In 1800. See Allison's Hist, of Europe, I. 445, 440. 

^Derry'.s U. S., 177. Scudder, 277. Taylor's Centen. V. S., 2J0. 

6 Stephens, 383. Swinton's U. S., 166. ? Amer. Encvclop. , X. 426. 



The Presidency of John Adams. £^75 

The Congress at this session passed a resokition that a monu- 
ment of imj^osing proportions sliould be erected to the memory 
of Washington at the seat of the national government. This 
resohition — never forgotten, but sometimes neglected — has been 
carried out ; and the marble shaft in Washington city, towering 
nearly six hundred feet into the air, is the permanent memorial of 
the great man of America. 

By a compromise between North and South the Congress had 
voted, in 1790, that the seat of general governinent should be 
transfen-ed to Philadelphia, and should remain there ten years, 
and should then be transferred to a site on the Potomac between 
Maryland and Virginia, the district to be ten miles square, to be 
ceded by iNIaryland and Virginia, and to be called "The District 
of Columbia." The site was to be chosen by Washington, and 
the capital city called by his name. 

The cession of the ten miles square had been made accordingly, 
though Alexandria countv and city were afterwards, in 1847, re- 
troceded to Virginia by act of Congress acquiesced in by her. 
The city commenced its life "in the woods" in 1792, but grew 
slowly for some time. 

In December, iSoo, the government houses and the President's 
home in the new site were occupied. Airs. Adams, the Presi- 
dent's wife, on her journev during the summer from Baltimore to 
Washington was actually lost in the woods, and with her escort 
" wandered for two hours without finding a guide or path." In 
her own words : " Woods are all you see from Baltimore until 
you reach this city, which is so only in name." ^ 

In 1800 it had only three thousand inhabitants, and was then 
described as lying " in the midst of a wilderness, with here and 
there a small cottage, without a glass window, interspersed 
among the forests, through which you travel without seeing any 
human being." ^ 

For a long period it deserved the witty designation bestowed 
on it of " the city of magnificent distances ;" but it has become a 
large and very beautiful metropolis, with monuments, capitol 
buildings, scientific institutes, foreign diplomatic homes, and pri- 
vate residences worthy of the seat of government of a great 
nation. 

The questions arising out of the influx of foreigners, the con- 
troversies with France, and the growing licentiousness and vitu- 
peration of the public press had kindled warm feeling bet\veen 
political parties. President Adams, though learned and patriotic, 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 201. sQuackenbos' U. S., 328. 



576 A History of the United States of America. 

was quick-tempered and keenly sensitive on the subject of his 
personal and official reputation. This led him to favor measures 
in the Congress which found their outcome in the passage of the 
notorious "Alien and Sedition Laws" in the session of 1798. 

The first of these was entitled " An Act concerning Aliens," and 
was approved by Mr. Adams on the 35th of June. It provided 
that it should be lawful for the President of the United States 
" to order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace 
and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds, 
to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations 
against the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of 
the United States within such time as shall be expressed in such 
order." Other clauses provided penalties, and one gave the Pres- 
ident power, if in his opinion the public safety required a speedy 
removal, to cause any alien to be arrested and sent out of the 
country.^ 

The Sedition Act received Mr. Adams' sanction the 14th of 
July. It first forbade any combination or conspiracy to oppose or 
impede the government of the United States, or to intimidate its 
officers ; but the chief clause was one providing that if any person 
should write, or cause to be written, uttered or published, any 
" false, scandalous and malicious " writing against the general 
government or Congress or the President, with intent to bring 
them into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against them the 
hatred of the " good people " of the United States, or to stir up 
sedition, such person, on conviction in a United States court, 
should be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, 
and by imprisonment not exceeding two years ; but in defence, 
the accused might give in evidence the truth of his accusa- 
tion.^ 

These acts were odious to the Republicans and to many others 
who valued the free institutions of America. They were in real 
conflict with the principles on which the government of the United 
States rested. They were immediately assaulted by the press and 
in the legislatures of several of the States. 

In Virginia, resolutions strongly condemning them, written by 
James Madison, were passed, and a report was adopted, also 
written by him, which is so lucid and able in its exposition of the 
Federal constitution, and of the relation of the States and of the 
individual citizen thereto, that it has ever since been looked to as 
the purest fountain of wisdom and light on those subjects.' 

» Alien Act Resol. and Debates of Va., 214, 215. 
2 Sedition Act, Resol. and Debates, 215, 216. 
^Published with the " Resohitions." 



The Presidency of yohn Adams. 577 

The Virginia resolutions declared that the " Alien and Sedition 
Laws" were unconstitutional. The vote in the House of Delegates 
was one hundred to sixty-three ; in the Senate fourteen to three. 
In November, 1798, Kentucky, by her legislature, passed even 
stronger resolutions, penned by Thomas Jefferson, condemning 
these laws, and declaring that the Sedition Act, " which does 
abridge the freedom of the press, is not laxu, but is altogether void 
and of no effect} But, besides Virginia and her daughter, Ken- 
tucky, no other State spoke openly against these laws. The 
Republicans were contending against fearful odds. All the legis- 
latures, except those of the two States above named, were against 
them ; the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the 
general government were against them ; the office-holders were 
against them ; and of the two hundred newspapers then pub- 
lished, at least one hundred and eighty were against them.^ 
Nevertheless they triumphed, because they stood on true American 
principles. 

These obnoxious laws were not permitted to sleep as brtitum 
fulmen — a mere threat. They were enforced with unsparing 
vigor. In Virginia, one James Thompson Callender, a foreigner 
by birth, and a man once apprehended under the " Vagrant Law," 
published on the ist February, iSoo, a pamphlet entitled "The 
Prospect Before Us," in which he exhausted all the treasures of 
vituperative language in abusing ]Mr. Adams and his measures, 
and even ventured to assail the name and memory of Washington 
himself.^ 

Judge Samuel Chase, of the United States Supreme Court, 
received at Annapolis, Maryland, a copy of the pamphlet from 
Luther Martin, who had read it and imderscored the libelous 
passages. Judge Chase examined it and said he would carry it 
with him to Richmond, Virginia, where he was soon to hold a 
circuit court, and that " if the Commonwealth of Virginia was 
not utterly depraved, or if a jury of honest men could be found 
there, he would punish Callender. He would teach the lawyers 
of Virginia the difference between the liberty and the licentious- 
ness of the press.* 

He opened his court in Richmond on the 22d of May, iSoo, 
and charged the grand jury specially as to the Sedition Law. 
They found an indictment against Callender. On this, the judge 
directed a capias to issue. This was a more vigorous process 

1 Resol. and Debates, 64-G7. 2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 386. 

3 MS. Indictment, U. S. vs. Callender. 

4 Trial of Judge Chase on Impeachment, e^id. of John Thompson Mason and Judge Win- 
chester, 43, 63, 64. 

37 



57S A History of the United States of America. 

than was customary in Virginia in cases not capital ; yet the 
Senate of the United States afterwards vindicated the judge's 
course in using it.^ 

The marshal went forthwith to Petersburg, and on the 27th of 
May returned with the author, who was evidently alarmed and 
not a little concerned at " the prospect before " him. 

Three eminent Virginia lawyers, William Wirt, George Hay and 
Philip Norborne Nicholas, volunteered to defend him ; but Judge 
Chase refused to allow them to argue before the jury the consti- 
tutionality of the Sedition Law. lie said that was a matter for 
the court, and delivered an instruction sustaining the law. His 
course to the counsel was so little acceptable that jSIr. Wirt left 
the court, and the others were greatly embarrassed in their 
conduct of the case. 

The jury consisted entirely of Federalists. The marshal had 
summoned several Republicans, but, for various causes, they de- 
clined to serve. The verdict was "guilty." The sentence was 
that Callender should be fined two hundred dollars, imprisoned 
nine months, and give security for his future good behavior. 

Thus the law against which Virginia protested in 179S, and 
condemned as unconstitutional in 1799, was carried into force 
upon her soil. Yet there was so much in Callender's pamphlet 
that was offensive to public sentiment and taste, and he was per- 
sonally so little respected, that no attempt was directly made to 
nullify the sentence. But the people were more and more in- 
censed against the party in jDOwer. 

Other trials under the obnoxious laws resulted in signal oppres- 
sion. INIatthew Lyon, of Vermont, was the first victim. He was 
an Irishman by birth and extreme in his republicanism. Plis of- 
fences were that he called JNIr. Adams' speech on the state of the 
country, delivered at the opening of the session of Congi"ess, " the 
king's speech " ; and in a Vermont newspaper he wrote concern- 
ing the Federal executive, that "every consideration of the public 
welfixre was swallowed up in a continual grasp for power, an un- 
bounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation and selfish 
avarice." He wrote, also, concerning the day of fasting and 
prayer appointed by the President, that " the sacred name of reli- 
gion had been used as a State engine to make mankind hate and 
persecute each other." ^ • 

He was convicted under the Sedition Law, and sentenced to 
pay a fine of a thousand dollars and suffer four months' imprison- 

1 MS. Papers in U. S. vs. Callender, Trial, 42-6'l, 2CS. Appen. 32. 
2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 3S5. 



The Pf-esideiicy of yohn Adams. 579 

ment. He was poor and unable to pay the fine. A private lot- 
tery of his property was contrived and the fine paid, but the 
unhappy printer of the paper which proposed the lottery was in- 
dicted, convicted and punished under the same revolting law ! 
While Lyon was in prison he was triumphantly elected to Con- 
gress ; and the fine and costs he had paid — one thousand and 
sixty dollars and ninety cents — with interest, were refunded to his 
heirs under an act of Congress of July 4th, 1840.' 

Under a clause of "Jay's treaty" with England, President 
Adams had surrendered, upon requisition of the British authori- 
ties, one Thomas Nash, an English sailor, charged with mutiny 
and murder, who, when arrested in Charleston, South Carolina, 
had assumed the name of Jonathan Robbins, and the character of 
an American seaman illegally impressed by the naval officers of 
Great Britain. For this act a series of stringent criticisms on 
Mr. Adams had been poured out by the Republican newspapers.^ 

Thomas Cooper, born in London in 1759, but who had made 
Pennsylvania his home, and died in South Carolina in 1840, was 
eminent as a natural philosopher, lawyer, writer and politician. 
In a Pennsylvania paper he denounced the action of Mr. Adams, 
as to "Jonathan Robbins," as being " without precedent, without 
law and against mercy," and as an act " which the monarch of 
Great Britain would have shrunk from."^ For this he was in- 
dicted under the Sedition Act, convicted and sentenced to im- 
prisonment for six months and a fine of four hundred dollars. 

Jared Peck, a well-known citizen of New York, was indicted 
for circulating a petition to Congress for the repeal of the "Alien 
and Sedition Laws," in which the odious features of those acts 
were strongly portrayed. The marshal arrested him in the pres- 
ence of his family, and he was carried to New York for trial. A 
historian, describing the scene, says : "A hundred missionaries of 
democracy, stationed between New York and Cooperstown, could 
not have done so much for the Republican cause as the journey of 
Judge Peck, as a prisoner, from Otsego to the capital of the State. 
It was nothing less than the public exhibition of a suffering mar- 
tyr for the freedom of speech and the press, and the right of peti- 
tioning, to the view of the citizens of the various places through 
which the marshal traveled with his prisoner."* 

The result of all these causes was an overwhelming tide of 
public opii:iion and sentiment against the Federalist party, and 

1 Lvon's Case, Stephens, 3S5. 

2 Art. Adams, Amer. Eucyclop., I. 97. Art. Marshall, Ihld., XI. 221. 
3 Stephens, 385. Art. Cooper, Amer. Encyclop., V. 675. "^ 

< Stephens' Comp. U. S., 3^5, giving quotation as above. 



580 A History of the United States of America. 

against Mr. Adams and his administration. The mould of the 
voting power of the United States became then fixedly demo- 
cratic, and it has never since changed. No party has ever ac- 
quired power which sought to restrict the freedom of the press or 
the rights of the individual citizen. 

In the popular vote for electors in the fall of iSoo, electors were 
chosen, who, early in 1801, voted as follows : for John Adams, 
sixty-five ; for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, sixty-five ; for John 
Jay, one, elected by Rhode Island. For Thomas Jefferson sev- 
enty-three votes were cast, and for Aaron Burr seventy-three. 
As Jefierson and Burr had the same number of votes, the election 
went to the House of Representatives, who, in February, 1801, 
threw thirty-five ballots successively without a choice. On the 
thirty-sixth ballot Thomas Jefferson received the votes of ten 
States, Aaron Burr of four, and two were in blank. Thomas 
Jefferson was elected President and Aaron Burr Vice-President 
for the four years from the 4th of JNIarch, iSoi.^ 

Thus John Adams and his party went out of power. It has 
by some been stated that the " Alien and Sedition Laws " were 
" repealed " by the successful party ; " but this is an error. By 
their own terms of limitation they expired — the Alien Law on 
the 25th June, iSoo, and the Sedition Law on the last day of 
President Adams' term of office.^ 

On the 31st of January, 1801, President Adams nominated 
John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States. He had 
long confided in his simple grandeur of character, and in his accu- 
rate law learning. Moreover, in the "Jonathan Robbins " matter 
Marshall had made a speech in the House of Representatives 
defending the President's course, and reasoning on the facts and 
principles involved with a learning and logic so imanswerable 
that the great Republican leaders made no attempt to refute it. 
A high judicial authority has said of this speech, that it was 
" reponse sans repliguc — an answer so irresistible that it admitted 
of no reply." * 

The Senate promptly confirmed the nomination of Marsha-11 as 
Chief Justice, and thus for thirty-five years the United States were 
secure in the possession of a judicial sheet-anchor which held 
the nation safely to her moorings amid all political storms. 

It cannot be denied that, notwithstanding general progress, the 
prosperity of the country had been unfavorably affected by the 
events of Mr. Adams' presidency. The taxes were largely in- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 3SG. Thalheimer, 204. Qiiackenbos, "2«. 

2 Ex. Thalheinier's Eclec. U. S., 200. ^ Acts, in Resol. and Debates, 214-216. 

■* Judge Story, in Art. Marshall, NewAmer. Encyclop., XI. 221. 



77^6' Presidency of John Adams. 581 

creased, and foreign trade and commerce were seriously injured 
by the complications with England and France. Foreign immi- 
gration was checked by the Alien Acts, one of which extended the 
period for naturalization to fourteen years ! and no new State was 
added diu-ing his term. 

But the country was preparing to bound forward with elastic 
power, all the greater for temporary repression. Anthracite coal 
had been discovered in Pennsylvania. Its value at first was so 
little understood that it was used for mending roads;' but its 
concentrated power for heat soon became known. The gi'eat 
"West" began also to be talked about by all, and to attract set- 
tlers in thousands. Between 1790 and 1800 the population of 
Ohio grew from almost nothing to forty-five thousand, that of 
Kentucky from seventy-four thousand to two hundred and twenty- 
one thousand, and that of Tennessee from thirty-six thousand to 
one hundred and six thousand.^ The number of post-offices 
during the same period rose from seventy-five to nine hundred 
and three ; the post-routes from one thousand nine hundred to 
twenty-one thousand miles, and the postal-revenue from thirty- 
eight thousand to two iiundred and thirty-one thousand dollars. 

At the time when Thomas Jefferson j^repared to enter the Presi- 
dent's house in Washington, John Adams retired to his large 
estate at Qiiincy, Massachusetts. These two eminent men had 
differed widely as to political questions ; yet they had been united 
in patriotic labors for the independence and happiness of their 
country. If they were estranged for a time, the alienation did 
not continue ; a friendly correspondence occurred between them ; 
and they died on the same day, the 4th of July, 1826, the fiftieth 
anniversary of their country's independence. Jefferson died first, 
in his home at Monticello. A few hours later Adams uttered his 
last words : "Jefferson still lives " ; and in this belief he died. 
James Monroe, a subsequent President, died on the 4th of July, 
1831. 

» Thalheimer, 201. ■ Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 135. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. 

^HOMAS JEFFERSON was the living embodiment of the 
1 democratic ruler. He had mastered all the learning of the 
past as to the problems of human government. It is true that 
during actual invasions of Virginia he had not manifested mili- 
tary talent and vigor.' Very few men have united genius for 
war and genius for wise government. To Jefferson his country is 
indebted for the philosophy that rises higher than war. 

He had noted with regret a tendency to the stately forms and 
etiquette of monarchy in the manner in which Washington con- 
ducted the ceremonial part of his duties.'^ He discarded such 
forms as far as possible during his own presidency, and set an ex- 
ample of simple dignity worthy of a young, but growing, republic. 
He was inaugurated, with as little of parade and ostentation as 
was possible, on the 4th of March, 1801. Plain and homelike in 
dress, and affable in manner to all, he became the loved man of 
the people. Some of the Virginians who recollected the old aris- 
tocratic forms of the great landed proprietors, feared that his 
" leveling doctrines " would result in the marriages of the daugh- 
ters of gentlemen to " ovei'seers," who were the coarsest leaders 
of the Southern white people f but no descent in real excellence 
was experienced. It would have been well had his maxims and 
usages been always observed. He received a British embassador 
in dressing-gown and slippers. On first meeting Congress, he 
rode alone to the capitol, tied his horse to the paling, and entered 
unattended.* 

He declined to meet the two Houses of Congress in state and 
deliver his inessages as Washington and Adams had done. He 
sent them in writing by a messenger ; and the precedent of dem- 
ocratic directness thus inaugurated by him has not been departed 
from since his time.^ 

1 Girardln, 336, 338, 390, 453. Henry Lee, 140, 143, 144. Jefferson's Works, I. 201, 202 ; IV. 39. 
- Irving's Washington, V. 8-19. And see Dr. J. M. Toner's publication of Wasliington's 
"Rules of Civility," pp. 17-19, etc. 

^Art. Jefferson, New Amer. Eneyclop., IX. 768. 
*Thalheimer"s Elee. U. S., 205. Parton in Barnes, 156. 
6 Stephens, 392. Amer. Eneyclop., IX. 767-769. 

[ 5S2 ] 



The Presidency of Thomas yefferson. 583 

John Marshall, as Chief Justice, administered to him the oath of 
office. His inaugural address filled the hearts of nearly all classes 
with confidence and hope. 

He spoke of " this sacred principle that though the will of the 
majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be 
reasonable. The minority possess their equal rights, which equal 
laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. 
Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind ; 
let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection 
without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things ; 
and let us reflect that, having banished from our land that reli- 
gious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, 
we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance 
as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody perse- 
cutions." ^ 

He added : " Every difference of opinion is not a difference 
of princijDle. We have called by different names brethren of the 
same principle. . . . We are all Republicans — we are all Fede- 
ralists. ... If there be any among us who would wish to dis- 
solve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand 
undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opin- 
ion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. . . . 
I believe this to be the strongest government on earth. . . . Some- 
times it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government 
of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of 
others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to gov- 
ern him? Let history answer this question." 

The people were all enthusiastic in their approval of his ideas. 
John Leland, a farmer of Cheshire, Massachusetts, sent him a huge 
cheese weighing sixteen hundred pounds.^ 

Though the Sedition Law expired with the term of the pre- 
ceding President, it left some bitter roots behind, because it had 
jDrovided that j^rosecutions might still continue for acts committed 
while it was in force.* Some of Jeff'erson's earlist acts were to 
release all from fines and imprisonment convicted under it, and 
to forbid all future prosecutions ; and imder his influence Con- 
gress repealed the act requiring fourteen years for natvu'alization, 
and reduced the period to five years. They also passed an act 
applying seven million three hundred thousand dollars annually 
as a sinking fund to the public debt, and an act reducing army 
expenses.* 

1 Address, quoted by Stephens, 389, 390. 2 Holmes' U. S., (note) 171. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 392. * lUd., 392. 



584 -A History of the United States of America. 

Under Jefferson, James Madison was Secretary of State, Henry 
Dearborn, of Massachusetts, Secretary of War ; Levi Lincoln, 
Attorney-General, succeeded by Robert Smith, John Brecken- 
ridge and Caesar A. Rodney. Samuel Dexter, appointed by Mr. 
Adams, was continued as Secretary of the Treasury, and Benja- 
min Stoddert as Secretary of the Navy. Albert Gallatin, a na- 
tive of Switzerland, and a man of great and varied talent, was 
afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. Jefferson, not feeling en- 
tire confidence in the treasury administration of Alexander Ham- 
ilton, directed that the records and transactions of his dav should 
be thoroughly overhauled and scrutinized. This was done, and 
Gallatin reported that all was right ; that no improvement could 
be made, for that Hamilton had " made no blunders and committed 
no frauds." ^ 

Jefferson's residence in France and careful study of men and 
events there enabled him to keep up a secret correspondence, 
wdiich was of lasting advantage to his o^vn country. In 1803 he 
received information of a treaty, made in iSoo, between France 
and Spain, not then promulgated, but one article of which ceded 
Louisiana and all her dependent territories and rights to France. 
This was an opportunity for securing the free navigation of the 
Mississippi and a permanent depot at its mouth, which such a 
mind as Jefferson's instantly seized on.^ 

He sent out James Monroe as special envoy to unite with 
Robert R. Livingston, who was the American minister at Paris. 
They opened their negotiation in the very crisis of events which 
made it successful. Napoleon had determined on establishing a 
formidable military colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
whence he could strike Spain, Great Britain or the United States, 
as his ambitious plans might require. General Bernadotte (after- 
wards King of Sweden) was preparing to sail for Louisiana with 
twenty thousand troops, and the American minister had objected 
in vain.* 

But a change came. On the 3d of August, 1S03, Napoleon 
became Consul for life, and three millions of French votes con- 
firmed his power. He united Elba, Piedmont and the Duchy of 
Parma to Finance in rapid succession. England became alarmed, 
and prepared for war. Napoleon, on the 3ist of March, 1S03, 
obtained a soiatiis eonsiiltit/n, which placed one hundred and 
twenty thousand conscripts at his command. He felt able to deal 
with his enemy on the land ; but he needed money, and England 

1 Thalheiraer's Eclec. U. S., 205. 

- Quackenbos, 323. Holm3s, 171, 172. Stephens, 392. Derry, 178. 

3 Quackenbos' U. S., 329, 3o0. 



TIic Presidency of Thomas yefferson. 585 

was supreme on the ocean. He knew that she had only to send 
a fleet to the mouth of the Mississippi, and Louisiana would be 
lost to France. 

Qiiick as lightning, his powerful mind reached its conclusion. 
He let the American ministers know that he was willing to sell 
and to cede Louisiana to the United States. The treaty was con- 
cluded on the 30th April, 1803. By it France ceded Louisiana 
to the United States, in consideration of fifteen millions of dol- 
lars, of which amount eleven million two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars were paid in money, and three million seven hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars were retained to be paid by the 
United States in satisfaction of claims of her citizens for pre- 
vious spoliations of France upon ships, property and commerce.^ 
It is not a creditable fact that these " French claims " remained 
unpaid by the country to her citizens up to the year 1891, though 
constant eflbrts have been made to obtain such payment. A-n act 
of Congress for their payment has at length been passed. 

It was gravely doubted by many acute minds in America 
whether such a treaty as that for the purchase of Louisiana was 
within the constitutional power of the executive department, 
and even whether the Congress could authorize it.'^ But the 
advantages were so manifest that these doubts speedily evaporated. 
The purchase was fair. The vSenate ratified the treaty by a vote 
of twenty-four to seven, and the House concurred in an act 
for carrying it into efiect by a vote of ninety to twenty-five. 
The acquisition added more than a million of square miles to the 
territory of the United States, and more than doubled the area of 
their original limits. 

And Napoleon shared the satisfaction of Jefferson and his 
country. The life Consul said: "This accession of territory 
strengthens forever the power of the United States, and I have 
given to England a maritime rival that will, sooner or later, hum- 
ble her pride." ^ 

On the 31st of October, 1803, a territorial government for the 
whole ceded region was perfected. The southern part was called 
the Territory of Orleans ; the other part retained the name of 
Louisiana. On the 20th of December the United States, by her 
oflicers, took formal possession. 

Jeff'erson and his adniinistration became more and more popular. 
He delayed not to provide for exploring and examining this new 
world gained by his successful diplomacy. In 1804, he sent out 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 393. 

2 Holmes' U. S., 172. Amer. Encyclop., IX. 765. Prof. Johnston, 139, 140. 

3 Stephens Comp. U. S., 393. Sciidder's U. S., 280. 



£586 A History of the United States of America. 

Capts. Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke, with a small party, 
and with instructions chiefly drawn up by the President's own 
hand. They spent two years and four months in their journey- 
ings, ascending the Missovu'i river, crossing the Rocky Mountains, 
discovering two rivers which have since borne their names, and 
which, uniting, form the Columbia, down which they passed to 
the Pacific. They explored much country beyond even the wide 
bounds of the Louisiana lands ceded to the United States. They 
reached the then small village of St. Louis, on the Missouri, 
September 33, 1806. Their safe arrival was heralded with joy 
through the coimtry. Congress granted lands to them and their 
men. Lewis was made Governor of Missouri Territory, and 
Clarke general of its militia and Indian agent.^ 

Their narratives filled the minds of men with wonder at the 
scenes, soil, prairies, mountains, and rivers explored by them. 
They met with some Indian tribes so low dow^n in the scale of 
ethics that their habits could be described only in a dead lan- 
guage. The settlement of the West went on with redoubled 
speed. Ohio had been sufficiently filled in 1802 with people from 
New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia to claim the position 
of a State, and was admitted to the Union on the 19th of Feb- 
ruary, 1803.* 

The policy of the United States towards the Indians was be- 
coming settled. In 1803, in accord with an agreement made the 
previous year, Georgia ceded to the United States nearly one 
hundred thousand square miles of territory between the Chatta- 
hoochee and Mississippi rivers, being the region now covered by 
the States of Alabama and Mississippi. The United States 
agreed to pay to Georgia one million two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, and to extinguish the Indian title in all that 
portion of the ceded territory occupied by the aborigines.^ 

At the session of 1803, Congress proposed an amendment to 
the constitution, requiring electors to designate the person voted 
for as Pi'esident, and the one voted for as Vice-President. This 
was passed by two-thirds of both houses, and ratified by all the 
States except Connecticut, Delaware and Massachusetts. It pre- 
vented, for the future, such danger of anarchy as had manifested 
itself in the struggle between Jefferson and Burr.* 

In November, 1804, articles of impeachment were presented 
by the House against Samuel Chase, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and one of the associate justices of 

1 Art. Lewis, Amer. Eucyclop., X. 487, 4S8. Scudder, 280, 281. 

- Stephens, 394. Amer. iEucvelop. D. B. Scott inaccurately dates it November 4th, 1802. 

2 Stephens, 393. Derry, 179. ■• Amendment XII. Stephens, 394. 



The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. 587 

the Supreme Court, for alleged official misconduct and oppi^ession 
in the trials of Callender, Fries, and others. John Randolph of 
Roanoke was the leader in the prosecution. Chase was defend- 
ed with consummate ability by Luther Martin, Charles Lee, and 
other counsel. A majority of the Senate voted against him on 
some points, but no charge was sustained by a vote of two-thirds. 
Therefore he was acquitted.^ He was a sincere man, but irascible 
and overbearing. 

The yielding of the United States to the exactions of Algiers, 
had encouraged others of the piratical Barbary powers. The 
Pacha of Tripoli was active in outi^age, sending out his corsairs, 
and seizing upon American merchantmen ; but, as something 
like the beginning of a navy had been collected, Jefferson deter- 
mined, if practicable, to chastise these outlaws. War was declared 
against Tripoli in June, iSoi.'' 

In 1803, Commodore Preble, with a considerable American 
fleet entered the Mediterranean. The frigate Philadelphia., under 
Captain Bainbridge, while chasing a pirate ship, ran aground in 
the harbor of Tripoli. She was surrounded by a swarm of enemies 
and commanded by the guns of the citadel, and forced to surren- 
der. Bainbridge and his crew of three hundred officers and men 
were carried ashore and reduced to slavery.* 

But the pirates were not long to enjoy the captured ship. 
Lieut. Stephen Decatur planned an attack, which he accomplished 
in a small schooner, captured from the Tripolitans and called the 
Intrepid., with seventy-six brave men. Pretending to be crippled 
and in distress, his vessel was warped alongside the Philadelphia 
on the night of February 15th, 1804. Instantly the assailants leaped 
aboard. Midshipman Charles Morris leading, and Decatur nearly 
by his side. The attack was so sudden and impetuous that all 
the pirate crew who were not killed sprang overboard, and made 
for the shore. It was impossible to move the Philadelphia., one 
of her masts being down and not a sail ready. She was set on 
fire with bags of shavings, dipped in turpentine. She was very 
dry, and burned so furiously that it was with difficulty the 
captors in the Intrepid escaped the flames. Though a heavy fire 
was opened from the shore, they came off' without the loss of a 
man.* No deed more daring and successful had been done in 
naval warfare. 

Commodore Preble brought uj) his ships and bombarded Tripoli 
several times, inflicting severe loss ; but it is doubtful whether 

J Chase's Trial, 172. Stephens, 394. = D. B. Scott, 242, 419. 

3 Scott's U. S., 242. Goodrich, 313. Derry, 180. 
*Art. Decatur, Amer. Eneyclop., VI. 322. 



588 A History of the United States of America. 

he could have brought the outlaw Bey to terms but for a danger 
approaching in another quarter. 

Yusef, the reigning Bey, had usurped the throne in violation 
of the rights of his older brother Hamet, who fled to Tunis. 
Eaton, the American consul there, promptly sought to aid Hamet 
in regaining the throne. They commenced their long march 
of nearly a thousand miles, at the head of a small force of sev- 
enty seamen and a body of Egyptian soldiers. They cap- 
tured the town of Derne on the way. Their numbers increased, 
and as they approached Tripoli, disaffection to the usurper more 
and more prevailed. Yusef became alarmed, and offered to treat 
with the American commissioner, Mr. Lear. Commodore Samuel 
Barron had succeeded Preble in command of the squadron, and 
had aided in the capture of Derne, and pressed the war with 
vigor.' 

In the summer of 1S05, a treaty of peace was made, under 
which Bainbridge and all other American captives were released, 
and Tripoli agreed to abstain from piracies on American vessels ; 
but she continued her sea robberies until 1S16, when a formid- 
able British naval demonstration brought her finally to terms, by 
which the Bey renounced piracy and agreed to treat all future 
prisoners according to the most humane laws of nations.^ 

Thomas Jefferson's first term had been one of signal success. 
Every department of the country's life had been prosperous. No 
one else was thought of as President ; but Aaron Burr was no 
longer looked to as Vice-President. 

This brilliant, but godless and unprincipled, man had been 
candidate for the governorship of New York in 1S04. Many of 
the old Federalists supported him ; but Alexander Hamilton dis- 
trusted him thoroughly, wrote against him, worked against him, 
and defeated him.* Burr determined on revenge. He was per- 
fect with nearlv ever weapon. The circumstances are said to 
have been complicated by a temporary love infatuation of Ham- 
ilton.* Of course, it was not difficult to find, in what Hamilton 
had said and written, ground for a challenge to mortal combat. 
Burr sent such a challenge. 

Hamilton disapproved of duelling, and has left behind him a 
sad testimonial that in accepting the challenge he did violence to 
his own higher moral convictions, and yielded only to the opin- 
ions of the world.* The hostile meeting took place July nth, 
1804, at Weehawken, on the Jersey shore, nearly opposite to New 

1 Holmes' U. S., 172, 173. - Art. Tripoli, Amer. Eucyclop., XV. C04. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 306. ■• Art. in " Eispatch," Dec, 18£0. 

& Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 208. Art. Hamilton, Amer. Encyclop., VIII, 677. 



The Presidency of Thomas yefferson. 589 

York. Hamilton is said to have tired into the air, but Burr's 
bullet took efiect, inflicting a mortal wound.' 

Though no prosecution followed this act, Aaron Burr was a 
ruined man. He resigned the vice-presidency, and made no ef- 
fort to secure a i-enomination.^ In the election of 1804 electors 
were chosen, who elected Thomas Jefierson President and George 
Clinton, of New York, Vice-President. They received one hun- 
dred and sixty-two electoral votes ; the opposing candidates, 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King, received only 
fourteen votes. Jefferson was inaugurated for his second term 
on the 4th of March, 1805. 

In April, Burr went to the Southwest, and engaged in en- 
terprises the object and extent of which have never been fully 
known. He was an able, restless and ambitious schemer. The 
United States government were informed of his movements, and 
Air. Jefferson regarded them with so much of suspicion that he 
caused him to be arrested at Memphis, now in Tennessee, and 
carried to Richmond, Virginia, where he was indicted in the 
United States Circuit Court upon a charge of treason, and also 
of organizing an armed expedition to violate the neutrality of the 
United States by overthrowing the Spanish rule in Mexico, and 
becoming himself the sovereign of that province when erected 
into a State. 

Chief-Justice Alarshall presided at the trial. It commenced on 
the 23d of ]May, 1807, and was ended by the delivery of an opin- 
ion by the judge on the 20th of October, under which the prose- 
cution broke down. The charges could not be proved, and Burr 
was acquitted.^ 

The chief intei"est of the facts centred on the life of Harman 
Blennerhasset ; his beautiful island home in the Ohio river, near 
Marietta ; the intrigues of Burr to inveigle him into his plots ; 
the attempt of a Virginia oi^cer to arrest him ; and the brave op- 
position of his wife, who, armed with a pistol in each hand, drove 
off' the officer.* 

Blennerhasset escaped to Bermuda, and practiced law there as 
late as 1836. William Wirt, counsel in the Burr jDrosecution, 
made these events the subject of one of the most eloquent and 
effective passages of his great speech therein. Burr returned to 
the practice of his profession — the law ; but public confidence in 
him never returned. Ilis life was obscure, and he died in poverty 
in the year 1036, having reached the eightieth year of his age. 

1 Thalheimer, 208. D. B. Scott, 243. 2 Art. Burr, Amer. Eocyclop., IV. 138. 

3 Amcr. State Papers, I. 4SG-C45. 

* Quackenbos, 332, 333. Wirt's speech in the trial. 



<,go A History of the United States of America. 

President Jefferson's second term was as troubled and dis- 
quieted as the first had been bright and successful. The wars in 
Europe projected their dark shadows over America, and the two 
principal belligerents continuously violated her neutral rights 
and inflicted heavy losses on her commerce and merchant ships. 

England asserted the right to search all ships in which she had 
" probable cause " to believe either that there were British seamen 
bound to serve her or articles of merchandise made contraband 
by her own regulations. Each of these exactions led her into 
conflict with the United States, who steadily and consistently 
asserted that every subject of a foreign sovereignty had the right 
to renounce allegiance to such sovereignty and to become an 
American citizen. 

On the 23d June, 1807, the United States frigate Chesapeake, 
of thirty-eight guns, sailed from Hampton Roads for the JMedi- 
terranean, under command of Captain Gordon, and having aboard 
Commodore James Barron, who had command of the squadron. 
Some correspondence had occurred between the British Vice- 
Admiral Berkeley, commanding the West India fleet, the Amer- 
ican Navy Department, the British consul in Norfolk and Com- 
modore Barron as to several seamen said to be deserters from the 
British frigate jSIclampus and to be aboard the Chesapeake. This 
ought to have made Barron especially careful to be prepared for 
any violence, but it seems to have had no effect except to produce 
the impression that the matter was all settled. 

The British frigate Leopard, of fifty guns, Captain Humph- 
reys, preceded the Chesapeake to sea by a few hours, and, at 3 P. M., 
came down on her weather-quarter and hailed, stating that she 
had a message for Commodore Barron. It was noticed that her 
lower deck ports -were triced up, and the tompions out of her guns. 
An officer came aboard the Chesapeake and exhibited an order 
from Admiral Berkeley that his ships should "search for desert- 
ers " aboard of her. Barron's reply was that he knew of no de- 
serters, and that his orders forbade him to permit his crew to be 
mustered except by their own officers.^ 

As soon as the boat returned. Captain Humphreys, from the 
Leopard, commenced a heavy fire on the Chesapeake. She was 
utterly unprepared for battle, having a raw crew, her decks lit- 
tered with cables, stores and furniture, and, though the guns were 
loaded, rammers, wads, matches, gun-locks and powder-horns 
were all wanting. The Leopard continued to fire. The Chesa- 
peake was struck by twenty-one heavy shot. Three of her crew 
1 Art. Barron, Amer. Encyclop., II. 671. 



The Presidency of Tho7nas ycfferson. i^()X 

were killed and eighteen wounded. Among the latter was Com- 
modore Barron himself. He ordered the flag of his ship to be 
lowered. The Leopa7-d refused to accept the surrender, but sent 
a boat aboard and took out of her four men claimed to be de- 
serters. The Chesapeake, in a disabled condition, returned to 
Hampton Roads the same evening.^ 

When these events became known, a wave of vengeful excite- 
ment passed over the country like an electric storm. Immediate 
war against England was demanded. An order was promptly 
issued requiring all British war-ships to leave the ports and waters 
of the United States. A demand for redress was made upon 
England. She was deliberate in her reply, taking time to ascer- 
tain the facts. She Anally answered, in iSii, that Admiral 
Berkeley had exceeded his authority ; that she did not claim the 
right to search the ships of war of another nation, and that she 
would make money reparation to the United States for the dam- 
age done, and to the families of the men killed, and to those 
wounded in the aflair. Berkeley was superseded and Humphi-eys 
was never afterwards publicly employed.^ 

But, immediately after the outrage, troops were ordered to Nor- 
folk, and the Congress made appropriations for the support of 
a large land and naval force.^ Commodore Barron was tried by 
a court-martial, who acquitted him of all defect in firmness and 
courage, but found against him on the charge of " neglecting, on 
the probability of an engagement, to clear his ship for action," 
and sentenced him to suspension for five years without pay or 
emoluments. These events were the real cause of the alienation 
between Decatur and Barron, which terminated in a duel be- 
tween them at Bladensburg, March 22 d, 1S20, wherein both fell, as 
was supposed, mortally \vounded ; but only Decatur died. Bar- 
ron recovered after months of suffering. He held important com- 
mands in the latter years of his life.* 

To understand the events of the closing years of Jefferson's 
presidency, the student must bear in mind that they were unpre- 
cedented in the life of the world. Europe was convulsed by a 
war, in which Napoleon bore down all his enemies except Russia 
and Great Britain. He was specially anxious to disable the Brit- 
ish power at sea, where England had been practically supreme, 
and to cut her down in her commerce and wealth, which wei'e so 
great that they enabled her to sustain the hard-pressed conti- 
nental monarchies ; and her imperative need of seamen almost 

1 New Amer. Encyclop., II. 671. Stephens, 307. Goodrich, 318. 

2 Art. Barron, Amer. Enovclop., II. 671. Quaekenbos, 33.'). Goodrich, 319, 321. 
SGoodrich's U. S., 318, 319. '•Amer. Encvclop., II. 671. 



592 A History of the United States of America. 

forced England to her policy of " press gangs " and her measures 
of search and impressment. 

By "orders in council," the British government had declared 
all vessels engaged in conveying West India pi-oduce from the 
United States to Europe legal prizes. In May, iSo6, further 
"orders in council" were issued, declaring European ports which 
were controlled by French -power and which extended eight hun- 
dred miles along the coast from Brest to the Elbe to be in a state 
of blockade. These " orders " were intended to work damage to 
France by cutting off her supplies of food, fruit and needed 
goods ; but they worked the most cruel injury to the United 
States, M'hose ships were more largely engaged in the carrying 
trade than any others.^ 

Napoleon did not delay to retaliate, and he was equally unjust 
to neutrals. 

By his "Berlin decree," issued 3ist November, iSo6, he forbade 
the introduction of any English goods into any port of Europe, 
even by vessels of neutral powers, and closed the harbors of all 
of Europe controlled by him against any vessel that should touch 
at an 'English port. The English followed this by " orders in 
council," November nth, 1807, declaring the whole coast of 
Europe in a state of blockade. To this Napoleon rejoined by 
his "Milan decree," of December 17th, 1807, confiscating not 
only the vessels and cargoes reached by the previous " Berlin de- 
cree," but also all such as should submit to be searched by the 
English. 

Never in modern times and among Christian nations have the 
maxims that " might makes right " and that " law is silent in 
war" been carried further. England had led off in this policy of 
outrage, and, as she commanded the seas, American merchantmen 
and commerce suffered from her in cases beyond enumeration.'' 

But what was to be the remedy of the United States? To 
declare war against the two colossal powers then battling in Eu- 
rope would have been preposterous. Jefferson may have known 
that the management of a war was not his element of power ; 
and he knew what war was, and he earnestly desired to avoid 
it for his country. His policy was not to maintain a large and 
expensive navy, but to defend the harbors of the United States by 
" gun-boats " very strong, heavily armed, easily equipped, and 
manned at small cost.^ 

1 Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 143, 144. Stephens, 390. Taylor's Centen. U. S.,, 
255, 256. Hohnes, 174. Scott, 419. The dates assigned diiier. 

2 J. Feniraore Cooper, in his " Miles Wallingford" and " Afloat and Ashore," gives a life- 
like acconnt of them. , 

3 Enquirer, June 25th, 1813. 



The Presidency of Thomas yefferson. 593 

He advised, also, as a counter-measure to the "orders in coun- 
cil " of England and " decrees " of the French emperor, the 
adoption by America of the policy of "embargo." His views 
w^ere approved by Congress, and sought to be carried out by the 
act of December 23d, 1807. It was not without precedent ; for 
in 1794 Congress had laid an "embargo" for sixty days on all 
vessels in American ports to obstruct the supply of provisions to 
the British forces in the West Indies/ 

But the act of December, 1807, was more discriminating, and 
intended to have a more lasting elTect. It forbade the departure 
from the ports of the country of all vessels except foreign armed 
ships with public commissions, or foreign merchant ships in bal- 
last, or with such cargo only as they might have on board when 
notified of the act. All coasting vessels were required to give 
bonds to land their cargoes only in the United States. 

Mr. Jefferson's policy was that, during these complicated war- 
troubles in the Old World, the people of the Unitecl States should 
live on their own resources. He knew the abounding natural 
wealth of the country, the fertility of its soil, the facilities for 
the primitive manufactui'es, the ease with which adequate food, 
clothing and shelter would be obtained by all. He believed that 
by arresting ship-building and the carrying business for a season 
in America, the two belligerent powers in Europe, who had so 
unjustly and unlawfully used their brute force to violate the 
rights of neutral nations, would be the greatest sufferers by their 
ow^n outrages ; for the United States were really then the only 
neutral nation having facilities for this business, and England and 
France both needed the supplies of food, lumber, lead, cotton and 
other produce from which the "embargo" would cut them off'. 

But the people of New England refused to give the " embargo " 
policy a fair trial. Because it interfered with their immediate 
profits, hoped for in continuing the carrying trade with all its 
risks, they raised a clamor against it which was not relaxed during 
the whole term of its existence. They were not willing to sub- 
mit to the self-denial of keeping their ships at home for a time 
or employing them only in the coasting trade. The damage of 
arresting free carrying had already been done by the illegal acts 
of England and France. They had, in substance, annihilated the 
trade of America with the best parts of Europe and the West 
Indies. Her trade with other regions of the world was small. 

Jefferson believed, to the last day of his grand and useful life, 
that if the " embargo " policy had been carried out by the United 

lArt. Embargo, Amer. Encyclop., VII. 117. 
38 



594 ^ History of the United States of America. 

States rigidly and in good faith, England and France would have 
seen the error of their ways and abandoned their outrages on the 
rights of neutrals, and that the subsequent war with England 
would have been avoided.^ 

A very able modern historian, detailing the complaints of New 
England and other malcontents, and the disparaging comments 
of English authors and their European sympathizers, has devoted 
a whole volume to the second term of President Jefferson, a large 
part of which seems to be permeated by the purpose of censuring 
and depreciating his policy ; ^ but the effort is vain until it can be 
shown what would have been the effect on the final prosperity of 
the country and on her relations with foreign states that would 
have been produced by a faithful and honest upholding and ob- 
servance of his " embargo " policy. 

Such upholding and observance were never accorded to it, 
although it was " the law of the land." It was broken and 
evaded whenever the opportunity came ; and it was openly abused 
and vituperated. 

Before the expiration of his second term, President Jefferson 
received information, from a source which he considered entitled 
to credit, that the dissatisfaction of the New England States with 
the " embargo " policy was so great that they would withdraw 
from the Union if it was persisted in.' He believed in the 
reserved sovereignty of the States, and in the right of secession 
for adequate cause ; and he earnestly desired harmony. More- 
ovei". Napoleon had intimated willingness to relax his decrees as 
to American vessels. 

The President advised a modification. Accordingly Congress, 
on the 27th of Februar}', 1809, passed an act repealing the "Em- 
bargo Law," but enacting non-intercourse with England and 
France until their policy should be changed. This law was to 
take eflfect after the conclusion of the next session of Congress.* 

Mr. Jeft'erson had announced his fixed purpose not to be a can- 
didate for a third term. It has been frequently asserted that the 
Republican party had so dwindled under his second term that he 
could not have been again elected ; but no facts justify this belief. 
His own convictions as to a third term coincided with those of 
Washington. The dissatisfaction was confined to New England 
and some parts of the Middle States. The others, and especially 
the Southern States, were still strongly Republican, and, in fact, 

lArt. Embargo, Araer. Encyclop., VII. 117. Jefferson's Writings. Thalheimer's Ecleo. 
U.S., 209. 

2 Hist, of the U. S. of America during the Second Administration of Thomas Jefferson, by 
Henry Adams, 1S90. 

8 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 398. Deny, 182. ■'Amer. Encyclop., VII. 117. 



The Presidency of llionias yefferson. ^95 

contained a great "war party," who desired a declaration of war 
against England.^ 

The prevalence of a strong public feeling favoring this party 
was manifested in the election of 1808— '9. Electors were chosen, 
who cast one hundred and twenty-two votes for James Aladison 
as President, aiid one hundred and thirteen for Clinton as Vice- 
President. They were the Republican candidates. Only forty- 
seven votes were cast for Pinckney and King, the opposing candi- 
dates ; and only five States — New Hampshire, Alassachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware — voted for them." 

Thus it appears that if Thomas Jefferson was not able to bring 
to a satisfactory close the troublous questions affecting his country, 
especially in her foreign relations, and was compelled to leave 
them to his successor, it was because a condition of war and per- 
turbation existed in Europe entirely unpi"ecedented, and which no 
human wisdom could either have foreseen or controlled. 

He retired to Monticello, and employed himself during the rest 
of his life in agriculture, in study, in correspondence, and in suc- 
cessful exertions to establish " The University of Virginia." 

His terms of presidential service may be considei^ed as substan- 
tially covering the decade from 1800 to 1810, and were a period 
of eminent progress and prosperity to his country. As to her 
territor}', he had added an empire of untold natural wealth. A 
rich and prosperous State had been brought into the Union. In 
1807, Robert Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, liberally aided by 
Chancellor Livingston, of New York, had solved the problem of 
applying the power of steam to navigation. His first steamboat, 
the " C/rr/z/ow/," with rude engine and side wheels, on the 2d 
of September, 1807, ran from New Vork to Albany in thirty-six 
hours ! The usual time in sloops had been from six to ten days. 
For several years the Hudson river could boast of the only steam- 
boat in the world.^ Fulton had furnished the idea and its reali- 
zation, which have since conquered the rushing torrents of the 
American rivers, and been applied to thousands of ships, public 
and private, that navigate all waters of the earth. 

During the same decade the population went up from five mil- 
lion three hundred and five thousand nine hundred and thirty- 
seven to seven million two hundred and thirty-nine thousand eight 
hundred and fourteen ; and although the number of slaves had also 
gone up from eight hundred and ninety-three thousand and forty- 
one to one million one hundred and ninety-one thousand three 

1 Holmes' U. S., 175. 2 Stephens' Corap. U. S., 398. 

s Quackenbos' U. S., 337. D. B. Scott's U. S., 244. 



596 A History of the United States of America. 

hundred and sixty-four, yet Mr. Jefferson's administration is en- 
titled to the honor of finally ending the African slave-trade. In 
1808 it was forbidden by act of Congress, to which the President 
cordially assented. 

Notwithstanding all adverse influences, the exports had in- 
creased six fold in sixteen years, and had reached one hundred 
and eight million dollars. Sixty-two million pounds of cotton 
w^ere exported in a year. 

The epitaph placed on the monument which marks the grave 
of Jefferson states that he was the author of the " Declaration of 
Independence," of the " statute for religious freedom in Virginia," 
and the father of the "Univcrsit}^ of Virginia." ^ The w^orld has 
known no truer and abler friend of civil and religious freedom 
than he was. 

» Quackenbos' U. S., 336. Stephens, 398. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

The Presidency of James Madison. — Second War with 
Great Britain. 

THE administration of James Madison, covering two terms — 
eight years — from March 4th, 1809, to March 4th, 18 17, was 
a very eventful period of American history. 

Although, after coming to the helm, he did what he could to 
steer the ship of state clear of the breakers of war, yet success 
for his efforts could hardly have been expected. It is true that, 
in 181 1, Mr. Foster, the British minister, made known the final 
decision of his government in the case of the Chesapeake and 
Leopard, which was, in substance, satisfactory, and which did 
something to allay the war feeling ; but England continued her 
aggressions, searches, impressments and captures. It has been 
estimated that as many as nine hundred American vessels were 
seized by her between 1803 and 1811, and that at least six thou- 
sand American seamen were impressed by her and foixed to serve 
in her ships of war.^ She relied on her naval power as irresist- 
ible, and used it with unscrupulous persistence until she received 
a check which has never since been imheeded or forgotten. 

President IMadison chose as his first cabinet officers : Robert 
Smith, of IMaryland, Secretary of State ; Albert Gallatin con- 
tinued as Secretary of the Treasury ; William Eustis, of Massa- 
chusetts, Secretary of War ; Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina, 
Secretary of the Navy, and Cjssar A. Rodney, of Delaware, con-, 
tinned as Attorney-General.^ 

Very soon after Madison entered upon his duties, Mr. Erskine, 
the British minister at Washington, gave assurances that the "or- 
ders in council " would be annulled. The President, somewhat 
hastily, issued a proclamation, April 19th, 1809, suspending, as to 
England, the " Non-Intercourse Law " after the loth of June fol- 
lowing ; but hardly had the people begun to enjoy this good 
news before the President was informed by the British govern- 
ment that Mr. Erskine had exceeded his powers, and his assu- 
rances were unauthorized. Forthwith a second proclamation 

1 Horace E. Scudder's U. S., 289. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 213, 214. 
sstephenss' Comp. U. S.. 399. 

[ 597 ] 



598 A History of the United States of America. 

from the President countermanded the first. Mr. Erskine was 
recalled, and a Mr. Jackson accredited as minister, who speedily 
made himself so offensive and obnoxious that President Aladison, 
through his State Department, ceased to hold intercourse with 
him, and demanded his recall.^ 

In contrast with this ungracious course of England and her 
agents was the conduct of Napoleon. His minister, in 18 10, in- 
formed the United vStates government that the "Berlin and Milan 
decrees" were revoked, and would cease to have effect on the ist 
of November of that year.^ 

There being no doubt in this case, the President issued his pro- 
clamation restoring intercourse with France. He urged upon 
England a revocation of her " orders," in view of the course of 
her pow^erful enemy ; but upon specious pleas the " orders in 
council " were continued, and British armed ships ^vere stationed 
off' the coast before the jDrincipal American harbors to capture 
outcoming vessels bound for France.^ 

These injuries and insults, continued against all efforts to ob- 
tain justice, greatly increased the " war spirit " in the United 
States. An event occurred which operated upon both nations, 
and with a presage difTerent from that of the Chesapeake and 
Leopard. 

In May, 181 1, Commodore John Rodgers, while lying off An- 
napolis in his flag-ship, The President., of forty-four guns, re- 
ceived tidings that a seaman had been impressed from an 
American brig off' Sandy Hook by an English frigate. He sailed 
without delay, and on May i6th, when a few leagues south of 
New York, discovered a vessel of war, to which he gave chase, 
showing American colors from his own ship. At 8 : 30 p. M. he 
came within hail, and made the usual inquiry : " What ship is 
.that? " No answer was returned. But in a short time the same 
inquiry came from the other ship, followed by a shot, which 
struck the mainmast of The President. Rodgers instantly an- 
swered with a broadside. An engagement ensued, but soon 
ended, it being made evident that the attacking ship was dis- 
abled. T]ie President ceased her fire, and, again hailing, got an 
answer that the other was a " British ship of war." Commodore 
Rodgers gave the name of his own ship, hoisted lights, and re- 
mained by till daylight, when he boarded the stranger and found 
she was the British war-ship Little Belt, of twenty-two guns, 
commanded by Captain Bingham. She was severely cut up, and 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 401. ^ Ibid., 402. 

3 Stephens, 402. D. B. Scott's U. S., 247. 



The Presidency of yames Aladison. 599 

thirty-one of her crew were killed and wounded ; yet she sul- 
lenly declined assistance, and the two ships parted.^ 

As might have been expected, the accounts of this affair dif- 
fered, especially as to which ship fired the first shot ; but the 
American version is so corroborated that it must be accepted as 
history. The war spirit rose higher in the United States. 

It was sustained by such men as Henry Clay, of Kentucky ; 
John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheeves and William Lowndes, of 
South Carolina. James IMonroe, of the State Department (who 
had succeeded Roloert Smith), favored it. Gallatin was opposed 
to it, and ^Villiam Pinckney, who had succeeded Rodney as At- 
torney-General, was of opinion that the country was unprepared 
for war ; but the Democrats assured Mr. Madison that unless he 
adopted an active war policy he could not expect their support 
in the next canvass for the presidency.^ 

He summoned Congress to meet on the 4th of November, 181 1. 
On the 8th AjDril, 1813, Louisiana was admitted into the Union 
as a State. On the 30th May, Mr. Foster, the British minister 
resident at Washington, gave the zdtimation of his government 
as to the qviestions in controversy. This, with all other papers 
relative thereto, was sent to Congress by the President on the ist 
of June, with a message submitting the question whether the 
wrongs justly complained of should still be borne, or whether the 
United States should resort to war.^ 

These papers w^ere referred to the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions, of which Calhoun was chairman. They reported in favor 
of a declaration of war. It was discussed for several days with 
closed doors. An act declaring war against Great Britain was 
passed by a vote of seventy-nine to forty-nine in the House of 
Representatives and of nineteen to thirteen in the Senate, and 
was approved by the President on the i8th of June, 1812 ; * and 
so the second war with England commenced. It continued for 
nearly three years ; for, although peace was concluded by a 
treaty at Ghent on the 34th December, 1814, some bloody battles 
on land and sea took place after the treaty and before the bel- 
ligerent forces were notified thereof. 

Five days after this declaration England revoked her " orders 
in council." Had she been more prompt in this simple act of 
justice, she might have averted the war ; but she was engaged in 
her ti'emendous struggle with Napoleon, and seemed blind to all 
else. 

1 Art. Ro(l;?ers, Amer. Eacyclop., XIV. 129. Stephens, 402. 

2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 402. ^ Amer. State Papers, 1812. Stephens, 404. 
< Stephens' Comp. U. S., 404. Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 761. 



6oo A History of the United States oj" America. 

This war, in its prominent facts, naturally falls under two de- 
partments, naval and military, although in some movements these 
departments become mingled with each other. We will give at- 
tention first to the naval operations. These were really the most 
brilliant, most important, and, in their actual phenomena and 
results, most unexpected. 

England had powerful fleets of line-of-battle ships of three 
decks and ninety guns ; but, fortunately for the small American 
naval force, these great fleets were all imperatively called for in 
the mancEuvres and battles conducted by the British admirals 
against the fleets of France, Spain and Denmark. All that could 
be spared for the American war were a few three-deckers and 
fast frigates and sloops of war. These, however, were thought 
sufficient, as the American navy had only three frigates of forty- 
four guns, three of thirty-eight, five of from twenty-eight to 
thirty-six guns and nine sloops of war, with some sinall armed 
vessels, making about thirty in all, at the opening of the contest. 
The British navy had nearly a thousand ships.^ 

The American people had undervalued the skill and prowess 
of their own war-ships, seamen and officers. Very little was ex- 
pected from them. The first serious encounter at sea changed all 
opinions and sentiments on this subject. 

Capt. Isaac Hull, a native of Connecticut, had already dis- 
tinguished himself as a junior officer of the American navy by 
his courage and skill, by cutting out and capturing a French pri- 
vateer in 1800 from under the guns of a strong battery in the 
harbor of Port La Platte, St. Domingo, and afterwards by his 
efficient services against the pirates of Tripoli.^ 

In July, 1S12, he was in command of the frigate Constitzition, 
of forty-four guns. Cruising off' New York, he was chased by a 
British squadron, consisting of a razeed ship-of-the-line of sixty- 
four guns and the frigates Shannon, Gnerricrc, Bchidcra and 
Eolus. At sunrise on the morning of the i8th July, escape 
seemed hopeless, as the hostile ships were within five miles and 
hemming in the American frigate ; but just then the wind died 
away ; a dead calm came on. Captain Hull, his officers and men, 
made almost superhuman exertions to save their ship, and they 
were successful, although they were nearly worn out with fatigue 
and sleeplessness. 

Towing was ffrst resorted to. The heaviest British frigate had 
all the boats of the squadron ahead towing her ; but Hull, find- 

1 Compare Goodrich's U. S., 328, with Stephens' Comp. U. S., 407. 
2 Art. Hull, Amer. Encyclop., IX, 340. 



The Presidettcy of yatnes Madison. 60 1 

ing his ship in twenty-six fathoms of water, resorted to the expedi- 
ent of warping. Nearly all his boats were employed in carrying 
forward light cables and dropping kedge anchors in succession a 
long way ahead, and by these he warped his frigate forward faster 
than his pursuers could be towed. Every advantage was taken of 
the least puff' and flaw of wind. The skillful seamanship mani- 
fested attracted the admiration of the enemy. In sixty-two hours 
the Constitution had left her pursuers nearly out of sight, and, a 
breeze springing up, she was safe. 

But during this long chase every man had watched and slept at 
his gun, except those engaged in kedging, and the officers had 
only caught a few moments of sleep by throwing themselves on 
the deck at favored intervals.^ Such an escape, from such a force, 
achieved by such means, had not been known. 

The British frigate Guerricrc was one of the chasing ships. 
She v\^as in fine fighting condition. Her captain was James A. 
Dacres, of proud English blood. He believed his ship and crew, 
inspired by his presence, more than a match for any American 
frigate. He had looked into several harbors on the coast, carry- 
ing a bi"oad flag with the name of his ship and the words, "Not 
the Little Belt,'''' displayed on it. He had sent in a written chal- 
lenge inviting an American frigate of his class to what he called 
a " tcte-a-tcte " on the ocean." He was serenely confident of the 
result. 

And so, when, on the 19th of August, 1813, in the Atlantic, lat- 
itude 41° 41' north, longitude 55° 48' west. Captain Hull, in the 
Constitution, approached, Dacres gallantly backed his maintop- 
sail and hove to, as a signal of acceptance of battle. At 5 p. m. 
the Guerricre opened fire at long shot. No return was made. 
The Constitution continued to approach, and the Guerriere, hav- 
ing the weather-gage, wore ship and fired her other broadside. 
Still the American frigate, under her captain's orders, was si- 
lent — her officers and men standing to their guns, and obedient 
to orders, although some were falling under the Guerriere's 
fire. Reaching his desired position, by the skillful manoeuvring 
of Sailing-master Aylwyn, and, being within half pistol-shot, Hull 
gave the order, and instantly the fire of his ship was delivered 
with terrible effect, carrying away one of the masts of the Gucr- 
riere and crashing through her decks with severe loss to her crew. 
The ships fell foul of each other, but as the sea was heavy and the 
musketry fire of the marines was constant, boarding was impos- 

iC. B. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 259, 260. Amer. Encvclop., IX. 340, 341. 
2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 260. Quackenbos, 348. 



6o2 ^ History of the United States of America. 

sible. Lieutenant Bush, of the American marines, was killed. 
The Constitution continued her fire, and as she passed ahead the 
foremast of the British ship fell, carrying the mainmast with it, 
and reducing her to a helpless condition.' 

Captain Hull, in a few words, has told the whole : " In thirty 
minutes after we got fairly alongside of the enemy she surren- 
dered, and had not a spar standing ; and her hull, above and be- 
low water, was so shattered that a few more broadsides must have 
carried her down." ^ 

Yet, even in his dire defeat, Dacres retained his courage and 
pride. He was wounded, but kept the deck. No flag being left 
to be lowered, Hull sent a boat with a lieutenant, who asked 
if the action was to be continued. Dacres answered : " I do not 
know that it would be prudent to continue the engagement." 
"Do you surrender?" asked the lieutenant. "I do not know 
that it will be worth while to fight any longer," answered Dacres. 
" If you cannot decide, I will return, and we will reopen our fire." 
" I am hors de cotnhat already," said Dacres ; "I have hardly men 
enough left to work a gun, and my ship is sinking." Pride re- 
jected more, and, with this equivocal surrender, the officer re- 
turned.^ 

Hull's huinanity forbade delay. The Guerriere had lost 
seventy-nine men in killed and wounded, and was so shattered 
that she could not be brought into port. Her crew were re- 
moved ; she was set on fire, and in fifteen minutes blew up. 
The Cottstittition had lost only fourteen in killed and wounded, 
and was so little damaged that she \vas ready for action the next 
day. 

Captain Hull carried his prisoners into Boston. The country 
was aroused to enthusiasm and joy. It is true the Constitution 
was a heavier ship, and carried five guns more than the Guer- 
riere^ but this disparity was too small to be predicated as the 
efficient cause of the American victory. The battle had been 
won by superior seamanship, manceuvring and energy of action. 
It was felt at once that here was proof that Great Britain was no 
longer to rule the seas. Her best ships could be captured by ene- 
mies, .substantially equal in force, but superior in skill. Congress 
voted a gold medal to Hull, and a silver one to each of his com- 
missioned officers, and appropriated a sum sufficient to compensate 
his crew for the necessary destruction of their prize.* 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 2C0, 261. Amer. Encyclop., IX. 341. Quackenbos, 348. 

2 Hull's report, Taylor's Centen. U. S., 261. 
SNote in Barnes &. Co.'s U. S., 161, 162. 

*Ainer. Encyclop., IX. 341. Goodrich's Hist, of U. S. 



The Presidency of yames Madison. 603 

On the i8th of October, 1813, the American sloop of war 
JVasp, of eighteen guns, under Capt. Jacob Jones, captured the 
British brig J^ro/ic, of twenty-two guns, under Captain VVhin- 
yates, in the Atlantic, in latitude 37° north, longitude 60° west. 
The force on each side was nearly equal. The action was very 
bloody and destructive to the Frolic. She was terribly cut up in 
her hull, and lost at least eighty of her crew in killed and wounded. 
Captain Whinyates, in his official report, stated that not twenty 
of his crew escaped unhurt. The Wasp was much injured in 
her spars and rigging, but very little in her hull. On the same 
day the British seventy-four-gun ship Poictiers came down upon 
them, and, in their disabled state, captured both ships and carried 
them into Bermuda.' Captain Jones and his officers and crew 
were soon paroled, and returned to the United States, where de- 
served honors greeted them. No disparity of force existed in this 
case. The victory was won by the more deadly and accurate 
firing of the American ship. 

On the 25th of October, 1S13, Capt. Stephen Decatur, in the 
frigate United States^ of forty-four guns, encountered the British 
frigate Alacedoiiian, of forty-nine guns (but lighter than those of 
the American frigate), Capt. John vS. Carden, near the Azores, 
and, after a long and sanguinary battle, captured her, and brought 
her safely into the harbor of New York. A young officer of the 
American frigate appeared in a public assembly in Washington, 
bringing the official report of the capture, and presenting the flag 
of the j\Iacedonia/i to the wife of the President. The guests 
cheered and wept with feelings not to be controlled, for among 
them were the young officer's mother and sister, overcome with 
joy that he had been unhurt in the battle.^ 

On the 39th of December of the same year the Constitution^ 
which had gained the name of " Old Ironsides," and was then 
commanded by Captain Bainbridge, met the British frigate yava, 
of forty-nine guns. Captain Lambert, oft' the coast of Brazil, not 
far from San Salvador, and, after an engagement of one hour and 
fifty-five ininutes, captured her. The yava lost one hundred and 
seventy-four in killed and wounded, and was reduced to a wreck 
with not a spar standing, and her hull so shattered that it was 
found necessary to destroy her. The Constitution lost nine 
killed and twenty-four wounded, and was but little injured. The 
two commanders were both wounded — Bainbridge severely, Lam- 
bert mortally. A heroic scene was exhibited on the quarter-deck 
of the yava, where Captain Lambert was lying on his cot just 
1 Art. Jones, Amer. Encyclop., X. 45. ^Eggieston's Household U. S., 252. 



6o4 A History of the United States of America. 

before he was removed to the victor ship. Bainbridge, supported 
by two lieutenants, approached the dying officer, and, with words 
of manly sympathy, restored his sword to him, and they parted 
with expressions of mutual regard. Captain Lambert died within 
two days thereafter.^ 

The pride of England was deeply wounded by these repeated 
captures of her finest frigates, under her best officers. When 
news of the capture of the fava reached London, it was com- 
mented on in tones of mortified feeling by several metropolitan 
journals. The Londoii Statesman^ of March 20th, 1813, thus 
writes, after announcing the event : " America, however, must be 
excepted from the expression of 'all our enemies ' ; she is of us, 
and of us improved. We are neither ashamed nor afraid to say 
so. We knew it before, and, knowing so much, we have uni- 
formly deprecated the going to war with her. The Americans 
will be the most terrible warriors we have had to contend with. 
We have, like fools, despised them as a power in arms." ^ 

Commodore Bainbridge was in command of a small fleet, con- 
sisting of his own ship, the Constitution, the frigate Essex, of 
thirty-two guns, under Capt. David Porter, and the sloop of war 
Hornet, of twenty guns, under Master-Conimandant James Law- 
rence, a native of New Jersey. Early in 1813, the British sloop 
of war. Bonne Citoyenne, with a large amount of specie on board, 
was lying in the neutral port of San Salvador, in Brazil. Bain- 
bridge in the Constitution, kept far away ; the Essex had not 
arrived, and the Hornet, being about equal in force to the Bonne 
Citoyenne, appeai^ed oft' the harbor, and sent a challenge to her to 
come out and fight ; but the treasure war-ship declined the chal- 
lenge, probably not feeling at liberty to risk her valuable freight.' 
The Hor)iet blockaded the harbor for eighteen days, when she 
was driven off' by the British seventy- four-gun ship Montague, 

She shaped her course for the mouth of the Demerara river, 
capturing several merchantmen by the way. On the 34th Feb- 
ruary, 18 1 3, off this river, in the Atlantic, the Hornet encountered 
the British sloop of war Peacock, Capt. William Peake, of twenty 
guns, but somewhat lighter than the Hornet. A fierce engage- 
ment of fifteen minutes took place, beginning at half-past five 
o'clock in the afternoon. Furious and repeated broadsides were 
exchanged at pistol range, when the Peacock lowered her flag, 
and raised signals of distress. She was sinking. Lawrence and 
his officers and men made instant and earnest exertions to save 

1 Art. Bainbridge, Amer. Encvclop., II. 407. 

2 London Statesman, Slarch 20, 1813, in Enquirer (Va.), May 21. 
*Art. Lawrence, Amer. Encyclop., X. 370. 



The P residency of James Madison. 605 

her crew. She sank in six fathoms of water, canying down nine 
of her own men and five of the Hornefs. The Peacock lost 
thirty-three killed and wounded ; among the killed was Captain 
Peake. The Hornet had only one killed and two wounded, and 
was so little injured that by nine o'clock that night she was again 
ready for action ; but, having now t\vo hundred and seventy- 
seven souls aboard, and being short of water, Lawrence sailed 
for New York. His treatment of his prisoners was so kind and 
chivalrous that they published a written statement, saying they 
had "ceased to consider themselves as prisoners."^ 

On the 4th of IMarch, 1S13, Lawrence was promoted to the rank 
of captain, and ordered to the command of the frigate Chesa- 
peake, then lying in the harbor of Boston. The British frigate 
Shanno)i, Capt. Philip Bowes Vere Bi'oke, had been awaiting the 
coming out of the Chesapeake, and preparing to meet her in mor- 
tal combat. The two frigates were about equal in material 
strength, each mounting forty-eight guns, long eighteen and 
thirty-two pound carronades. But the Shannon was in perfect 
fighting condition, her commander and ofiicers skillful and reso- 
lute men, strung up to a high longing for victory, her crew full 
and perfectly disciplined and organized for this special encoun- 
ter. On the other hand, the Chesapeake had lately arrived from 
a cruise, and her men had been indulging freely on shore in the 
worst forms of sailor dissipations. Lawrence was yet a stranger 
to them, and he had found them almost in a state of mutiny be- 
cause of some disaffection about unpaid prize money. ^ 

Moreover, her first lieutenant, O. A. Page, was sick on shore, 
and died a few days afterwards. Ludlow, the young officer who 
took his place, was brave and meritorious, but inexperienced. 
Two midshipmen acted as third and fourth lieutenants. 

Under such circumstances of disability, prudence dictated that 
the encounter should, at least, be postponed until the Chesapeake 
was in better fighting order ; but when the Shan7iott appeared off 
the harbor, Lawrence felt all his soul aroused. He could not de- 
lay. He got his ship under way on the ist of June, 1813, and 
stood out to sea. At half-past five in the afternoon the two ships 
were thirty miles from Boston light. 

As they came up alongside of each other the Shannon opened 
fire as her guns bore ; the Chesapeake retained her fire until the 
ships were fairly yard-arm and yard-arm, when she delivered a 
well-directed broadside, which sounded like one report. For seve- 
ral minutes a destructive cannonade was maintained by both ships, 
1 Amer. Encyclop., X. 371, 372. -Art. Lawrence. Amer. Encyclop., X. 371. 



6o6 A History of the United States of America. 

but the Chesapeake suffered so severely in her rigging that she 
became unmanageable, was thrown into the wind, taken aback, 
and fell foul of the Shannon^ the waist anchor of which hooked 
her rigging. She \vas now exposed to a raking fire, and her 
upper deck was swept by grape and canister from the carronades 
of the British ship. The boarders of the Chesapeake were called, 
but the negro bugleman had left his post. Captain Lawrence 
was wounded ; Lieutenant Ludlow had received two terrible 
wounds from grape-shot. A hand-grenade, bursting in the arm- 
chest of the Chesapeake^ spread death all around. Sailing-master 
White fell dead. Broom, of the marines, Ballard, acting fourth 
lieutenant, and the boatswain, were all mortally wounded. 

Still Lawrence cheered his men to the battle. Its crisis was 
reached when a shot passed through his body, inflicting a mortal 
vs^ound. As he was borne below he uttered the words which will 
never cease to be connected with his name, and which have be- 
come the rallying cry of his country : " Don't give up the ship ! " 

But, by his fall and removal, the upper deck of the Chesapeake 
was left without a single commissioned officer. The boarders of 
the SJiannon^ under brave leaders, sprang upon the deck of the 
American frigate. They were met by a fierce, but irregular, re- 
sistance, wdiich soon gave way. Captain Broke, in his official 
reports, stated that after he boarded " the enemy fought despe- 
rately, but in disorder." ^ The contest was bloody, but brief. The 
boarders prevailed, and in fifteen minutes from the fouling of the 
ships the American flag was hauled down by the victors and the 
British flag raised in its stead. ^ 

In this bloody naval encounter the Chesapeake lost one hundred 
and forty-eight in killed and wounded ; the Shannon seventy-nine. 
Captain Broke was severely wounded. His king was so elated 
by his victory that he created him a baronet and made him Knight 
Commander of the Bath ; and the guns of the Tower in London 
were fired in token of triumph. 

After the battle both ships went into Halifax. In four days 
Lawrence died. His remains and those of Lieutenant Ludlow 
were interred with the highest honors of war, the senior British 
officers present acting as pall-bearers. 

For a brief time it seemed as if England would recover her 
naval prestige even against America. The brig Argus^ com- 
manded by a brave Rhode Islander, William Henry Allen, had 
carried out Mr. Crawford, the American minister to France. 

' Official report, cited in Amer. Encyclop., X. 371. 

SBarnes & Co.'s U. S., 166. Stepheus' Corap. IJ. S., 414, 415, note. 



The Prcsidcftcy of yames Madison. 607 

Returning, she cruised in the British Channel and wrought liavoc 
among the merchantmen, capturing vessels and property esti- 
mated as of the value of two millions of dollars. Several Eng- 
lish war-ships started in pursuit of her. The brig Pelican^ some- 
what superior to her in armament, discovered her August 14th, 
18 13, by the light of a ship she had captured and set on fire. A 
warm engagement ensued. Captain Allen received a wound 
which proved mortal ; his brig was captured and carried into Ply- 
mouth, where he died.' 

But the tide again turned and favored America. On the 14th 
of September, 18 13, Lieut. William Burrows, commanding the 
brig Enterprise^ of fourteen guns, encountered the British brig 
JBoxer, of twelve guns, commanded by Lieutenant Blythe. The 
encounter was in the Atlantic, oft' Portland, Maine. The Boxer s 
guns, though tw^o less in number, carried as much weight in 
metal as those of her enemy She had indulged herself in the 
somewhat hazardous bravado of nailing her colors to the mast- 
head. The action was spirited and severe ; both commanders 
fell mortally wounded. The crew of the Boxer were compelled 
to call aloud for quarter, not being able to lower their flag.^ 
Burrows and Blythe wei'e buried in Portland, in graves alongside 
of each other, and with all the honors of war. 

On the loth of September, 1813, occin-red the memorable naval 
battle of Lake Erie. Both , the British and American squadrons 
had been hastily constructed, chiefly from timber obtained by 
felling the great trees growing on the shores of the lake. Im- 
poi'tant military movements waited on this battle, and were 
decided by its result. 

Commodore Oliver H. Perry, a native of Rhode Island, and 
then only in the twenty-eighth year of his age, was the com- 
mander of the American flotilla, and had, by his own ceaseless 
exertions, forwarded its building, rigging and preparation. To 
him was assigned the perilous duty of seeking to wrest the com- 
mand of the lake from the British power. Commodore Barclay, 
a veteran who had fought under Nelson on the Nile and at Trafal- 
gar, and had lost an arm in his country's service, commanded the 
British squadron.^ He had six armed vessels, carrying sixty-three 
guns and five hundred and two oflicers and men. Perry's fleet 
contained the flag-ship Lazurcucc, of twenty guns ; Niagara, of 
twenty guns ; Ariel, of four guns ; Caledonia, of three guns ; 
Somers and Scorpion, of two guns each, and Porcupine, Tigress 

'Amer. Eiipyclop., I. 376. Quackenbos, 35S. 

2Quackcnbos, 358, 359. Amor. Encyclop., IV. 1-10. » Quackeubos, 363. 



6o8 A History of the United States of America. 

and Trippe, each of one gun, making nine vessels in all, carrying 
fifty-four guns and four hundred and ninety officers and men. 

Perry had great difficulty in getting his vessels into the deeper 
waters from the shores of the lakes where they were huilt and 
launched ; but, by the use of the mechanical contrivance called 
the " camel " and indefatigable exertions, he succeeded. He pi'o- 
ceeded to Sandusky Bay, where his ships were fully manned by 
the co-operation of General Harrison. 

He then sailed boldly to Maiden, and displayed his flags in full 
view of Commodore Barclay and his squadron. The veteran 
seemed in no hurry to meet him. The vigor and courage dis- 
played in getting the American flotilla into the deep waters of 
the lake had amazed him. His hesitation was so manifest that 
the great Indian chieftain Tecumseh rowed over to Maiden in his 
canoe to remonstrate. He said to the English General Proctor : 
" You told us that you commanded the waters. Why, then, do 
you not go out to fight the Americans ? There they are, daring 
you to meet them ! " Proctor could make no excuse except that 
the " big canoes of the great father King George were not quite 
ready." ^ 

But the English commanders knew well that unless Perry's 
flotilla was defeated and destroyed, the lake was no longer in 
•British power. Therefore, Commodore Barclay prepared for bat- 
tle, and, early on the morning of September loth, 1813, sailed out 
to meet his enemy. The day was clear and beautiful, and the 
battle which ensued one of the most interesting in naval war- 
fare.^ 

Perry had never seen a battle between squadrons ; Barclay had 
taken part in encounters between naval giants ; yet the plan of 
battle and manoeuvres of the American commodore could hardly 
have been improved on. He so formed his line as to bring the 
heaviest of his ships alongside of the heaviest of the enemy, 
ordering the lighter vessels to do execution where they could 
most eflectually cut up the British ships. 

The Latvrejice went into battle with her blue ensign flying and 
exhibiting the words, " Don't give up the ship." In a short time 
she was exposed to a terrible fire from the batteries of several of 
the British ships which concentrated on her. By half-past two 
o'clock, out of her total crew of one hundred and one persons, 
only eighteen, including Perry himself, were unhurt ; twenty-two 
had been killed, sixty-one wounded, and every gun dismounted 

» Quackenbos' U. S., 363. 

SAmer. Encyclop., VII. 270. Quackenbos, 364, 365. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 340, 341. 
Barnes, 164, 165. 



The Presidotcy of James Madison. 609 

or rendered ineffective. In this perilous crisis, Perry decided 
that he ought to transfer his flag to the Niagara, which was half 
a mile distant to windward. 

He left Lieutenant Yarnell in command, and, in an open boat 
with a brave crew, some of whom were wounded, he made his 
way to the Niagara. He was unhurt, and to show that he was 
not conquered and to cheer his men he stood erect, waving his 
sword, until his men forcibly pulled him down. This scene, the 
crisis of the battle, has been portrayed with graphic power in a 
painting which now adorns the approach to the United States 
Senate chamber in the Capitol. 

When Perry passed the gangway of the Niagara, Lieutenant 
Elliott, who commanded her, offered to go and bring up the 
smaller vessels. Perry gladly sent him on this duty ; but he him- 
self assumed command of the Niagara and caused her to pass 
into the combat, firing broadsides right and left into the Detroit 
and ^ueen Charlotte, of the enemy's fleet, with such rapid and de- 
structive energy that they were speedily disabled, and. falling 
foul of each other, were soon compelled to strike their flags. The 
Caledonia and the smaller American vessels now came up and 
were closely engaging the enemy's vessels to windward, which, 
being subjected to a heavy cross-fire, were rapidly disabled. Be- 
fore three o'clock the Detroit, ^ueen Charlotte, Lady Prcvost 
and Hunter had all struck their coloi^s.* 

The Lawrence had been compelled to haul down her flag soon 
after Perry left her side in his boat ; but, now finding that 
victory was being rapidly obtained by the American vessels, she 
rehoisted her flag, though she was too much disabled to take fur- 
ther part in the battle. The Chippezvay and Little Belt, of the 
British fleet, endeavored to escape to leeward, but they were 
closely pursued by the Scorpion and Trippe, and compelled to 
surrender. 

The British vessels were all greatly injured and their crews had 
suftered severely. Commodore Barclay was twice wounded ; yet 
he insisted on being helped to the upper deck at last, that he 
might see for himself whether there was any hope. Finding 
there was none, he gave the signal for surrender.^ 

Commodore Perry, four hours after the battle, sent to General 
Harrison a laconic message as follows : " We have met the enemy, 
and they are ours — two ships, two brigs, one schooner and a 
sloop." ' He treated his prisoners with so much of humanity and 

1 Amer. Encyclop., VII. 271. 

*Art. Erie, Amer. Encyclop., VII. 271. 

sQuackenbos, 365. Berry's U. S., 191. 

39 



6io A History of the United States of America. 

consideration that Commodore Barclay afterwards gave as a toast : 
" Commodore Perry — the gallant and generous enemy," and de- 
clared that, independently of the glory of the victoiy, " Perry's 
humanity to his prisoners alone would have immortalized him." 
The American command of Erie was completely established. 

During the next year (1814) naval encounters were not nume- 
rous. It has been said that the British admiralty had given secret 
orders under which the captains of their frigates were to decline 
battle with the American frigates, except under highly favoring 
circumstances. 

The United States frigate Essex, under Capt. David Porter, 
had entered the Pacific and made many valuable captures. Sev- 
eral British ships were sent in pursuit of her. She was blockaded 
in the harbor of Valparaiso from the 3d of February to the 28th 
of March, 1814. Sh^ then made an attempt to get to sea, but, in 
doubling a headland, was struck by a squall, which carried away 
her maintop-mast and caused the loss of several lives. In this 
somewhat disabled state she was compelled to anchor three miles 
from the town and Avithin pistol-shot of the shore. Beyond ques- 
tion, she was in neutral waters, and thus not subject to attack 
according to international law ; but the opportunity was too 
favorable to be lost by her enemies. 

The force of the Essex was thirty-two guns and two hundred 
and fifty-five officers and men. She was attacked by the British 
frigate Phoebe, Captain Hillvar, of forty-six guns and three hun- 
dred and twenty men, and the sloop of war Cherub, Captain 
Tucker, of twenty guns and one hundred and eighty men. 

The battle had no parallel. The Essex fought for two hours 
and a half, and did not surrender until she had lost one hundred 
and fifty-five men in killed, wounded and missing, and was on 
fire, with a large portion of her guns disabled, and Captain Por- 
ter and Lieutenant McKnight the only commissioned officers un- 
hurt. 

In August, 1S14, another engagement between hostile squad- 
rons took place on one of the American lakes, which was quite 
as interesting and decisive as that of Erie. It was on Lake Cham- 
plain, which had become very important to both belligerents, 
because the English were attempting a descent, with a large land 
force under Sir George Prevost, upon New York, by way of Platts- 
burg. This was then a small town of about seventy houses, on 
Plattsburg Bay, into \vhich the Saranac river discharges itself. 
Success on the water would have compelled the American army, 
of only one thousand five hundred men, under General Macomb, 



The Presidency of James Madison. 6ii 

to evacuate Plattsburg, and retire before the twelve thousand 
commanded by Prevost. 

Capt. Thomas Macdonough, a native of Delaware, was in 
command of the American squadron, consisting of the Saratoga., of 
twenty-six guns ; \\\g JEagle., brig of twenty guns, Captain Henley ; 
the Ticondcrog-a, schooner of seventeen guns, Lieut. -Command- 
ing Stephen Cassin ; the Preble, cutter of seven guns, Lieutenant 
Budd ; six gun-boats, each of two guns, and four gun-boats of 
smaller size, each carrying one long twenty-four pounder, making 
a total of fourteen vessels, mounting eighty-six guns, and carry- 
ing eight hundred and fifty officers, seamen and marines.^ One 
of the largest of this squadron had been built and launched in 
forty days ! 

The British squadron was under Captain Downie, an officer of 
distinction, and embraced his own large ship, the Conjiaiice, of 
thirty-seven guns ; the Linnet., of sixteen guns ; the Chubb, 
sloop of eleven guns ; the Pinch, of the same power, and twelve 
gun-boats, of which eight mounted two guns, and four mounted 
one gun each ; the whole force comprising sixteen vessels, mount- 
ing ninety-five guns, and carrying one thousand officers and men.^ 

Macdonough showed consummate skill by anchoring his larger 
ships with springs on the cables, and with kedges so arranged 
and concealed that, by rapid warping, their broadsides could be 
promptly changed.' His gvm-boats were not anchored at all, but 
kept in position or in movement at pleasure, by sweeps. 

On the morning of September nth, 1814, the British fleet was 
seen coming up for battle. Downie was confident ; he is said to 
have declared that, with his heavy flag-ship alone, he could de- 
stroy the whole American flotilla.* Macdonough, on his deck 
and in jDresence of his assembled crew, asked the blessing of God 
for his country's cause. 

The wind was moderate, and the weather fine. The Eagle 

opened first, and the Saratoga followed, the commander himself 

pointing the first gun. The Con fiance did not fire a shot until she 

anchored within short range of the Saratoga, on whom she opened 

a very destructive fire. Her first broadside killed and wounded 

forty men, nearly one-fifth of the Saratoga^ s crew. Broadsides 

were rapidly exchanged, and as the water was smooth and the 

distance moderate, the damage done to both was severe ; but the 

Saratoga suffered most. Finding his whole starboard battery 

nearly demolished, Macdonough set his warps to work, and 

'Art. Champlain, Amer. Encvclop., IV. (>9'i. 

2 Art. Champlain, Amer. Encynlop., IV. G9'>, G96. Derry's U. S., 195. 

SAmer. Encyclop. IV., 695. Quackenbos. 376. ^Quackenbos, 37.\ 



6i2 A History of the United States of America. 

brought his larboard battery to bear on the Cotifiance with terrible 
effect. That ship tried the same manoeuvre, but unsuccessfully, 
and in two hours and a half, finding her hull and rigging ruinously 
cut up, many of her guns dismounted, her decks covered with 
the dead and wounded, and her commander mortally hurt, she 
surrendered. 

During the hottest part of this combat, a coop containing fowls 
on the deck of the Saratoga was knocked to pieces, and the fowls 
escaped. A cock, from among them, mounted to a high part of 
the rigging, and crowed several times in clarion notes. The crew 
took this to be a good omen, and, undiscouraged by their heavy 
losses, fought with renewed vigor.^ 

After the Confiance surrendered, the Saratoga sprung her broad- 
side upon the Linjict., which immediately lowered her flag. The 
Finch had been disabled, and drifted down on Crab Island, where, 
after receiving a shot from a one-gun land battery, she surrendered. 
The Ticonderoga subdued the Chubb. The twelve gun-boats of 
the British fleet all struck their flags ; but the American ships 
were not in condition to pursue them,^ and they made their escape, 
though probably in violation of the laws of war. 

The American loss in this stern naval battle was one hundred 
and eleven in killed and wounded. The British loss was prob- 
ably as high as two hundred and four. While the combat was in 
progress. Sir George Prevost, thinking Commodore Downie would 
certainly triumph, led up his forces and attempted to cross the 
Saranac, and to capture Plattsburg. He was received with a 
continuous and fatal fire from the American works. Finding the 
British fleet totally defeated and gone, he abandoned his attack 
and retreated, leaving a large part of his artillery and army stores, 
and his sick and wounded, and having sustained a loss of twenty- 
five hundred men.* It is said that four hundred of his men 
marched to join Macomb with a band of music preceding them. 
The naval triumph presaged that of the land. 

In addition to the American successes in naval combats, they 
made many valuable captures during the war. Their own sea- 
going merchant vessels had been reduced in number and import- 
ance by the policy of England and France, and the embargo restric- 
tions. When the war with England commenced, American priva- 
teers began to sail from every suitable port, and English merchant 
ships in great numbers were captured by the naval ships and let- 
ters of marque of the United States. 

' Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 356. = Amer. Enovclop., IV. 096. 

3 Quackenbos, 376. Derry, 195. Goodrich, 355. ' D. B. Scott's U. S., 263. 



The Presidency of James Madison. 613 

Capt. David Porter, in the Essex^ captured a British brig with 
fourteen thousand dollars in specie and one hundred and fifty sol- 
diers aboard. He also captured the sloop Alert after an action of 
twelve minutes. The frigate President overhauled and took an 
English packet ship with two hundred thousand dollars on board. 
Lieutenant Elliott, in October, 1813, captured on Lake Erie the 
British ship Caledonia^ cutting her out from under the guns of a 
fort, and securing a cargo of furs worth at least two hundred 
thousand dollars. During this year two hundred and fifty ves- 
sels, three thousand sailors, and cargoes valued at some millions 
of dollars, were captured from the enemy.' 

In May, 18 14, the new American sloop Wasp, Captain Blake- 
ley, captured the British brig Reindeer, Captain Manners, in an 
action of eighteen minutes. 

Early in 18 13, the Czar of Russia made a proposition to medi- 
ate between Great Britain and the United States, and, if possible, 
to bring about a meeting of commissioners of the two nations 
looking to the re-establishment of peace. ^ To this no party in the 
United States were averse, for the woes coming from war had 
been heavily felt. 

In iSi3, Jvlr. Madison was elected President for a second term, 
and Elbridge Gerry was chosen Vice-President. The President 
had received very favorably the offered mediation of Russia, and 
had appointed Albert Gallatin, John Qiiincy Adams and James 
A. Bayard commissioners to go to St. Petersburg ; but the British 
government declined this ofler of mediation, and no immediate 
results favorable to peace came from it. 

But during the session of Congress which commenced in De- 
cember, 1813, a communication was received from the British 
government to the effect that though, in the disturbed state of 
Europe, that power had not felt free to accept the mediation of 
Russia, yet they were willing to enter into direct negotiations 
with the United States concerning peace, either in London or 
Gottenburg.^ This offer was promptly acceded to ; Gottenburg 
was at first selected, and Henry Clay and Jonathan Russell wei^e 
added to the commissioners already in Europe. The place of 
meeting was changed from Gottenburg to Ghent. 

The negotiations concerning the various questions involved 
were delicate and protracted ; but on the 24th day of December, 
18 14, a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United 
States was agreed on. This treaty provided for the mutual resto- 

1 Quackenbos, 349-351. 

-• Goodrich, 333. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 411, 412- 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 416, 



6 14 A History of the United States of Jimerica. 

ration of all territory taken during the war, and for the mutual 
appointment of commissioners to determine the northern boundary 
of the United States. It was remarkable in this, that it was silent 
on all the questions which had been chiefly operative in causing 
the war. It had no provision as to the right of a subject or citi- 
zen to expatriate himself, nor as to the right of search and impris- 
onment, nor as to the matters involved in the " orders in council." ' 

But it was safe to leave these questions to the wisdom acquired 
from the past. The right of search is not recognized as to ships 
of war; as to merchant ships it is still understood to exist, and 
has been used both by Great Britain and the United States. It 
is, however, subject to the established principle of civil and crim- 
inal law as to arrests and prosecutions, that thei"e must exist " pro- 
bable cause " to justify or excuse it. As to impressment of Amer- 
ican seamen, England has never again attempted it. 

It is a sad fact that after the treaty of peace was agreed on, 
but before it was known to the belligerents, several bloody bat- 
tles, both by sea and land, were fought. 

The frigate President^ under Decatur, in attempting to get to 
sea from the harbor of New York, which was closely blockaded 
by British ships, ran out in the night of January 14th, iSi!^. Un- 
fortunately, her pilots missed the channel, and she fell on the bar, 
and did not get oft' without injuries which greatlv impeded her 
sailing powers. She was soon chased bv four ships, the Endy- 
mion, of forty guns, the Pomona and Tenedos, of thirty-eight 
guns each, and the razee Majestic^ of sixty guns. She made a 
gallant running fight with the Endymiv7i; and Decatur, finding 
the President too inuch injured to escape, proposed to his officers 
and crew that they should carry the EndymioJi by boarding and 
escape in her. This bold proposal was enthusiastically received, 
but the superior sailing of the British frigate made its execution 
impossible. The enemy's ships having closed on him, Decatur 
was compelled to surrender. In this long fight the President 
lost eighty men killed and wounded.^ 

Capt. James Stewart, a native of Philadelphia, had already dis- 
tinguished himself in the brief war with France, by capturing 
with his war-schooner Experiment^ of twelve guns, the French 
schooners Deux Amis, of eight guns, and Diana, of fourteen 
guns, in quick succession.' In the summer of 18 13 he was put in 
command of the Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), and got to sea 
from Boston on a cruise, during which he captured the British 

1 Goodrich, 361. Stephens, 421, 422. Amer. Eneyclop., XV. 763. 

2 Art. Pecatur, Amer. Eneyclop., VI. 324. Goodrich, 360. 

3 Art. Stewart, Amer. Eneyclop., XV. 95. 



The Presidency of fames Madison. 615 

war-schooner Picfon, of fourteen guns, a letter of marque under 
her convoy, and a number of merchant vessels. In December, 
1 8 14, not having heard of the treaty of peace, he sailed on a sec- 
ond cruise, and on the 20th February, 18 15, off the coast of Por- 
tugal, fell in with two British ships, the frigate Cyane, Captain 
Falcon, of thirty-four guns, and the sloop Levant, Captain Doug- 
lass, of twenty-one guns, and in a skillfully conducted night en- 
gagement, captured them both in about forty minutes. The cap- 
tured ships lost forty-one, the Constitution fifteen, in killed and 
wounded. 

Under the terms of the ti'eaty of peace, the President and the 
Cyane and Levant were all lawful prizes.^ The Cyane was 
brought into New York on April 15th ; but the Levant was re- 
captured by a British squadron off the Cape De Verde Islands. 

On the 23d March, 1815, the sloop Hornet, Captain Biddle, en- 
countered the British brig Penguin, Captain Dickenson, off the 
island of Tristan D' Acuna, and captured her, in an action of 
twenty-two minutes. After the commander of the Penguin had 
announced her surrender, and Captain Biddle had ordered his fire 
to cease, a man in the rigging of the Poigiiin fired a musket at 
Biddle and wounded him severely in the neck. Two marines 
from the deck of the Hornet fired at this murderer and brought 
him down ; but the crew of the Llornet, in their natural exaspe- 
ration, threatened extermination of the whole British crew, and 
were with difiiculty restrained by Biddle and his officers.'' 

Capt. Lewis Warringfon, a native of Virginia, sailed from New 
York in March, 18 14, in command of the sloop of war Peacock, 
of eighteen guns. Oft" Cape Canaveral, Florida, he encountered 
a number of British merchantmen, under convoy of the war-brig 
Ppervier, Captain Wales, of eighteen guns. The Peacock engaged 
her, and, though crippled in her foreyard by the first broadside, 
continued the action with such superior manoeuvring and gunnery 
that in forty-two minutes the Lipervier surrendered, with five feet 
of water in her hold and twenty-two of her crew killed and 
wounded. The Peacock sustained little damage, and had none 
killed and only two wounded. Aboard the Epervier was found 
the sum of five hundred and ninety thousand dollars in specie. 
Continuing his cruise, Warrington secured fourteen British mer- 
chantmen — most of them in the Bay of Biscay.^ 

In November, 18 14, he sailed again in the Peacock from New 
York, and in the Strait of Sunda, on the 30th of June, 18 15, (more 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 360, 361. Amer. Encvclop., XV. 95. 

2 Taylor's Centennial U. S., 337, 338. 

8 Art. Warrington, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 221. 



6i6 A History of the United States of America. 

than six months after the treaty of peace), he fell in with the East 
India Company's armed cruiser Nautilus^ exchanged broadsides 
with her, and compelled her to surrender, with a loss to her of 
six killed and eight wounded. The Peacock was uninjured, and 
sustained no loss. It is stated in history that before the capture 
Warrington was informed that peace had been agreed on ; but, as 
this information came from the English, he insisted that the Nau- 
tilus should strike her flag, which she refused to do.^ He was 
technically right, but, after causing some shedding of blood, he 
saw the truth the next day in papers produced, and promptly re- 
turned the Nautilus. This was the last event of the naval war- 
fare between Great Britain and America. We are now to give 
the prominent movements of the warfare on land. 

ID. B. Scott's U. S., 269. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 
The War on Land. 

THE war on the land had in it very little to increase either the 
territory, the wealth or the fame of the United States. Yet 
in it her people displayed courage and endurance, and it was 
ended at last in a battle fought after a treaty of peace had been 
agreed on, but so brilliantly and bloodily successful for America 
that it confirmed the dominance of democratic ideas, and led to 
the election of one of the most renowned of her Presidents. 

The prevalent purpose of the Western and Northwestern peo- 
ple in the war was to conquer Canada from Great Britain. This 
was considered specially desirable, because it would secure the 
lake region and the northern boundary, and would put a stop to 
Indian outrages, which had been thought, with some reason, to 
have been encouraged by the British forts in Canada. The peo- 
ple of Kentucky and Ohio were very intent on this conquest.^ 

Yet it was a task beset by formidable difficulties. Some of 
them had been experienced in the war of the Revolution, when 
a similar desire inspired many Americans. The lapse of thirty- 
seven years had not removed those obstacles, though it had in- 
creased the means of overcoming them, and had probably brought 
over-confidence in final success. 

The region bordering on the southern Canada frontier was a 
wide stretch of thinly-settled country covered with forests, and 
cut up by streams and torrents. Cincinnati was a sinall town of 
two thousand five hundred people, and the margin of settled land 
ran not far to the northward of it. Railroads were unknown, 
and steainers were hardly yet available. The difficulties of trans- 
portation were very great — so great that every barrel of flour had 
multiplied six or seven-fold in cost before it could reach this fron- 
tier. 

But the Indian troubles were imperative, and really opened the 

land-war measures against England. Tecumseh "was a great 

chief of the vShawnees, born on the banks of the Scioto, near 

Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1770. He is said to have been one of three 

> Prof. Johnston's U. S. Const, and Hist., 146, 147. 

[ 617 1 



6i8 A History of the United States oj^ America. . 

brothers all born at the same birth-time, of whom one, named 
Kennshaka, died young, and another, Elskvvatawa, grew to ma- 
turity, and was known as " The Prophet." ^ 

Tecumseh's first smell of battle was with Kentuckians at Mad 
river when he was about twenty ; and he is said to have fled from 
the field at the first fire ; but he afterwards became one of the 
boldest and most astute of Indian leaders. 

He and his brother, the Prophet, journeyed through all the 
tribes on the west bank of the ISIississippi and on Lakes Superior, 
Huron and Alichigan, stirring them up and organizing them for 
a confederated attack on the whites. 

William Henry Harrison was then Governor of the Northwest. 
He gained information of the movements and designs of these 
Indian chiefs, and with prompt wisdom prepared to meet their 
machinations with foixe of arms. 

In October, i8ii,at the head of about nine hundred men, chiefly 
from Indiana Territory, Harrison marched against Tecumseh's 
levies at Tippecanoe, on a branch of the Wabash river. On the 
6th November he arrived with his force at the Prophet's town ; 
here he was met by three Indian deputies with messages of peace. 
Harrison listened to them, but directed his men to sleep on their 
arms, well loaded and ready for instant service. Tecumseh was 
absent. The insidious " Prophet " had no superior chief to restrain 
him. 

About an hour before day-break the savages attacked General 
Harrison's camp ; he was ready for them. His men were in- 
stantly under arms, and pzit out their jires, so that the Indians 
could not see them. They were more than equal to the red men 
in w^oodland warfare. The Prophet kept at a safe distance on a 
neighboring hill, where he chanted a dismal war song. Thus 
urged on, the Indians came out from their cover. They fought 
for a time with resolution ; but the brave frontiersmen charged 
them furiously, and routed them with heavy slaughter. General 
Harrison was everywhere, exposing himself to great dangers. 
The victory was decisive. Tecumseh returned from the south 
to find his town in ruins, his best warriors slain, and his con- 
federacy destroyed.^ 

When the war between Great Britain and the TJnited States 
was declared in 1812, the English promptly availed themselves 
of the services of the savages as allies. Tecumseh stood high in 
English esteem, and was made a brigadier-general in their army ; 

» Art. Tecumseh, Amer. Eneyclop., XV. 3B0. Eargleston's Household U. S., 245. 
- Eggleston's Household U. S., 2i6. Deny, 184, 185. Quackenbos, 342, 343. 



The War on Land. 619 

and they did not hesitate to put in movement all the horrors of 
Indian warfare. 

It was natural and, in some measure, unavoidable that the 
American War DejDartment, in the opening of the war, should 
have looked to the officers surviving from Revolutionary days as 
the leaders of their armies ; but this was a serious error. Years had 
passed. Times had changed. The really strong men were gone. 
Those who still lived had not, in the war, shown themselves to be 
possessed of military genius. They were now old and feeble, and 
unfit for the stern and arduous exigencies of a frontier war. 

Gen. William Hull was one of these old men, Dearborn was 
another, Winchester was another. The name of each was soon 
signalized by depressing disasters to the American cause. Secre- 
tary Eustis, of the War Department, had planned an invasion of 
Canada, under the lead of General Dearborn in the Northeast, Van 
Rensselaer in the centre, and Hull in the Northwest. They were 
to capture forts and country before them, and to make Montreal 
their common objective point. Dearborn was commander-in- 
chief; Hull was already Governor of Alichigan. 

Congress had voted to increase the regular army to thirty-five 
thousand, and to authorize the President to accept the services of 
fifty thousand volunteers. To meet war expenses they authorized 
a loan of eleven millions.* 

General Hull was soon at the head of an army of two thousand 
five hundred men, of whom three hundred Avere regulars. By 
slow and laborious marches he made his way to Detroit, in Mich- 
igan, on the strait connecting Lake Erie with Lake St. Clair, and 
opposite to Sandwich, in Canada. He did not receive actual 
notice that the war had been declared as early as the enemy did ;^ 
and the day after he received it, a boat containing his baggage and 
official papers was captured. He felt already oppressed by the 
conviction that the force under his command was inadequate to 
the work assigned him. 

But one course held out hope to him, and, had he been resolute, 
energetic and competent, he might have pursued it with success. 
He might have marched instantly on the British posts and com- 
pelled their surrender, one after another, before succor could 
reach them. He made no such attempt. He hesitated and de- 
layed while the enemy were rallying to the threatened points and 
getting all their forces into the field. 

Hull waited for positive orders, and did not receive them until 
the I3th of July, 1813. They were that he should proceed 
> Stephens' Comp. U. S., 403. ^Quackenbos' U. S., 345. 



620 A History of the United States of America. 

immediately to the invasion of Canada. He waited three days 
longer ; then he crossed the narrow strait to Sandwich. He 
might have attacked Maiden immediately. Instead of this he 
bvisied himself with the issue of a proclamation, verbose, empty 
and vain ; and before he was ready, a strong force of regulars, 
militia and Indians guarded Maiden. Tecumseh called his war- 
riors to join him. Hostile parties were lying on the outskirts of 
the American army, cutting off their supplies. Intercepted letters 
brought to Hull stated that the Indians of the North were all 
rising and preparing to join the English ; and at the most inop- 
portune of times, General Dearborn agreed with the British Gov- 
ernor of Canada to suspend hostilities, except on that part of the 
frontier occupied by Hull ! ^ 

Thus the British General Brock, released from anxiety at 
Niagara and its vicinity, w^as able to transfer his forces and his 
personal presence to Maiden. He assumed command there, and 
Tecumseh, on flat pieces of elm-bark stretched on the ground, 
sketched for him an accurate drawing of Detroit with its works, 
hills, rivers, roads and marshes. Brock was so pleased that he 
drew his own sash from his waist and put it round Tecumseh ; 
but this wily savage pretended humbly to refuse the honor, and 
put the sash on Round-Head, a Wyandot warrior older than him- 
self.^ 

The Indians, under these flatteries, came in growing numbers 
to the British camps. General Hull grew more and more dis- 
heartened and alarmed. The climax of his unsoldier-like tremor 
was reached when he heard of the capture of Fore Mackinaw. 
This fort was the extreme northern point of American military 
possession, being on an island in the strait connecting the head 
of Lake ISIichigan with Lake Huron. The weak garrison had 
been left unsuccored by the War Department, although nearly 
two months passed between the ultimatum of the English minis- 
ter, Foster, and its fall. The British forces appeared July 17th, 
The garrison had not even heard of the declaration of war, and, 
having no power to resist, they surrendered at once.^ 

General Hull was instantl}' beset by visions of hordes of North- 
ern savages pouring down on his flanks. He retreated with his 
army across the strait and re-occupied Detroit. General Brock 
promptly followed him, and appeared before Detroit with an 
army of three hundred British regulars, four hundred and fifty 
Canadians and six hundred Indians.* 

' Qucackenhos' U. S., 346. 

2 Compare Quackeiibos, 346. Eggleston's Household U. S., 248. 

8 D. B. Scott's U. S., 251. Eggle'ston's Household U. S., 247. < Quackenbos, 347. 



The War 07i Land. 621 

Hull had intrenchments, and an army superior in numbers, and 
certainly equal in courage and moi'al power to that of Brock. The 
Americans were confident of success, and, with batteries of guns 
loaded with grape-shot, stood ready to receive the British advance. 
But by this time the weak and aged Hull was entirely unnerved by 
imaginary terrors. By his orders a table-cloth, displayed on a 
staff', was raised as a white flag over his fortifications. On the 
i6th of August, 1S13, he surrendered to the British general his 
whole army, with all its arms and stores, his fortifications, the 
town of Detroit and all the Territory of Michigan ! ' 

His officers and men were so moved by this humiliation that 
many of them shed tears of shame and sorrow. The same emo- 
tions filled the hearts of the people of the United States, and 
they did not begin to recover hope until Capt. Isaac Hull (nephew 
of the unhappy general) brought his prisoners into Boston after 
capturing the Guerriere on the 19th of August. The revival of 
hope had come from the quarter whence it was least expected. 

General, Hull was, two years afterwards, exchanged for thirty 
British prisoners, and was brought to trial before a court-martial 
upon three charges: (i) Treason; (3) Cowardice; (3) Unsol- 
dier-like conduct. The court gave no response on the first charge, 
but convicted him on the others, and ordered him to be shot to 
death with musketry. In consideration of his age and Revolu- 
tionary services, his life was spared, but his name was stricken 
from the army roll. 

Probably the executive department of the government was the 
more disposed to be lenient because of their own manifested 
shortcomings in foresight and duty at that time. Subsequent re- 
searches have shown that the difficulties surrounding General 
Hull at the time of his suiTcnder were very formidable, and 
remove all suspicion of bad faith, and do something to clear his 
fame of the charge of cowardice in the most dishonoring sense 
of that word.^ 

In fact, a modern historian has given to these attempts to miti- 
gate, and even vindicate, the course of General Hull so much of 
weight that he expresses no opinion on the subject.^ But truthful 
history convicts him of such irresolution, weakness and failure in 
soldier-like action as must pennanently becloud his fame. 

The land campaign of 1813 continued unfortunate for the Amer- 
icans. About the time that Detroit surrendered, large bands of 

J Seott, 251. Quackenbos, 247. 

2 Art. Hall, Aiiier. Eucyclop., IX. 341. Prof. Jiio. J. Anderson's U. S., IIG, and note 134 a, 
by James Freeman Clarke. 

3 A. II. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 408, and note. 



622 A History of the United States of America. 

Indians surrounded Fort Dearborn, on Lake Michigan, very near 
the present site of Chicago. The commander, having a very fee- 
ble garrison, offered to surrender on condition that he and his men 
should be permitted to retire in safety. This offer was accepted. 
The only precaution taken by the garrison was to destroy a con- 
siderable quantity of whiskey and gunpowder in the fort ; yet this 
was made the pretext for an attack on the retiring j^risoners. 
Some were killed, and others distributed as captives among the 
tribes. Fort Dearborn was burned to the ground. 

In October, 1812, General Van Rensselaer was encamped at 
Lewistown, on the Niagara river, with a considerable force, 
chiefly of New York militia. His relative. Colonel Van Rensse- 
laer, and Colonel Christie crossed over on the 13th October with 
a select body of troops and attacked the British at Queenstown, 
under General Brock, with so much of vigor and spirit that they 
were driven from their works and General Brock was killed ; but, 
knowing that reinforcements were hastening to the enemy. Colo- 
nel Van Rensselaer recrossed, to bring over more troops. To his 
amazement and discomfiture, the New York militia refused to 
cross, on the ground that they were to defend their own State, 
and not to invade a foreign countr}- ! ^ One thousand armed men 
thus stood in sight of their brave comrades on the other side, re- 
fusing to cross to their aid. 

The result was that those gallant troops — among whom Col. Win- 
field Scott, afterwards so renowned, had crossed as a volunteer — 
were overwhelmed by a large force of British and Indians, under 
General Sheafte ; and, after losing sixty killed and one hundred 
wounded, were obliged to surrender. Thus early in the war was 
indicated that unpatriotic spirit which afterwards developed itself 
to a point near to disunion. 

General Van Rensselaer was so disgusted that he resigned. 
General Smyth, of Virginia, was appointed his successor. He 
projected two invasions of Canada, but, succeeding in neither, he 
also resigned." 

The only American successes were in two repulses of the en- 
emy in their attempts upon Ogdensburg and in a hurried incursion 
of Colonel Pike into Canada, during which he defeated a body of 
British and Indians. 

When the Congress re-assembled, strong opposition to the con- 
tinuance of the war was manifested. This opposition was not 
confined to the Northern section. John Randolph of Roanoke, a 
Virginian of pronounced democracy in principle, had opposed it 
1 Art. Van Rensselaer, New Amer. Eueyclop., XVI. 25. D. B. Scott, 252. ^Quackenbos, 352. 



The War oil Land. 623 

from the beginning. His ground was that the policy of England,' 
adverse to the shipping and commercial interests of America, had 
been forced upon her by her gigantic struggle with Napoleon ; 
that England represented the rights of mankind against a mili- 
tary usurper in that struggle, and that the United States, so far 
from embarrassing her by war, ought to bear patiently the indi- 
rect effects of her policy until success against Napoleon should 
enable her to abandon it.^ 

His argument had been corroborated by the fact that in Sep- 
tember, 1S13, Admiral Warren, commanding the British naval 
forces on the coast, had written from Halifax a letter to James 
Monroe, Secretaiy of State, offering (by authority) a cessation of 
hostilities on the basis of a revocation of the " orders in council." 
Monroe x'eplied that unless England would agree to abandon her 
claim of right to search and impressment, peace could not en- 
dure.* The correspondence went no further ; and so, the opposers 
of the war were outvoted, and in the winter of 18 13— '13 the Con- 
gress provided for a large increase of the army and navy.^ 

General James Armstrong had succeeded Doctor Eustis, who 
had resigned the office of Secretary of War. Armstrong planned 
an invasion of Canada substantially the same as that of 181 3. 
His only advantages were better officers and greater experience. 
Still, Canada was not conquered. 

The Kentuckians insisted on General Harrison as their leader, 
and he had command in the Northwest.* Under him was Win- 
chester, a veteran of the Revolution. Harrison determined, if 
possible, to recover Detroit ; but his march through interminable 
woods and swamps was impeded by the approach of winter. 
He fixed his headquarters at Franklinton, Ohio. Winchester, 
with a division of the army, was at Fort Defiance, on the 
Maumee. 

In January, 1813, hearing that Americans in Frenchtown, on 
the river Raisin, twenty-six miles from Detroit, were threatened 
by an attack from British and Indians, Winchester, with eight 
hundred men, marched to their relief. He met and drove off' the 
attacking party ; but his camp was soon besieged by one thousand 
five hundred British and savages under Colonel Proctor. A battle 
ensued January' 22d, 1813, in which each force lost about three 
hundred in killed, wounded and missing. Winchester was sur- 
rounded, and his small force was menaced with destruction. 

Colonel Proctor urged him to surrender, with a solemn pledge 
on his own part that the lives and property of the Americans 

'Stephens' Coinp. U. S., 406. 2 lUd., 406. SQuackenbos. 352, 353. * Ibid., 353, 354. 



624 A History of the United States of America. 

should be safe. General Winchester accepted these terms ; but 
hardly had the surrender been made before Proctor marched his 
white forces to Maiden with all the prisoners able to walk, and 
leaving no guard to protect the weak, sick and wounded. A 
brutal massacre by the savages followed, in which these brave 
men, nearly all of whom were from the very flower of the Ken- 
tucky families, were mercilessly tortured. Many were slain ; 
many of the wounded were burned -in two houses to which the 
savages set fii^e. Some were dragged as slaves to Detroit and 
offered for sale there. The people did what they could to ransom 
them, and remonstrated with Proctor, but without relief. He did 
nothing to prevent these barbarities.* To his name a permanent 
stigma of disgrace is attached. Tecumseh himself reproached 
Proctor as unfit to be a commander.^ 

When General Harrison heard of this disaster he marched 
hastily with the hope of relieving, to some extent, the remnant of 
Winchester's command. His troops were fii'ed with indignation. 
" Remember the river Raisin ! " became a watchword to which 
hundreds of volunteers in Kentucky and Ohio responded by has- 
tening to the American camps. 

Winchester's unauthorized, though well intended, movement to 
Frenchtown had disadjusted General Harrison's plan. . He was 
too weak to attack Detroit. He hastily ei^ected Fort Meigs, at 
the rapids of the Maumee. The works were not completed 
when Proctor, with his troops, and Tecumseh, with six hundred 
warriors from the Wabash region, appeared. The siege was 
fiercely pressed, but the defence was gallant and successful. The 
Indians mounted into the trees to fire into the fort. Harrison 
exposed himself in duty, and narrowly escaped two of these 
stealthy shots, one of which killed a soldier by his side, and 
another struck the bench on which he was sitting. 

General Clay, with one thousand two hundred Kentuckians, 
was rapidly marching to relieve the fort. Under Harrison's orders 
.a detachment from this force landed on the left side of the river 
to destroy the British batteries, while a sortie was made from the 
fort on the right. Some success attended this movement ; but, 
unfortunately, Colonel Dudley, contrary to Harrison's orders, 
instead of retiring to his boats, sought to maintain his position. 
The main body of the enemy intercepted him. Eighty of his 
men were killed and five hundred and fifty taken prisoner. 
About one hundred and fifty escaped in the boats. The prisoners 

1 Goodrich, 334. Quackenbos, 3M, 355. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 266. 
3 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 217. Quackenbos, 357. 



The War on Land. 6251 

were treated with accustomed barbarity by the savages, notwith- 
standing the indignant interposition of the bi-ave Tecumseh/ 

Finding all his efforts to capture Fort Meigs vain, Proctor 
abandoned the siege. General Clay was placed in command at 
Meigs. Proctor returned in July to renew the attack, but the 
fort was now in good condition and Clay was prepared. Find- 
ing himself baffled, Proctor sought, by a sudden assault, to cap- 
ture Fort Stephenson at Sandusky, a few miles south of Lake 
Erie. Major Croghan, of Kentucky, a youth "of twenty-one 
years, was in command, ^vith a garrison of one hundred and sixty 
men. The work was a weak stockade with one mounted six- 
pounder. General Harrison had given Croghan discretionary 
orders to abandon it ; but this young commander, knowing its 
importance, and Indians being already around him, held on.^ 

On August 1st, 1813, Proctor, leaving a force of Indians to keep 
up a show of siege at Meigs, appeared at Fort Stephenson with 
gun-boats, five hundred regulars and seven hundred Indians. His 
force being nearly eight times that in the fort, he sent in a flag 
demanding surrender, with the unmanly threat of extermination 
in case of refusal. Croghan simply replied that the threat was 
vain ; that he would not surrender, and that no man in the fort 
would be found alive if it was captured.^ 

The attack opened August 2d by fire from the gun-boats, which 
produced little effect ; then a cannon fire was concentrated on the 
northwest angle to make a breach. The front was strengthened 
with sand bags. The six- pounder, loaded almost to its muzzle 
with slugs and grape, was carefully concealed, but kept ready for 
the expected assault. When it was supposed that the picket 
fence had beexi destroyed and the breach made practicable, three 
hundred and fifty regulars, under Colonel Short, advanced under 
cover of the smoke. The leader sprang over the outer works, 
crying out to his men the inhuman rally authorized by Proctor's 
notice: "Give the damned Yankees no quarter!" His men 
crowded to the assault. Just at the right moment the six-pounder 
was discharged, with terrible effect. Short fell dead, and three- 
fourths of his men following nearest were killed or wounded.* 
A fatal rifle fire was opened from the fort ; the besiegei^s fled. 
The Indians were panic-stricken, and took to the woods ; the 
siege was abandoned, and Proctor returned with his defeated 
troops to Maiden. 

1 Quackenbos, 356, 357. 

2 Egsrleston's Household U. S., 25G. Taylor's Cent. V. S., 2S2. Quackenbos, 361. 
3E-,'5rlcston, 256. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 283. Quackenbos, 362. 

< Eggleston's Household U. S., 256, 257. Taylor, 283. 

40 



626 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

In this heroic defence two hundred of the enemy fell, while the 
American loss was only one killed and seven wounded. General 
Harrison had been led to believe that Croghan had recklessly 
disobeyed his orders ; but when all the facts appeared he warmly 
applauded his course. 

Perry's naval victory on Lake Erie opened the way for General 
Harrison's advance into Canada. Commodore Chauncey had 
already a small squadron in complete control of Ontario. The 
advance of British reinforcements or Indians from the East was 
no longer to be feared. 

Proctor and Tecumseh dismantled the works at ]Malden and 
retreated with all their forces. Harrison followed them vigor- 
ously, occupying in rapid succession Detroit, Sandwich, and other 
points surrendered by the unfortunate IIull,^ 

He came up with the British army just as they reached the 
banks of the river Thames, near the settlement called the "Mora- 
vian Towns," eighty-six miles northeast of Detroit. Proctor had 
chosen a position on a narrow strip of land between the river 
and an extensive swamp, which was occupied by a strong body 
of Indians under Tecumseh. This noble Indian chieftain felt a 
presentiment that in the coming battle he would fall. He said : 
"My body will remain on the field" ; and he handed his sword 
to one of his warriors, bidding him give it to the son of Tecum- 
seh when he should be worthy of it.^ 

General Plarrison, with the eye of a soldier, saw the weak 
point in Proctor's thin line, which he had endeavored to stretch 
to the river. He ordered Col. Richard ISI. Johnson with his Ken- 
tucky mounted men to charge at that point. The order was in- 
stantly obeyed with perfect success. The line was broken by the 
headlong charge, and the Kentuckians, forming in the rear of 
Proctor's troops, poured a deadly fire into them from their rifles, 
while Harrison and Shelby attacked in front. The battle was 
then and there lost by the British. They broke and fled. Proc- 
tor, knowing how deservedly he was hated, took to his carriage 
and put the horses to speed ; but, fearing he would be pursued 
by Johnson's swift cavalry, he left his carriage, fled into the woods 
and escaped.^ 

Colonel Johnson now led his mounted riflemen to the hiding 
place of the Indians and roused them from their lair. They made 
a brave defence, and with their rifles emptied many saddles. 
Johnson was wounded, Tecumseh sprang to the front, and is be- 
lieved to have received his d^ath wound from a pistol fired by 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 365, 3G6. 2 Ihid., 366. ^ Eggleston's Household U. S., 258, 



The War on Land. 627 

Johnson himself. His fall was followed by the instant defeat 
and dispersion of his followers.^ 

In this decisive battle the British lost seven hundred men in 
killed, wounded and prisoners. The Indians lost one hundred 
and twenty slain. All the cannon and most of the small arms 
of the enemy were captured. Among the cannon ^vere six brass 
pieces surrendered by Hull, and on two of thein were the words : 
" Surrendered by Burgoyne at Saratoga." * The Americans lost 
in killed and wounded about fifty men. 

More than all that Hull had given up had now been recon- 
quered. General Harrison soon afterwards, in consequence of a 
difference with Armstrong, the Secretary of War, retired from 
active military service ; ^ but his country did not forget him. 

In April, 1813, General Dearborn, with one thousand seven 
hundred picked men, sailed across Ontario in Chauncey's squad- 
ron to attack York (now Toronto), the capital of what was then 
Upper Canada. The assault was bravely led, April 27th, by Col. 
Zebulon Pike. As he approached with his troops, the British set 
fire to a fuse communicating with their magazine, and retreated. 
The magazine blew up, with horrible projection of shot and shat- 
tered fragments. Colonel Pike was mortally wounded, and nearly 
two hundred of his men were killed or wounded ; but the Amer- 
icans advanced and captured the town with a large amount of 
military stores.* 

The troops under Dearborn re-embarked and sailed against 
Fort George, on the Niagara. Again the British blew up their 
magazines. They retreated to Burlington Heights, near the 
western end of the lake. The Americans followed them, and a 
battle took place after midnight of June 6th, in which the British 
were driven back, but succeeded in carrying oft" as captives two 
American generals, Chandler and Winder. Dearborn retreated 
with precipitation to Fort George. 

On the 39th of May, 1S13, Sir George Prevost, relying on the 
weakness of the American force left at Sackett's Harbor, ad- 
vanced on it from his vessels with a thousand men ; but General 
Brown met him and gave him so emphatic a repulse that he re- 
tired in haste, leaving his wounded behind him.^ 

General Dearborn permitted himself to be cncomjDassed at Fort 
George by superior numbers, and lost a detachment of six hun- 
dred of his men, cut oft' and captured. For this he was super- 
seded, and Gen. James Wilkinson was appointed commander-in- 
chief in his stead. 

» Quackenbos, 3:57. Taylor's Centeu. U. S., 2'.'0. - Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 342, 

3 Amer. Eneyclop., VIII. 741. •• D. B. Scott, 257. * Ihid., 257. 



638 A History of the Ujiited States of America. 

This officer had not made an enviable repu^ation during the 
Revolutionary war, and had added to his other faults the vice of 
frequent intoxication.^ He did nothing to retrieve his fame in 
Canada. He attributed his failures chiefly to dissensions between 
himself and Gen. Wade HamiDton, who held rank and command 
nearly equal to his own. But this did not account for the fact 
that in the severe action at Williamsburg, or Chrysler's Spring, 
in which Brigadier-General Boyd commanded the Americans, 
and in which the opposing armies both retreated, each with 
heavy loss, he was unable to command, and alleged sickness as 
the cause ; and in a court-martial, it afterwards appeared that he 
was at a house in the neighborhood in a state of intoxication.^ 

But in 1S14 the Americans did something towards recovering 
their reputation as soldiers. They had now gotten rid of the aged 
failures in the persons of Hull, Winchester, Dearborn and Wil- 
kinson, and were led by young and growing officers, such as 
Brown, Winfield Scott, Ripley and Jessup. 

At Chippewa, a few miles below Fort Erie, on the 5 th of July, 
a sternly-contested battle was fought between three thousand 
five hundred Americans, under General Brown, and about the 
same number under the British General Riall. The battle was 
obstinate and bloody. The Americans lost three hundred in 
killed and wounded. The British lost five hundred, and were 
driven from the field, and compelled to retreat down the river 
to Burlington Heights.' 

They were reinforced by General Drummond, and, under his 
command, again advanced. Gen. Winfield Scott's brigade had 
been detached to watch their movements. On the 35th of July, 
near the Falls of Niagara, this brigade suddenly found themselves 
in the presence of the whole British armv, advantageously posted 
for a pitched battle. Scott sent word to General Brown to hasten 
up, and, posting his artillery, opened fire, and niaintained his 
ground with cool resolution. The thunder of cannon echoed 
back the ceaseless roar of Niagara. 

Jessup ably seconded Scott, and, gaining the British rear, cap- 
tured General Riall and his suite. Soon after dark, Ripley's 
brigade came on the field, aftording timely relief to the almost 
exhausted troops under Scott. A heavy fire was kept up from a 
British battery occupying a commanding point. Unless this 
point could be carried, and this battery silenced, no prospect for 
victory appeared. " Can you take that battery ? " asked Ripley 

1 Goodrich's Pict. IT. S., 34?, 340. '- Ibid., 3 14, ?-:8, 349. 

3 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 349. Quackenbos' U. S., 373. 



The War on Land. 629 

of Colonel Miller. " I will try, sir," was the modest answer ; and 
up the hill Miller charged at the head of his regiment. A de- 
structive fire poured through his lines, but, closing up, they rushed 
on. Qiiickly the battery was in their hands, and the pieces were 
turned on the enemy. Tln"ee times the British rallied to recaj:)- 
ture these guns, and each time were repulsed with heavy loss. 
At midnight they retreated, leaving the field to the Americans. 
This battle, sometimes called " Bridgewater," sometimes " Lundy's 
Lane," was one of the most hotly contested of the war. Generals 
Brown and Scott were both severely wounded. The Americans 
engaged numbered three thousand ; the British, four thousand 
five hundred. The first lost seven hundred and forty-three killed 
arid wounded ; the last, eight hundred and seventy-eight, with 
a number of cannon and small arms. 

After gaining this dearly-bought victory, the Americans retired 
to Fort Erie, where they were besieged by the British army re- 
inforced and numbering four thousand men. A heavy bombard- 
ment was followed by a midnight assault on the 15th August, in 
which the British were repulsed with a loss of fifty-seven killed, 
three hundred and nineteen wounded, and five hundred and thirty- 
nine missing.^ 

General Brown, having been wounded at Lundy's Lane, was 
withdrawn for a time. Ripley and Gaines successively com- 
manded at Erie. Brown, having recovered, ordered a sortie, in 
which the advanced intrenchments of the enemy were captured, 
and they were driven back towards Chippewa. 

Sir George Prevost having been repulsed at Plattsburg, and 
Lake Champlain secured by Macdonough, General Izard was 
enabled to come with five thousand men to the help of Brown 
at Erie. On the 20th October, a second battle was fought near 
Chippewa, in which the Americans were victorious, though with 
heavy loss. This ended all efforts for the conquest of Canada. 
General Brown destroyed Fort Erie, and led his army into winter 
quarters at Buffalo. 

Meanwhile, in other parts of their land, the people of the 
United States were themselves compelled to experience invasion 
and desolation from war. 

As early as May, 1S13, the English Admiral Sir George Cock- 
burn had entered Chesapeake Bay with a squadron and land 
force, and had committed depredations and excesses along the 
coast and in the villages of Maryland and the District of Colum- 
bia, at Havre de Grace, Frenchtown and Georgetown, which 
> Compare Quackenbos, 374, with Goodrich, 351. 



630 A History of the United States of America. 

have made his name infamous in history.' He then turned upon 
Virginia and more than rivaled Dunmore. A considerable fleet, 
of four line-of-battle ships and twelve frigates, collected near the 
capes and in Lynnhaven Bay. The land force was under Sir 
Sidney Beckwith. 

Mr. Jefferson's plan of defending the American harbors by the 
" gun-boat system " was in operation at Norfolk. Troops had 
been ordered down from the upper counties ; but the malarial 
fevers of the summer season in lower Virginia had prostrated 
many of them. Gen. Robert Taylor commanded the military 
district, and Commodore Cassin directed the water defences. 

On the 20th of June, 1S13, Captain Tarbell with his gun-boats 
had an encounter with two British frigates and a corvette. 
" Every one was impatient to know how Mr. Jefferson's bull dogs 
would acquit themselves, and whether the philosopher's scheme 
would prove upon trial a monument of his wisdom or his folly." ^ 

The contest was curiously unequal so far as the number and 
power of guns entered it. The fifteen guns of the boats were 
opposed to one hundred and fifty on the decks of the men-of-war ; 
nevertheless, the fight was hotly kept up for hours. The ships 
suffered severely in their hulls ; the sails and spars of the gun- 
boats also suffered damage, and one of them was shattered by a 
thirty-two-pound ball. They hauled off in time ; they had done 
well and checked tlie enemy's advance.^ 

On the 23d June, the enemy made an attack on Craney Island, 
a few miles below Norfolk, with two thousand five hundred 
men, under Sir Sidney Beckwith, and a boat advance. They 
were bravely met and defeated with considerable loss by the sea- 
men and marines under Cassin, Shubrick, Saunders and Neale, 
and the Winchester riflemen.* Prisoners stated that many of the 
attacking force were wretched French troops captured in Spain, 
and induced to enlist for war against America by prospects of 
pillage.^ 

Enraged by their defeat at Craney Island, the marauders at- 
tacked Hampton, June 35th, which they captured after a gallant 
defence by about four hundred infantry and artillerists, under 
Maj. Stapleton Crutchfield. The British lost two hundred, the 
Ainericans only twenty, in killed and wounded.® 

In Hampton revolting enormities on people and property were 
committed. A wanton destruction of private property took 

1 Blackburn & McDonald, U. S., 316, 317. 2 Lstter in Enquirer, June 25, 1813. ■ 

s Enquirer, June 22. Brackenridge's Late War, 133. 
<01Bcial Reports, Enquirer, June -Otli. " Brackenridge, 133. 

^Crutchfield's letter, June 2oth, in Enquirer. 



The War on Land. 631 

place. An aged man, named Kirby, lying sick in bed, was mur- 
dered in the presence of his wife, who was herself desperately 
wounded. The women remaining in the town were forcibly 
violated by both soldiers and negroes. When one poor woman 
sought Cockburn and wildly implored him to put a stop to such 
scenes, his only answer was that "he had no doubt before he en- 
tered Hampton all the ladies had left it, and therefore he had 
given no orders to prevent it." ' The British soon left to make a 
descent on North Carolina. 

The enemy's fleet in the waters ofi' the northeastern coast was 
commanded by Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, who generally dis- 
couraged devastations on private property.^ Nevertheless, he 
made relentless attacks on exposed points, and destroyed shipping 
and manufacturing property in immense quantities. An attack 
on Saybrook was repelled by gun-boats with some loss to the 
enemy. 

In July, 1814, Hardy, with a considerable force, made a descent 
on Moose Island, off' the coast of Maine, took possession of East- 
port, and issued a proclamation declaring all the islands and 
towns east of Passamaquoddy Bay to belong to his Britannic 
majesty, and requiring the people to appear in seven days and 
take the oath of allegiance. About two-thirds of the sparse 
population submitted ; but the English council of New Bruns- 
wick treated them as a conquered people and placed them under 
military rule.^ 

Hardy was determined to attack the southern coast line of New 
England. On the nth August, 1814, his ships appeared off" the 
town of Stonington, in Connecticut, on Long Island Sound. He 
sent in a message to the people to remove the women and chil- 
dren, as he had orders to reduce the town to ashes.* The result 
was a signal proof of what may be done by a cool and resolute 
people for defence of their homes. 

They manned a small battery of tw^o eighteen-pounders, threw 
up a breastwork for riflemen, and sent a pressing message to 
General Cushing, at New London, asking help. In the afternoon 
five barges and a launch full of men came from the ships under 
cover of their fire. The calm men in the battery waited until 
they were within easy range, and then opened on them with such 
destruction that they swerved from their course and attempted 
another landing. Here they -were met with a six-pounder, loaded 
with grape and slugs, and with a deadly musketry fire. They 

1 Letters in Enquirer, July 2d and 9tli. 2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 326, 
3 Taylor's Ceuten. U. S., 326. •» Ibid., ^27. 



632 A History of the United States of America. 

retreated. The next day the attack was renewed and again re- 
pulsed. The town was bombarded with little eft'ect, and, on the 
evening of the I3th of August, Hardy retired.^ 

In the memorable year 18 14, the allied powers of Russia, Aus- 
tria, Prussia, Spain and England, aided by one hundred thousand 
men, under Bernadotte, King of Sweden, and even by secret forces 
set in motion by Murat, the brother-in-law of Napoleon, and made 
by him King of Naples, had overwhelmed the " j\lan of Destiny." 
He had abdicated his imperial throne on the nth of April, 1814, 
and became sovereign of the small island of Elba, in the Medi- 
terranean, with a fixed yearly revenue of six million francs.^ 

This left England free to employ her large armies against 
America, and she determined to use them with effective energy. 

In August, 1S14, the united fleets of Admirals Cockburn and 
Cochrane entered the Chesapeake Bay with twenty-one ships, 
carrying a large marine force, and also four thousand trained sol- 
diers, under General Ross, who had gained fame on some of the 
sternest battle-fields of Europe. 

Commodore Barney, with a small flotilla of armed vessels, had 
endeavored to protect the coasts of the bay and of that part of 
Maryland and Virginia. He retreated up the Patuxent river be- 
fore the overwhelming British naval force.' 

As the war in Europe had ceased in April, and the American 
War Department had known for months that large English 
armies had been set free for the work of invading America, it is 
amazing that so little had been done in the way of foresight and 
preparation. 

The British fleet divided in the bay, part ascending the Poto- 
mac and part following Barney into the Patuxent. They anchored 
on the 19th of August, 1S14, at Benedict. Here Genei-al Ross 
and his army disembarked. On the 21st they marched by the 
river road, and the next day reached Upper jNIarlborough, seven- 
teen miles from Washington. 

Near this point Commodore Barney had moored his small ves- 
sels. No course was open to him except to blow up his flotilla, 
and hasten with such guns and ammunition as his seamen and 
marines, with some impressed horses, could convey, to join Gene- 
ral Winder, who was straining every nerve to organize a force to 
defend Washington city.* Had this plain duty been attended to 
at the proper time, the approaches could have been easily fortified 
and the enemy defeated ; but it was now too late. To expect a 

-- 1 Taylor's Centen. V. S.. 327. Goodrich, 34S. Amer. Encyclop., XV. US. 
2 Art. Bonaparte, Napoleon, Amer. Enevclop., III. 43J. ^ Quackenbos' U. S., 377. 
< Taylor's Centen. U. S., 3-19. Quackeubos, U. S., 377, 378. 



The War on Land. 633 

body of a few thousand raw militia, in open fields, to stop four 
thousand veteran soldiers trained in European wars, completely 
armed and skillfully led, was to expect a miracle. 

The first encounter was at Bladensburg, six miles northeast of 
Washington. Oi:i the 24th of August, 18 14, the British infantry 
advanced, and, though suffering greatly with the heat and their 
hurried march, made an effective charge, firing musketry and war- 
rockets as they came on. The militia, under Winder, immediately 
broke and fled — some without having fired their guns. The only ■ 
real fighting was done by the heroic Barney, with Captain Miller 
and his brave men. They stood to their guns, and fired with de- 
structive effect double loads of canister upon the British lines, not 
even retiring when they were completely exposed by the flight of 
the militia. Barney was severely wounded, and both of these 
officers and many of their men were taken prisoners.' 

A modern historian, after narrating the prominent events of 
this battle, has commented on them somewhat satirically as fol- 
lows : " Such was the famous battle of Bladensburg, in which 
very few Americans had the honor to be either killed or wounded — 
not more than fifty in all ; and yet, according to the evidence sub- 
sequently given before a congressional committee of investigation, 
everybody behaved with wonderful courage and coolness, and no- 
body retired except by orders or for want of orders."^ 

President INIadison, with Armstrong, Secretary of War, and all 
the other cabinet officers, and many of the citizens, had ffed froiu 
Washington. 

Leaving his army encamped outside. General Ross, with seven 
hundred of his soldiers, took possession of the capital city of the 
United States on the twenty-third day of August, 1S14. No po- 
litical advantage whatever was gained. The people of the coun- 
try were mortified, but not subdued. On the contrary, they were 
rallying in increasing numbers to threatened points. General 
Ross, by express orders of his regent and ministry, performed 
deeds unworthy of a civilized nation, and distinctly condemned 
by international law.""* 

By gunpowder and fire he destroyed the Capitol building, with 
its valuable library and furniture, the President's house and all its 
contents, the public department buildings and offices, the arsenal 
and the navy-yard. He destroyed, also, the bridge across the Po- 
tomac west of the city, and a large hotel and several private 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 352. Qiiackenbos' U. S., 378. Brackenridge's Late War, in loco. 
SHildreth's Hist, of V. S. Thalheimer (note), 222, 227. 

3 Vattel's Law of Nations, 32L Lord Grenville, in Knight's Hist, of England. Prof. Jno. 
J. Anderson's U. S., 126, and notes 5 and 6. 



634 ^ History of the United States of America. 

buildings. No military necessity whatever existed requiring the* 
destruction of any of these buildings. It was the ^vork of van- 
dals in the nineteenth century. 

Having wrought this destruction, General Ross retired from 
Washington with his army. His next attempt was on the city 
of Baltimore. On the 12th vSeptember the British troops landed 
at North Point, fourteen miles from the city, while part of their 
fleet moved up the bay to attack Fort McHenry, which com- 
manded the channel. 

Soon after the march commenced from North Point, a party of 
American sharpshooters began a fire at long range on the British 
front. General Ross, with some officers, rode forward to recon- 
noiter. Two young mechanics. Wells and AlcComas, of a Balti- 
more volunteer rifle company, who were keen shots, aimed at him 
and fired. One or both shots took effect. Ross fell, mortally 
wounded, into the arms of one of his aids. His horse galloped 
wildly to the rear, with the saddle empty and wet with blood. ^ A 
shower of balls was poured on the two riflemen, both of whom fell. 

The death of General Ross sj^read gloom through his army, 
and was the omen of coming disaster. Ten thousand militia had 
assembled in and around Baltimore. General Smith, who, in his 
youth, had greatly distinguished himself in the defence of Fort 
Mifflin, was in command. Under him were Generals Winder and 
Strieker. His measures were prompt and efficient. He estab- 
lished several redoubts, and improvised lines of defence. 

When the British advance (September i3th, 18 14) came within 
range, a destructive fire was opened on them. The Americans, 
after holding their position for an hour, and losing one hundred 
and three men killed and wounded, most of them citizens of Bal- 
timore, fell back to a stronger position on high ground, partly 
fortified. Here they stood, firmly prepared to make their final 
stand for the defence of Baltimore. The British army again ad- 
vanced on the morning of the next day ; but they made no serious 
attack, because they had received tidings deeply depressing to 
their hopes of success. 

On the evening of September I3th the British fleet drew near 
and commenced the bombardment of Fort McHenrj^ Major 
George Armistead was in command of this important work, with 
sixty artillerists, two companies of sea-fencibles, and detachments 
(in his outworks) of volunteers under Berry, Pennington and 
Nicholson. The latter was chief justice of Baltimore county, but 
now "amid arms, law was silent."^ 

1 Qnackenbos, 379, 380. = Taylor's Ceuten. U. S., 350. 



The War o?t Land. 635 

The fire of the bomb-vessels and seventy-four-gun ships was 
tremendous. It continued during a large part of the night. Fif- 
teen hundred shells exploded in or over the fort ; yet, with un- 
daunted coolness, the garrison sighted their guns and kept up 
their fire on the ships, nearly all of which suffered heavy loss. 

It was during this momentous night that Francis Scott Key, of 
Baltimore, who, on a public mission for a humane purpose, had 
gone aboard one of the British ships and was detained as a pris- 
oner, ^vas moved by the high inspiration which found words from 
his pen in the great song entitled "The Star Spangled Banner," 
which has ever since been one of the cherished poems of freedom. 

The British fleet made no imj^ression on the fort, and in the 
morning sullenly retired beyond cannon range, thus giving up the 
contest. When news of this defeat reached the enemy, they re- 
treated immediately, and re-embarked all their troops, and the 
next day set sail down the Chesapeake, and returned no more.' 

Some of the people of New England disapproved of the war 
so much that a \videly-spread mist of opinion has attributed to 
them the purpose of seceding from the American Union and 
making a separate treaty of peace and amity with Great Britain. 

No conclusive evidence of such a purpose has ever been dis- 
closed by history. The nearest approach to it was the assembling 
of a convention at Hartford, Connecticut, on the ii^th of Decem- 
ber, 1814, composed of delegates from Massachusetts, Rhode Is- 
land, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut. They sat with 
closed doors, and no authentic report of their secret debates 
has been published ; but the resolutions adopted, and the public 
address put forth by them, very clearly indicated that they claimed 
the right of secession as sovereign States, and that unless a dif- 
ferent policy as to the war was adopted they would be driven to 
exercise this right. They appointed a deputation to wait on the 
Federal Congress and authorities at Washington and explain their 
views ; and they provided for another convention, to which this 
deputation was to report ; but news of the treaty of peace of 
December 24th, 1814, reached the actors in time to dissipate their 
schemes, whatever they may have been.'^ The Democratic party 
gained much ground by the reaction of repellant feeling against 
this mysterious convention. 

This feeling was greatly intensified by the inevitable connection 
of these Hartford movements with the fact (shown by documents 
submitted to Congress in iSi3 by President Madison) that in 1809 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 350. Quackenbos, 380. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 418. 
-Stephens' Comp. U. S., 419. Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 149, 150. Quacken- 
bos, 380, 381. Thalheimer, 224, 225. D. B. Scott's U. S., 2G9, 270. 



636 A History of the United States of Ame7'ica. 

Sir John Craig, Governor of Canada, had sent one John Henry as 
an emissary of Great Britain into the United States to intrigue 
with Federal politicians in New England for the purpose of 
inducing her States to form themselves into a separate nation or 
province dependent on Great Britain. Henry failed to effect his 
purpose, and, not being paid by the English government, disclosed 
the whole matter to the United States government in considera- 
tion of fifty thousand dollars paid him from the secret service 
fund; 

The last effort of Great Britain during this war with the United 
States was directed against the newly-admitted State of Louis- 
iana, and was intended to strike a fatal blow at the western ex- 
tensions of the North American republic. It was ushered in by 
an Indian war, which brought into public view the man destined 
to play the most prominent part in the bloody defeat of this 
British incursion. 

Tecumseh had extended his machinations for rousing the Indian 
tribes even to those of the extreme South. The Creek Indians, 
under their able chief, Wethersford or " Red Eagle," had formed 
a combination, running through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi 
and Florida, and in 1S13 were prepared for an attack on any 
weak point. The unarmed whites flocked for safety to the forts. 
Fort Mimms, on the Alabama river, about fifty miles north of 
Mobile Bay, had a garrison of volunteers. On the 30th of Au- 
gust, at noonday, while the gates were standing wide open, seven 
hundred Creeks, under AVethersford, rushed in, effecting a com- 
plete surprise. The buildings were fired, and nearly four hundred 
men, ^vomen and children were massacred.* 

The Governors of Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi Territory 
took prompt measures to invade the Creek country with seven 
thousand men. They were to advance in four divisions, from 
different points. The Georgians were under General Floyd ; the 
Mississippians under General Coffee. General Andrew Jackson, 
of Nashville, Tennessee, had already become so formidable that 
the Indians called him "The Sharp Knife.' He had served with 
distinction in the United States Senate ; now he took the field as 
rommander-in-chief, but his immediate troops were a large body 
i>f Tennesseeans.^ 

The first encounter was in November between the Creeks and 
<?he Georgians. Floyd defeated them at Callabee, and then at 
^.utossee ; and on the 29th November burned their town at the 

1 Blackburn & McDonald's U. S., 293, 294. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 403, 404. 

2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 414. Derrv. 192. Quackenbos, 308. D. B. Scott's U. S., 258. 

s Stephens, 414. Derry, 192, Quackenbos, 368. 



The Wat' on Land. 637 

latter place. On the 3d of Novembci", General Coffee attacked 
them on the Tallushatchee and gained a decisive victory. 

Vet their strength remained unbroken. They were besieging 
a small body of friendly Indians at Talladega when General 
Jackson, at the head of twelve hundred Tennesseeans, drew near. 
He attacked them with vigor, and routed them with heavy loss in 
less than an hour of fierce battle. Three hundred of them were 
killed ; the rest fled to the mountains. The American loss was 
small. ^ 

The army under Jackson now began to suftlsr for want of ade- 
quate supplies of food. A soldier, almost famished, approached 
his general, asking for something to eat. " I will divide my supply 
with you," answered Jackson, and drew from his pocket a hand- 
ful of roasted acorns. The men, finding their officers, from the 
commander-in-chief down, bearing the same privations, were 
cheered ; but soon their want became so dire that a large body 
in open mutiny undertook to march for their homes. Jackson, 
with his left arm wounded, but leveling a musket with his right, 
placed himself before them, declaring that he \vould shoot down 
the first man who advanced. Admiration of this dauntless will 
in execution of duty, subdued the mutinous spirit. ** The men 
retired to their camp, and supplies of food soon reached them. 

But the men claimed that their terms of enlistment had expired ; 
yet the war \vas not ended. Nothing but the highest resolution 
and patriotism in the leader could have surmounted these ob- 
stacles. With a diminished force, Jackson advanced and captured 
and burned several Indian towns. On the 33d January, 18 14, at 
the head of about one thousand men he fought and defeated the 
Creeks at Emuckfau ; and on the 34th he gave tliem another de- 
cisive overthrow at Enotochopeo. His military skill and strategy 
in these battles were conspicuous, and insured victory against 
superior numbers. 

In February came his final collision with Wethersford. Jackson 
had dismissed many of his volunteers, but had received others 
and was at the head of two thousand efficient troops. The 
Creeks made their stand at Tohopeka, on the Tallapoosa river, at 
the place known as " Horse-shoe Bend." Their position was very 
sti'ong. 

But on the 37th ISIarch, 1S14, Jackson attacked them, assaulted 
their works, and totally defeated them, so that out of a force of 
more than one thousand they lost seven hundred and fifty killed 

1 Stephens, 414. Derry, 192. Quackenbos, ."JfiS. Holmes, 1S4. 
"Quackenbos, 369. New Amer. Encyclop., IX. C81. 



638 A History of the United States of America. 

or drowned. The victors lost two bundled and one men. This 
victory ended all hopeful war of the Indians against the Ameri- 
can whites.^ 

Wethersford voluntarily rode into Jackson's camp and yielded 
himself a prisoner. He addressed his conquerors with native elo- 
quence : ^ "I am in your power. Do with me as you please. I 
am a soldier. I have done the w^hite people all the harm I could. 
I have fought them, and fought them bravely. If I had an army, 
I would yet fight and contend to the last ; but I have none. My 
people are all gone. I can now do no more than weep over the 
misfortunes of my nation. Once I could rouse my warriors to 
battle, but I cannot rouse the dead. My warriors can no longer 
hear my voice. Their bones are at Talladega, Tallushatchee, 
Emuckfau and Tohopeka. I have not surrendered myself thought- 
lessly. While there were chances of success, I never left my 
post nor supplicated peace ; but my people are gone, and I now 
ask it for my nation and for myself." 

A ti-eaty of peace was concluded, by which the Creeks surren- 
dered to the United States, for the States and Territory, all their 
lands except one hundred and fifty thousand acres. They gave 
the right to open roads and navigate rivers in their reserve ; they 
agreed, also, to hold no intercourse with any British or vSpanish 
post or garrison, and to deliver up property by them taken from 
whites or friendly Indians. The United States agreed to guar- 
antee their territory, to restore their prisoners, and to furnish 
them the necessaries of life for a time.^ This treaty did much for 
peace, but did not change the Indian nature. 

General Jackson's reputation for military skill and energy was 
now so high that, on the 31st of May, 1S14, he was commissioned 
as major-general in the United States army, and the command of 
the Southwestern department was given to him. The movements 
of large British fleets and armies for operations against the South 
were now known, and in July, 1814, Jackson left his home for 
Mobile to assume his command.* 

Spain nominally held Florida, but it was proved to Jackson's 
satisfaction that the Spanish commander at Pensacola was ready 
to admit British troops to his territory, and to allow his port to 
be used for the preparation of a formidable naval and military 
advance on Ne\v Orleans. 

The American commander-in-chief reported these facts to his 
government, and asked permission to advance on Pensacola ; but, 

' Art. Jackson. Amer. Encyclop.. IX. 681. Stephens, 414. -'Stephens' Comp. U. S., 414. 

s Compare Holmes' U. S., 185, with Taylor's Centeu. U. 8., 316. 
••Amer. Encyclop., IX. 681. 



The War on Land. 6 



^9 



as the answer was long delayed, he took upon his own shoulders 
the responsibility. He had opened a correspondence with Man- 
riques, the Spanish commander, protesting against his course ; 
but it was not changed, and Colonel Nichols, the British com- 
mander, freely used Pensacola, and was evidently prepared to 
seize Mobile. 

Jackson hesitated no longer. He crushed some symptoms of 
insubordination among his troops with a hand of iron, hung six 
mutineers, and then marched on Pensacola ^vith four thousand 
men, one thousand of whom were regulars. He seized the town 
on the 6th of November, 1814. The British blew up the fort, and 
with their seven vessels sailed from the harbor. Having thus 
struck a blow which paralyzed the Spaniards and baffled the Eng- 
lish, he transferred his troops as rapidly as possible to New 
Orleans, which he knew was to be the grand point of attack and 
defence. 

He reached this city on the 2d of December. It was in a state 
nearly helpless for any efficient repulse of an enemy ; but Jack- 
son speedily infused his own spirit into all classes. We have 
from an authentic source a picture of him at that crisis. He ^vas 
forty-seven years of age, " a tall, gaunt man, of very erect car- 
riage, with a countenance fuH of stern decision and fearless 
energy, but furrowed with care and anxiety ; his complexion was 
sallow and unhealthy ; his hair was iron-gray, his body thin and 
emaciated ; but the fierce glare of his bright, hawk-like gray eye 
betrayed a soul which triumphed over the infirmities of the 
body."^ 

He proclaimed martial law, and converted the city into a mili- 
tary camp, in which every man, woman and child were subject 
to orders from headquarters. This was right ; a temporary dic- 
tatorship was indispensable. But one M. Louiallier, a member of 
the Louisiana legislature, made himself specially mischievous by 
enmity to Jackson and opposition to his discipline. Before mar- 
tial law ceased, Jackson caused him to be arrested, and when 
Judge Hall, of the United States District Court, granted to Lou- 
iallier a writ oi habeas corpus, the determined general caused this 
judge also to be arrested and sent out of the city. 

After all danger was over, Jackson himself proclaimed martial 
law to be abrogated. Judge Hall returned, summoned the gene- 
ral, and fined him one thousand dollars. ISIany friends offered to 
pay this fine, but Jiu:kson refused their aid and paid it himself, 
trusting to his country for justice ; and his country was just. By 

iln Quackenbos' U. S., quoted p. 382. 



640 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

act of Congress, in Februaiy, 1S44, the sum he had paid, with all 
interest accrued, was refunded to him/ 

But his martial law availed for New Orleans. Everything in 
the threatened city yielded to the master mind. Riflemen from 
Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi, a few regulars, 
and the free-booter La Fttte and his Baratarians alike, felt the 
sway of the determined will. 

On the 23d December, General Keane, with the van of the Brit- 
ish army, consisting of three thousand men, reached a spot niije 
miles below New Orleans, and not far from Villere's Canal. Be- 
fore two o'clock, Jackson heard of their approach, and instantly 
resolved on a night attack. He marched out with about two 
thousand troops of all arms. The war-schooner Caroline^ under 
Lieutenant Henley, aided in the attack. Commodore Patterson 
went aboard of her. The British army, having penetrated through 
the cane-brakes, and reached more stable ground, thought them- 
selves secure, and had bivouacked for the night. Suddenly, at 
about eight o'clock, the Caroline opened upon them with a de- 
structive broadside, which killed and wounded many, and threw 
the whole body into confusion. Coffee rushed upon their right 
with his Tennesseeans ; Jackson, with the rest of his troops, ad- 
vanced on their front. For a time it seemed as if the Americans 
would achieve a complete victory ; but the enemy soon recovered 
from their confusion, put out their fires, and formed rapidly for 
counter-advance. Jackson's object was accomplished. He had 
arrested the march on the city, and had struck a heavy blow. 
Knowing that the enemy outnumbered him, he drew oft' his troops 
to the Rodriguez Canal, four miles from the city. He had lost 
twenty-four killed and one hundred and eightv-nine wounded or 
prisoners ; the British lost four hundred killed, wounded and 
missing. They had intended to march on the city the next day ; 
but this fierce night battle "gave them pause." They waited for 
reinforcements. Thus the battle of December 23d saved New 
Orleans to the American cause. ^ 

Jackson selected as his line for a final stand the neighborhood 
of the Rodriguez Canal. He extended his line to an impassable 
swamp on his left ; threw up strong intrenchments, and ordered 
General Tvlorgan, w^ith a detachment, to cross the river and throw 
up works there to meet a possible attack ; but he knew that the 
weight of the attack must be on his side of the river. 

Sir Edward Packenham was in command of all the British 
forces. He was brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, and 

1 Art. Jackson, Amer. Encyclop., IX. f)83. Ptephens. 

2 Amer. Encyclop., IX. 682. Taylor's fenten. U. S., 36S, 369. 



The War on Land. 641 

very near him in fame as a military leader. He had under him 
in all this region twelve thousand troops, the flower of the British, 
army. He joined General Keane and assumed command. On 
the 28th of December he advanced to feel the strength of the 
American lines. He was repulsed, and suffered a loss of nearly 
two hundred men. The schooner Caroline had greatly annoyed 
and cut up his troops by her fire. He concentrated his batteries 
on her, and by the firing of red-hot shot destroyed her.' The 
ship Louisiana took her place, and greatly aided Jackson in his 
defence. 

On the first day of January, 1815, Packenham opened fire from 
batteries constructed chiefly of hogsheads of sugar. The Ameri- 
can batteries replied with spirit. Jackson had used bales of cotton 
closely packed and worked into his batteries ; but both sides 
learned a lesson. The American balls dashed the hogsheads of 
sugar to pieces, and made fatal work with the splinters and frag- 
ments. The hot shot of the British set the bales of cotton on fire.^ 
Jackson abandoned their use, and trusted entirely to his long lines 
of earth\vorks thrown up from the slimy mud of the Mississippi. 
These proved admirable for defence, and the approach to them 
was so slippery that foothold could hardly be maintained. The 
engagement of the ist was favorable to the Americans. The 
British, after losing seventy men in killed and wounded, spiked 
their advanced guns and fell back, leaving a considerable quan- 
tity of ammunition. The American loss was eleven killed and 
twenty-tln"ee wounded.' 

On the 4th of January, Jackson was joined by two thousand 
five hundred Kentuckians, under General Adair. On the 6th the 
British General Lambert joined Packenham with his division of 
four thousand men. After deducting all on duty elsewhere. Sir 
Edward Packenham had now a picked army of not less than ten 
thousand men, with the best of artillery and small arms. He de- 
termined to attack the American lines and carry them by assault, 
not doubting that he would be successful, and would capture New 
Orleans, with all the spoils of war. "Beauty and Booty" was 
said to be the rallying cry throughout the British army. 

Sir Edward Packenham, early on the morning of the 8th of 
January, detached Colonel Thornton, at the head of two regiments 
of infantry and six hundred marines and seamen, to cross the 
river and attack the American troops on the west bank. This 
attack, if successful, would really open the way to the city. But, 

iQn the 27th— Taylor's Centen. U. S., 369. 

- Quackenbos, 385. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 170. Prof. Anderson's U. S., note 134 c. 

^Taylor's Centen. U. S., 370. Quackenbos, 385. 

41 



642 A History of the United States of America. 

with his chief force of eight thousand men, Packenham marched 
directly forward, over the open plain, to assault Jackson's lines. 
Besides their muskets the men carried fascines — long fagots — to 
fill the ditches, and ladders to climb over the intrenchments. 
These men were brave and confident. They had carried strong 
w'orks by bloody fighting in Europe ; but they had never before 
faced an earthwork manned by thousands of the most skillful 
riflemen in the world. 

A dead silence prevailed in the American lines. Jackson had 
given his orders that no shots should be thrown away. When 
the British came within easy cannon range the American artillery 
opened fire with severe effect ; but, closing up the gaps in their 
lines, the enemy came steadily on. 

They were \vithin less than a hundred yards when the fire of 
rifles and musketiy opened on them. Never in modern warfare, 
up to that day, had there been a fire so terrible and deadly. The 
best shots in the American lines were in front, and the rear line 
loaded for them, and passed forward the guns as fast as they were 
loaded. The marksmen ^vere cool, and aimed with care. Hardly 
a shot was fired that did not bring down a man killed or wounded. 
The British lines went down like faded leaves before a wind- 
storm. This could not be endured. Sir Edward Packenham led 
in person with conspicuous gallantry. His right arm was shat- 
tered by a ball ; his horse was killed under him. His men fled, 
and bore him back w^ith them. 

But now the sun was rising, and again the British lines were 
formed and rushed to the attack. Again they were met by that mur- 
derous fire, and again they broke and fled. Packenham was struck 
by a grape-shot, and fell mortally AV'ounded into the arms of the 
same officer who had supported General Ross when he fell from 
his horse at North Point.' Though nearly every officer was dis- 
abled, the troops pressed on. Some of them actually survived to 
cross the ditch and ascend the parapet, but only to be shot down 
there. The divisions of Generals Gibbs and Keane were led into 
the battle by them, only to suffer in the same way. Both of these 
generals sank down on the field — Gibbs mortally, Keane severely 
\vounded. 

The field in front of the American works now presented a 
ghastly sight. Not less than two thousand inen were stretched 
on it, dead, dying or suffering with disabling wounds. General 
Lambert, the only British field officer remaining unhurt, called 
off" his men, and prepared to send in a flag of truce. 
1 Quackenbos' U. S., 386, 387. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 170. 



The War on Land. 643 

Meanwhile, on the west bank, Captain Thornton had met with 
luiexpected success. He attacked General Morgan and his force 
of Kentuckians, and, misapprehending an order for change of 
position, these troops retreated. The retreat became a flight ; but 
Commodore Patterson and Lieutenant Henley, at a heavy battery, 
did good service, and spiked their guns before abandoning the 
work. Thornton ^vas wounded, and an order from General Lam- 
bert recalled his troops. 

The British soldiers in this frightful battle behaved as bravely 
as soldiers ever did. The total loss in all their operations was 
estimated at four thousand in killed, wounded and missing. The 
American loss on the east bank was only seven killed and seven 
wounded ; in all, twenty-seven in killed and ^vounded.' 

General Lambert gave orders for a retreat, and the British army 
withdrew to return no inore. They abandoned a number of their 
guns and eighty of their wounded. On the 20th of January, 
General Jackson entered New Orleans, and was received with 
joy and triumph. 

News of this victory, of course, reached the American people 
before news of the peace. Everywhei^e a feeling of relief and 
complacency took the place of depression and anxiety. The news 
of peace was received February nth, 1815. Madison and his 
cabinet had separated in some despondency, unable to devise 
efl'ective measures for relief, with a debt of one hundred million 
dollars, no money in the treasury, commerce destroyed, all indus- 
tries paralyzed. They were, therefore, greatly relieved by the 
conclusion of the treaty. Its terms were not sharply criticised. 
The victory at New Orleans made the people feel that England 
would no longer attempt obnoxious measures. Bells were rung, 
flags were hoisted, schools had holiday, and towns were illumi- 
nated. On the iSth of Februaiy, Congress ratified the treaty, and 
peace was proclaimed.'' 

This war ^vas the prevalent element of President jMadison's 
two terms of office. He had gone into it reluctantly. His War 
Department w^as never one of efiiciency and weight ; yet bril- 
liant successes had been won during the struggle. It cost the 
United vStates about one hundred millions in inoney and thirty 
thousand lives, besides an amount not to be calculated in destruc- 
tion and capture of property ; but, as a nation, it helped her. All 
governments had learned to know and respect her flag. Her navy 
had gained substantial renown. England was no longer I'egarded 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., oT?.. Quackenbos, 387. 
2Quackenbos' U. S., 388. 



644 ^ History of the United States of America. 

as ruler of the seas ; * and the victories of Harrison, Macomb, 
Brown, Scott, Ripley and Jackson had wiped out all inemory of 
reverses on land. 

The Barbary powers, and especially the Dey of Algiers, had 
disregarded their treaties and renewed their piratical attacks on 
American merchant-ships and property. No time was lost in 
giving them a stern lesson. Congress authorized hostilities by 
an act approved Alarch 3d, iSi^ Commodore Decatur sailed 
from New York in the Guerriere as his flag-ship, with a squad- 
ron consisting of two other frigates, a sloop of war and six brigs 
and schooners. 

On the 17th of June, oT the coast of Spain, he fe'll in with 
and captured the Algerine frigate JMashouda^ of forty-four guns, 
after a running light, in which one hundred officers and men 
of the enemy were killed or wounded ; four hundred and six of 
them were made prisoners. Two days afterwards, the smaller 
vessels chased the Iistido, Algerine brig of war of twenty-two 
guns, into shoal water and captured her. These vigorous move- 
ments alarmed the Dey. He was ready to make peace wdicn 
Decatur, with his squadron, arrived on the sSth of June. On 
the 30th a treaty was made, by which all demands on the United 
States for tribute were forever relinquished, prisoners were liber- 
ated, restitution of property or payment therefor agreed on, and 
a provision made that, in case of future wars, American prisoners 
were never to be treated as slaves. The captured ships were 
restored as an act of grace to the Dey, but not by an article of the 
treaty.' 

Decatur then sailed to Tunis and Tripoli, and made reclama- 
tions for property seized and injuries done during the Avar with 
England. Prompt redress and payment were made. Decatur re- 
turned to his country with increased reputation.^ 

On the 19th April, 1S16, an act of Congress was passed ad- 
mitting Indiana as a State of the American Union. 

The charter of the first Bank of the United States expired in 
181 1. No act for its renewal was passed ; but, on the loth April, 
i8i6, Mr. Madison approved an act constituting a new Bank of 
the United States, incorporated for twenty years, with a capital 
of thirty-five inillion dollars.* 

Madison had positively declined to be a candidate for re-elec- 
tion as President. In the fall of 18 16 another election occurred. 
The vote in the college of electors was one hundred and eighty- 

1 Stephens' Comp. IT. S., 422. 2 Art. Decatur, Amer. Encyclop., VI. 824. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 421. Amer. Encvclop., VI. 324 
* Stephens' Comp. U. S., 421. 



The War on Land. 645 

three for James Monroe as President and the same number for 
Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, for Vice-President. 
Rufus King received thirty-four votes for President and John 
Eager Howard, of Maryland, twenty-two votes for Vice-Presi- 
dent. Messrs. King and Howard were considered as candidates 
of the Federal party. Only three States — Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut and Delawai'e — voted for Air. King.' 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 422. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

The Presidency of James Monroe. 

ON the 4th clay of March, 1S17, James Monroe was inaugurated 
as President. He was re-elected in 1820, and so was Presi- 
dent during the eight years ending March 4th, 1825. His term 
of office was a period of constant and increasing prosperity to 
his country. 

He was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, April 28th, 
1758, and died in New York, at the residence of his son-in-law, 
Samuel L. Gouverneur, on the 4th day of July, 1831. In 1858 
his remains were removed to Virginia and re-interred in Holly- 
wood cemetery, Richmond, with imposing civic and military 
honors. 

He served with distinction, in his early youth, in the war of 
Revolution ; was afterwards a member of Congress ; was a 
Republican of pronounced type, though of tact and prudence ; 
was minister to France in 1794, and was received there with 
enthusiasm. He bore a successful part in negotiating the treaty 
by which Louisiana was acquired. He was Secretary of State 
imder Mr. -Madison ; and after the capture of Washington by the 
British armies, and their w^ithdrawal, the incompetency of Gen- 
eral Armstrong, Secretary of War, was so loudly proclaimed that 
he resigned. Mr. Monroe took his place. ImjDrovement was 
immediate, and the closing events of the war restored public 
confidence in the administration. 

Monroe had no skill nor power as a public speaker ; hence he 
was not regarded as a man of high talent. But if high talent be 
shown by the capacity for administering the most important and 
critical public afiairs with judgment, industry, energy and success, 
then assuredly he was a man of eminent talent.^ 

He took the helm after the wars with England and the Barbaiy 
powers were closed ; and after the series of gigantic wars which 
had convulsed Europe for nearly twenty years had been ended 
by Waterloo and the banishment of the Emperor Napoleon I. to 
the island of St. Helena, October i6th, 181 5. 

1 Art. Monroe, New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 662-667. 
[ 646 ] 



The Presidency of yanies Monroe. 647 

But though peace had come, and the commerce and shipping 
of the United States had no foreign foes, her finances were in a 
low condition. Monroe bent his powers earnestly to the work 
of reconstruction. In the first session of Congress a scheme of 
finance, involving a sinking fund applicable to the public debt, 
was adopted, and before the close of his presidency, sixty million 
dollars of interest and principal of that debt had been paid.^ 
The credit of the United States was established throughout the 
civilized world. 

The subject of interttal unprovements became a very pressing 
one in his terms. The country was v^^ide and the population was 
increasing. Steam was more and more used'on the rivers ; but 
how was the Atlantic coast to be connected with the Mississippi? 
how were the cultivated areas of the Northern States and Terri- 
tories to be connected with the great lakes? 

The question whether the general government could, consis- 
tently with the constitution, appropriate public money to these 
internal improvements, was one on which the members of the 
Republican party had generally held the negative. Monroe had 
agreed with them ; but it became obvious to him that strict ad- 
herence to the letter of the constitution on this subject would 
strangle in the cradle the infant powers of his countiy. He 
therefore gave his approval to an act of Congress appropriating 
thirty thousand dollars for the survey of routes for canals and 
public roads. ^ And he earnestly encouraged exertions by the 
separate States for internal development. De Witt Clinton and 
other public-spirited men of New York urged on the legislature 
the passage of a bill under which w^as commenced, in July, 1817, 
the great "Erie Canal," to connect Lake Erie at Buftalo with 
Albany, on the Hudson river. It was not completed until the 
summer of 1S25. It was forty feet wide, with eighty-three locks 
of solid masonry, to raise or lower boats. It crossed the Genesee 
river once and the Alohawk twice by aqueducts, and cost seven 
million six hundred and two thousand dollars.' 

At nearly the same time a canal connecting Lake Champlain 
with the navigable part of Hudson river was completed, and 
the people rejoiced by firing of cannon and great civic jDroces- 
sions. Trade received an impetus which has never ceased. 

The first ocean steamer crossed the Atlantic from Savannah to 
Liverpool in 1819. 

Monroe's cabinet officers were John Quincy Adams, Secretary 
of State ; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, of the Treasury ; 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 397. 2 compare Amsr. Encyclop., XI. 665, with Quackeubos, 391. 

"Quackenbos, 391. 



648 A History of the United States of America. 

John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, of War ; William Wirt, of 
Virginia, Attorney-General ; Benjamin W. Crowninshield, of 
Massachusetts, continued as Secretary of the Navy until Novem- 
ber 30th, 1818, when Smith Thompson, of New York, took his 
place. ^ 

In May, 1817, the President set out on a tour of inspection and 
observation, passing through Baltimore, Philadelphia and New 
York, and through all the Eastern and "Northern States ; through 
ISIaine and Vermont, up and down the St. Lawrence, and through 
the lakes, examining carefully the torts and military posts, and 
mingling familiarly with the people. He wore a blue military 
coat of homespun cloth, light colored underclothes and a cocked 
hat, being the dress in which he had been best known as " Colonel 
Monroe." His plain and unassuming manners and conciliatory 
address endeared him to the people of all classes.* 

During his presidency five new »States were admitted to the 
Union : Mississippi, in 1S17 ; Illinois, in 181S ; Alabama, in 1819 ; 
Maine, in 1830 ; and JSIissouri, part of the Louisiana territory pur- 
chased from France, in 183 1. The terms and manner of admis- 
sion of the State last mentioned Avill call for our special attention. 

The whole period covered by the presidency of Mom^oe has 
been historically designated as " the era of good feeling." ^ This 
was because party spirit lost much of its bitterness, and all the 
people seemed united in the single desii^e to pi'omote the pros- 
perity and happiness of their country. But it was not to pass 
without some of the disturbances flowing from war and slavery. 

About the close of 18 17, Amelia Island, on the Florida coast, 
became an object of attention from the government, because it 
had become one of the haunts of a horde of "buccaneers," who, 
pretending to sail under South American flags, captured ships 
and crews with piratical license and appropriated their cargoes 
to their own uses. Galveston Island, in Texas, was another of 
these haunts. In November, 181 7, a body of United States troops 
took possession of Amelia Island and broke up the lair of the 
pirates, and soon afterwards a similar course was pursued towards 
Galveston.* 

Spain did not look with complacency on these movements, 
though they were too obviously necessary and just to authorize 
her protest. In 1818 the Seminole Indians of Florida began to 
cross the borders and to commit murders and robberies on the 
people of Georgia and Alabama. Gen. Andrew Jackson was 

1 Stephens' Com p. U. S., 423. " New Amer. Encvclop., XI. 604. 

3 Stephens, 424. Derrv, 200. Thalheimer, 229, (note) 233. 
* Quackenbos' U. S., 390. 



The Presidency of James Monroe. 649 

ordered to take the field against them, with levies of troops from 
Tennessee and the regions adjoining Florida. They obeyed his 
call promptly.' A thousand men were enrolled in arms. 

He soon became satisfied that the Spanish commandants secretly 
instigated and encouraged the Seminoles, and that, when pressed, 
they fled within the Spanish lines for protection. The safety of 
the American people in all that region required prompt and ag- 
gressive measures. He did not delay to take them. 

He invaded Florida, seized the post of St. Mark's, and sent 
the Spanish officers and soldiers to Pensacola ; he captured — one 
at St. Mark's and the other at the Indian town of vSuwanee — 
two Englishmen, named Ambrister and Arbuthnot, who passed 
themselves as lawful traders ; but Jackson obtained conclusive 
evidence that they were supplying the Indians with arms and 
ammunition, and were inciting them to hostilities against the citi- 
zens of the United States resident along the Florida line. He 
ordered a court-martial on them ; they were found guilty and 
sentenced to death, and the sentence was promptly carried into 
execution.^ 

As the Governor of Pensacola continued to give shelter and 
encouragement to the Indians, Jackson marched on that place and 
took possession on the 14th of May. The governor and his small 
force fled to Barancas, but the resolute American general followed 
them, captured Barancas on the 37th of Ivlay, and sent the .Span- 
ish officers and troops to Havana.^ 

When these facts became known a fierce excitement was kin- 
dled. Don Onis, the Spanish minister at Washington, protested, 
and the English premier. Lord Castlereagh, warmly denounced 
the execution of Ambrister and Arbuthnot, and told the American 
minister in London, Mr. Rush, that "he could have had \Var with 
the United States merely by holding up his hand."* 

Mr. Monroe's cabinet were divided in opinion as to these strin- 
gent measures of General Jackson. It is now known that Cal- 
houn disapproved of them in secret conference ; and when, many 
years afterwards, Jackson learned of this, his feelings of resent- 
ment against Calhoun led to results bearing decisively on public 
events.* 

But John Qinncy Adams sustained Jackson's measures with so 
much of learning and power that the British government dropped 
all complaint ; and the Spanish government, knowing that nego- 

1 Stei>hens' Comp. U. S., 424. = Ihid., 424. 

2 Stephens, 424. Amer. Eucyclop., IX. 084. 
4 Amor. Encyclop., IX. G84. " Stephens, 424. 
'■> Art. J;!(.ivson, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 684. 



650 A History of the United States of America. 

tiations were already pending looking to the ceding of Florida to 
the United States, were content with the return of the captured 
posts and teiTitory. General Jackson, having subdued the Semi- 
noles, at least for a time, returned and disbanded his army. 

In October, 1818, an important treaty was made between the 
United States and Great Britain, by which part of the line be- 
tween their possessions in America was definitely settled, and the 
right secured to citizens of the United States to take fish on the 
coast of Newfoundland/ The line on the forty-ninth parallel of 
north latitude, from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, was afterwards marked by mounds and iron posts. 

Florida had been retroceded by England to Spain by the gen- 
eral treaty of peace of 1783. The events afterwards occurring, 
and especially the growing power of the United States, had led 
the Spanish government to entertain propositions which were 
brought to conclusion by a treaty of cession February 22d, 1819. 
By this Spain ceded East and West Florida to the United States, 
who agreed to relinquish all claim to Texas, and also to settle and 
pay all the demands of American citizens on Spain for commer- 
cial depredations, amounting to five millions of dollars. This 
treaty was unanimously ratified by the Senate. Gen. Andrew 
Jackson was the first Governor of Florida Territory.'"' 

Missouri was a part of the Territory of Louisiana, acquired by 
treaty and purchase from France. One of the provisions of that 
treaty was that " the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be 
incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as 
soon as possible according to the principles of the Federal consti- 
tution to the enjoyment of all rights, advantages and immunities 
of citizens of the United States ; and in the meantime, they shall 
be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their lib- 
erty, property and the religion which they profess." ^ 

It is impossible to deny that slavery and the right to own and 
use slaves existed in Louisiana when this treaty of cession was 
made. The population of Missouri had grown rapidly. A large 
part of it was agricultural, and the planters of corn, cotton and 
tobacco had brought their negro slaves and ^vorked them in their 
fields ; and when the population reached the requisite number, 
and a constitution was formed, it authorized slaverv and its inci- 
dents. 

But by this time a strong sentiment against slavery had arisen 
in the Northern and Northeastern States, and was shared by many 

iQuackenbos. 393. - kri. Florida, Amer. Encyclop. Quackenbos' U. S., 393. 

3 Treaty of Cession, Art. III., in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 425. 



The P reside )icy of yanics ]\Io)n'oe. 651 

of the most enlightened and able men of the slave States them- 
selves. No objection had been made to the admission of Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, Louisiana or Mississippi, though the constitu- 
tion of each authorized slavery ; and Alabama, with a similar 
constitution, was admitted 14th December, 1S19. But it was 
desired that negro slavery should at least be restricted to the 
region in which negro labor seemed necessary. Therefore, when, 
on the 13th February, 18 19, a bill was introduced in the House 
of Representatives for the admission of Missouri as a State, Mr. 
Tallmadgej of New York, moved an amendment in the following 
words : 

'■'And provided that the further introduction of slavery or invol- 
untary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment 
crimes whereof the party shall have been fully convicted ; and 
that all children born within the said State after the admission 
thereof into the Union shall be free at the age of twenty-tive 
years.'- 

The country had been resting on the action of Congress in 1790, 
during Washington's administration. We have noted that action 
in Chapter XLIV. It was a solemn declaration that the Congress 
had no authority to interfere in the emancipation or treatment of 
slaves, that being a subject for the exercise of regulations only by 
the States themselves. 

It need not surprise us, therefore, that the amendment of Tall- 
madge led to a debate the most excited and acrimonious known 
since the adoption of the Federal constitution. The vote in com- 
mittee of the whole was seventy-nine for the amendment and 
sixty-seven against it. When it came before the House the two 
propositions of the amendment were divided. On the first branch 
the vote was eighty-seven for and seventy-six against it ; on the 
second branch eighty-two for and seventy -eight against it.' 

In this form and with this restriction the bill admitting Mis- 
souri passed the House ; but the Senate, in which the Southern 
States had then an equal voice, and in which there were calmer 
men than in the House, rejected the amendment by a decisive 
vote.^ Thus Missouri failed to be admitted. 

At the next session of Congress she applied again for admis- 
sion. A bill, in the usual form, for her admission on ecjual foot- 
ing with the other States was again reported. Mr. Taylor, of 
New York, offered an amendment in different w^ords from that of 
Tallmadge, but imposing substantially the same restriction. Again 

1 Annals of Congress, 1170, in Stephens, 425. 

2 Annals of Fifteenth Congress, 1214. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 426. 

3 Stephens, 426. Annals of Fifteenth Congress, p. 273. 



652 A History of the United States oj" America. 

came a debute which, in fierce and angry spirit, exceeded that of 
the previous session. Never before had the foundations of the re- 
public been so shaken. 

Several Northern men and others known to be opposed to slav- 
ery, prominent among whom were Mr. Holmes, of Massachusetts, 
and William Pinkney, of Maryland, earnestly opposed the at- 
tempted restriction, upon the ground that it would violate the con- 
stitution as well as the treaty of cession of Louisiana, and would 
bring a State into the Union not on equal footing with the other 
States, but " shorn of its beams, crippled and disparaged beyond 
the original States." ^ 

Mr. Holmes said : " Though my feelings are strong for the ab- 
olition of slavery, they are yet stronger for the constitution of my 
country ; and if I am reduced to the sad alternative to tolerate 
the holding of slaves in Missouri, or violate the constitution of 
my country, I will not permit the doubt to cloijd my choice. Sir, 
of what benefit would be abolition if at the sacrifice of the con- 
stitution? "^ 

Thomas Jefferson, though retired from public affairs, was 
thoroughly alarmed by this new phase of the slavery question. 
He saw in it the uprising of the old Federal party for a new ef- 
fort at dominion. His far-reaching vision saw the dark cloud of 
the future bursting in war and bloodshed over the land. 

He wrote to Mr. Holmes : " This momentous question, like a 
fire-bell in the night, awakened me and filled me with terror. I 
considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, in- 
deed, for the moment, but it is a reprieve only, not a final sen- 
tence."^ This letter was written after the presentation of the 
" compromise," to whose history we now proceed. 

Taylor's amendment was adoj^ted by the House on the 39th of 
February, 1830, by a vote of ninety-four to eighty-six, and the 
next day the bill containing this restriction, and admitting IMis- 
souri subject to the restriction, was passed by the House vote of 
ninety-one to eighty-two.* 

But in the meantime INIaine had applied for admission to the 
Union. In the Senate substantial equality between the slave and 
free States yet prevailed. The principle demanding such equal- 
ity had not yet been lost.^ 

Therefore, the senators representing the Southern States, and 
those who agreed in principle with them, determined that Maine, 
with her constitution excluding slavery, should not be admitted 

1 Wm. Pinkney's speech, Stephens, 430. - Mr. Holmes' speech, Stephens, 427. 

3 Jefferson's letter, Stephens, 431. ^ Stephens, 433. 

6 See " The Lost Principle," by Barbarossa (John Scott, of Fauquier, Va.), passim. 



The Presidency of yamcs Monroe. 653 

unless Missouri, with her constitution authorizing slavery* was 
also adn'iitted/ 

The House bill for the admission of IMaine was tacked on to a 
bill for the admission of Missouri introduced into the Senate. A 
"dead-lock," involving the indefinite postponement of the admis- 
sion of both of these States seemed inevitable. It was at this 
crisis that Senator Thomas, of Illinois, introduced the proposi- 
tion, which finally prevailed, and which has ever since been 
known as the "Missouri Compromise." 

It was brought in originally as an amendment to the Senate 
bill for the admission of both IMaine and Missouri, and was in the 
following words : 

'■'■And be it further enacted., that in all that territory ceded by 
France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which 
lies north of 36'^ 30' north latitude, excepting oiily such part 
thereof as is included within the limits of the State contemplated 
by this act, slavery and involuntaiy servitude, otherwise than in 
the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited ; provided 
ahvays., that any person escaping into the same from whom labor 
or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the 
United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and con- 
veyed to the person claiming his or her labor or services as afore- 
said."^ 

The bill, with this amendment incorporated, passed the Senate 
on the 17th February, 1820, by a vote of thirty- four ayes to ten 
nays. Eight Southern senators, and tvvo — Noble and Taylor — from 
Indiana, made up the ten negative votes ; but a definite majority 
of Senators from the slave States voted for it, regarding it as a 
compromise as to the Territory of Louisiana, and one fair in its 
character, inasmuch as it was economicallv certain that slave 
labor would not continue to be pi'ofitable north of the designated 
line. 

But when the bill with this " compromise " clause went to the 
House it was rejected by a vote of one hundred and fifty-nine to 
eighteen. It was not until after repeated conferences by com- 
mittees as to the points of disagreement, that the House of 
Representatives, finding that no bill forcing a restriction upon 
Missouri could be passed, agreed to the " compromise " bill of 
the Senate, and adopted it by a vote of one hundred and thirty- 
four ayes against forty-two nays.' A majority of the members 

1 Egglestou, 266-26S. Holmes, 194. Blackburn & McDonald's U. S., 342. 

2 Annals of Sixteenth (Jongress, p. 427. Stephens' C'omp. U. S., 432. 
* Annals of Sixteenth Congress, 1586. Stephens, 432-434. 



654 -'^ History of the United States of America . 

from the slave States voted for it as a fair territorial " compro- 
mise" as to the limits of slavery/ 

This act was passed and was approved by the President, with 
the concurrence of his cabinet, including John C. Calhoun, March 
3d, 1S30. Maine came in under it, and voted for electors in the 
presidential election of that year. Missouri might have done the 
same ; but, imhappily, fearing evil from the free Territory and 
coming free States contemplated by the "compromise," she 
adopted a new constitution, a provision of which directed her 
legislature to pass laws to prevent free negroefi <^r mulattoes from 
coming to or settling in the State. 

This w^as regarded by the anti-slavery members of Congress as 
a departure from the terms admitting her, so grave that she could 
not be regarded as in the Union. Consequently the votes of the 
electors she had chosen were rejected bv the Congress ; and when, 
in December, 1820, IMr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, offered, in 
the House of Representatives, a resolution recognizing Missouri 
as a State under her new constitution, the resolution was rejected 
by a vote of seventy-nine for it, to ninety-three against it.^ 

It was at this crisis that Henry Clay, of Kentucky, came 
actively forward with his winning manners and magnetic elo- 
quence to seek for peace. Some writers have represented him as 
the originator of the " compromise " amendment, and its most 
strenuous supporter ; ^ but this is an error. He did not propose it, 
did not lU'ge it. He was Speaker of the House, and his vote was 
not needed for it ; but he had repeatedly taken the floor and elo- 
quently opposed the restriction sought to be applied to Missouri.* 

Pecuniary losses had induced him to resign, that he might 
devote himself to his private interests ; but the lowering aspect 
of public events, and the persuasion of his countrymen, had led 
him to accept another election, and he took his seat in the House 
January i6th, 1S31. Undeterred by factious opposition, he con- 
tinued his efforts for the admission of jSIissouri. A joint com- 
mittee of a large number of members of both Houses, of which 
he was chairman, made a report on the 36th of February, 1S31, 
recommending a resolution for the admission of 'bilissour'i, provided 
she should declare her assent to the fundamental condition for- 
bidding any law by which any citizen of either of the States gf 
the Union should be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the 
privileges and immunities given by the constitution of the United 
States.* 

1 Stephens, 434. 2 7^,-^.^ 434, 435. 

3Ex. Quackcnbos, 394. Thalheimer, 230, (note) 233. Barnes, 172, 173. Eggleston, 268. 

* Art. Clay, Anier. Encyclop., V. 315. ^ Resolution in Stephens, 437. 



The Presidency of Janies M^o?iroe. 655 

This resolution passed the House by a vote of eighty-seven to 
eighty-one, and the Senate by a vote of twenty-six to fifteen, and 
was approved by the President on the 2d of March, 183 1. John C. 
Calhoun, in his cabinet, advised him to sign it/ The legislature 
of Missouri promptly passed the act called for by the resolution, 
and on the loth day of August, 183 1, President Monroe issued his 
proclamation declaring Missouri to be a State of the Union. 

We have thus sought to set forth the history and nature of the 
" Missouri Compromise." It gave peace when peace was greatly 
needed. It was made by men who honestly differed on a great 
question of public economy. It made a reasonable and fair 
division of territory as to the limits of slavery. It was an agree- 
ipent outside of and beyond the constitution, but not repugnant 
to the constitution. Well had it been for those who upheld 
slavery if this compromise had been observed. .Slavery might 
have been prolonged indefinitely in the United States and her 
Territories ; but such was not the purpose of " the Divinity that 
shapes our ends." 

Thirty-four years afterwards this compromise was broken by 
the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill," introduced and pushed to enactment 
by Stephen A. Douglas, who was one of the strongest leaders of 
the Democratic party,, which was looked upon as the special 
guardian of slavery and the rights of slave-owners ; and thirty- 
seven years after its enactment, in a time of great partisan excite- 
ment, against which the minds even of grave and honored judges 
were not armed, the Supreme Court of the United States decided 
that this "compromise" was repugnant to the constitution of the 
country and treaties pursuant thereto, and that the slave-owner 
had a right to carry his slave and the rights protecting his owner- 
ship into any territory of the United States. 

These events were soon followed by the temporary disruption 
of the American Union, and by a war of four years, exceeding 
in rapidity, extent and energy of movement any war of modern 
times, and resulting in the total destruction of slavery and the 
prostration, for many tedious years, of the property, industries 
and rightful privileges of the Southern States, besides the deso- 
lation of their homes by the death, in battle, in hospital, or in 
camp, of a generation of the best men of these States. The " Mis- 
souri Compromise " was at least intended and adapted to avert 
such horrors. 

President Monroe's administration, so popular and prosperous 
as to be distinguished as the " era of good feeling," was, neverthe- 

-1 Art. Calhoun, Amer. Encyclop., IV. 2^7. 



656 A History of the ignited States of America. 

less, the seed-time of a great growth of troublous questions. So 
far as his intluence and that of his cabinet went, they were wisely 
dealt with ; but they were pregnant w ith controversy. 

In i8i6, the year in which he was first elected, was passed the 
first bill establishing a *• protective taritV" ; and it is a noteworthy 
fact that it was originated and passed chietiy by the intluence of 
John C. Calhoun and the members of Congress from the cotton 
States.* 

At that time England drew a great deal of her raw cotton from 
India, and imposed heavy import duties on American cotton ; 
but in New England and New York some factories of the coarser 
cotton t\ibrics were springing up. The reasoning of the Southern 
men, with Mr. Calnoun at their head, was this: We will send 
our raw cotton to the North, w hei^e we pay no duty on it, and w« 
will impose a heavy duty on English cotton goods, so as to pro- 
tect and build up the manufactures of America. Thus we shall 
sell higher, and finally buy all we need at lower prices.^ 

This was the very quintessence of a protective tariff'. Its real 
object was protection of domestic manufactures, and not the col- 
lection of duties for the necessary and proper purposes of govern- 
ment. It seems to us now strange that Mr. Calhoun did not see 
it in its proper light from the beginning, and did not realize that 
if the coastitutitin gave no authority to Congress to impose duties 
primarily and essentially for protection, the taritVof iSi6 came 
directly under this inhibition. 

At tirst the Northern people were not favorable to this system. 
They had few factories. Their interests were largolv in ships 
and shipping, and this was discouraged by the heavy duties on 
imported cotton goods.^ 

But inventive genius was so active, and manufacturing grew so 
rapidly profitable, that soon a school of political economy arose 
which taught that -protection" was the true -American system." 
At the head of this school was Henrv Clav, a man so fertile in 
mental resources, and so fascinating and eloquent in using them, 
that he exercised a commanding intluence over the policy of his 
country.* 

The -American system " embraced not onlv the policy of duties 
for protection, but of internal improvements bv the general gov- 
ernment, and the use of United States funds for the purpose. It 
had much to make it plausible and attractive — so much, in fact, 
that it has never lost its power, and plays still a large part in the 

» Art. Calhoun. Amer. Eiicvclop.. IV. -'Gix IbkL. V. StS. Scudder's U. &. 310, Sll. 
s Uomw K. Si'iuklers I'. S.. SIO, ill. ^ Ibid,, Sll, Sli 

* Aiuer, Em-yclop., V. &13, S14. 



Ilw Pri'Si\/i'/icv of ""/(////('.s .]/(>//roc. ^c^y 

policy of Nt)iih America. It was rouiulccl on the idea that, as llie 
country embraced within herself every native resource of soil, 
minerals, coal, wood, climate, ocean, river, atmosphere, needed 
lor development of uidimited wealth and comfort, her true policy 
was to build uj) her own manufactures and internal industries, to 
establish "a home market," to sell to herself and buy from herself, 
and thus to become entirely independent of every other country, 
and to be free from (he complications, disputes antl prolonged 
wars which had lor so many centuries desolated the fairest regions 
of the Old World. 

l>ut this foundation was really Utopian, and not based on the 
constitution of himianity which (Jod liad established. No nation 
in this World can "live to herself" so long as human sympathies 
exist and human thought takes in the compass of the world, and 
sy long as oceans, seas and navigable rivers invite to intercourse 
and exchange of commodities.- 

It did not take long for John C. Calhoun and his more intelli- 
gent disciples to discover that the principle of " protection " by 
customs on imports was not only in conflict with the true mean- 
ing of the Federal constitution, but was radically unjust, and 
was necessarily oppressive to the agricultural classes. These 
classes, in every fertile country, su]:)p()rt all other classes by their 
labor ; and yet by a protective tarilV they are restrained from seek- 
ing the markets of the world for such manufactured articles as 
they need, and are compelled to pay prices made higher by the 
protective duties. 

Nevertheless, the "American system," commenced in the last 
year of President ISIadison's second term, was carried, with some 
changes, through the presidency of Mr. Monroe, and has been 
continued ever since, with such readjustments from time to time 
as relieved a pressure so intolerable as to threaten civil war, but 
with no final abandonment. The arguments against it, based on 
its repugnancy to the constitution and its necessary injustice to 
unprotected classes, have never yet gained a controlling power 
over the selfishness and covetousness of the classes who unite to 
secure for themselves a continuance of its inequitable benefits. 

In 1830, another presidential election occurred. When the 
electoral votes were examined in the presence of the two Houses 
of Congress, those thrown by the electors of Missouri were 
rejected. They were cast for James Afonroe as President, and 
D. D. Tompkins as Vice-President. The rejection of these votes, 
however, made no difference in the result. Mr. Monroe received 
all the votes as President, except one from New Hampshire, cast 
42 



658 A History of the United States of America. 

for John Quincy Adams. Mr. Tompkins received all the votes, 
except fourteen, as Vice-President.^ 

As the 4th of March, 182 1, fell on Sunday, the inauguration 
took place on Monday, the 5th. Chief-Justice Marshall admin- 
istered the oath. No immediate change in the cabinet took place. 

Piracies having become a public terror in the w^aters south and 
east of Cuba, the frigate Congress, sloop of war Peacock, and 
several smaller armed vessels, under command of Commodore 
Porter, w^ere sent to that region in 1833. More than twenty 
pirate vessels were captured and destroyed. Porter exerted him- 
self with so much diligence in scouring the infested seas that 
the pirates were broken down, and shipping interests made 
secure. 

And now began to appear the resistless influence for self- 
government exercised by the Revolution and the establishment 
of the United States. The territory of Mexico and the provinces 
of South America, subject to the dominion of Spain, began to 
throw o?^ her monarchic shackles, and to establish themselves as 
independent republics. 

President Monroe and his cabinet watched these movements 
with interest, but with doubt and anxiety. It is not every people 
that is fit to be a republic, by possessing the elements of virtue, 
intelligence and force needed for self-government. 

But in the House of Representatives, Henry Clay exerted his 
matchless powers of eloquence in behalf of the recognition of 
these republics. His speech of 1818 was so noble and inspiring 
in its appeals for the self-government of man that the patriot 
Simon Bolivar Y Ponte, of Colombia, caused it to be translated 
into Spanish, to be read to the armies, and in printed form to be 
scattered broadcast among the people to confirm their purposes 
for freedom. 

In February, 1S31, Mr. Clay bore the leading part in an ex- 
citing debate on two resolutions offered by him — the first ex- 
pressing the sympathy of the people of the United States for 
the struggling patriots of South America ; the second tendering 
to the President assurances of the support of the House in the 
recognition of the independence of these several republics when- 
ever he should deem that step advisable. The second resolution 
had been opposed by some who claimed to represent the Presi- 
dent's views, on the ground that, as the question of recognition 
rested with the executive department, a suggestion from Congress 
on the subject was not called for, and was hardly respectful.^ 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 439. sAmer. Encyclop., V. 314. 



Tlic Presidency of James Monroe. 6s;9 

But both resolutions were passed by the House, the second by a 
majority of eighty-seven to sixty -eight ; and President Monroe 
received them graciously, and on the 8th JVIarch, 1S22, sent a 
message to the Congress, recommending the recognition of the 
independence of these vSouth American republics. 

On the 3Sth March, the House voted for this recognition with 
a single negative vote. The Senate concurred. The President 
gladlv acted, and communicated the fact of recognition to the 
proper ofhcers of these republics ; thev were six in number — 
Mexico, and five in vSouth America. Bolivar wa'ote a letter of 
thanks to Clav, in which he said : "All America, Colombia and 
myself owe your excellency our purest gratitude for the incom- 
parable services you have rendered us by sustaining our cause 
with a sublime enthusiasm.'' ^ 

Monroe did not stop with a bare recognition of the indepen- 
dence of these republics. He knew that the great European 
monarchies, of what was very inappropriately called " The Holy 
Alliance," had sympathized with Spain in her struggle to retain 
her revolted American provinces, and had directly and indirectly 
aided her in her wars against them. Therefore it was needful 
that the United States should make known her position on this 
subject in terms of which all the monarchies of the Old World 
should take notice. 

In his message of December 2d, 1823, he declared that, "as a 
principle, the American continents, bv the free and independent 
position wdiich they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth 
not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by an}' Euro- 
pean power," and that any attempt on the part of the European 
powers to " extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere " 
would be regarded by the United States as " dangerous to our 
peace and safety," and would be opposed accordinglv.^ 

Thus was announced the " Monroe Doctrine," which has ever 
since been the settled policy of his country, and which is one of 
the highest evidences of his far-seeing sagacity and statesman- 
ship. His fame as its author is not diminished by the fact that it 
was suggested by Canning, the British Secretarv for Foreign Af- 
fairs, and put into form by John Qiiincy Adams.' Neither b.as it 
been a " dead letter," inert and useless, as some memorable facts 
of history, yet to be noted, have shown. 

The Congress had extended a formal and earnest invitation to 
La Fayette to revisit the United States as the guest of the nation. 

' Art. Henry Clay, Amer. Encyclop., V. 314. 

"- Art. .Inmes Moiiroe, Amer. Encyclop., XI. 005, 60fi. Stephens. 440. Seudrler'.s U. S., 325, 326. 

■■ I'rof. Holmes' U. 8., 197, and note. Pruf. John.stoii's I'. 8., 107. 



66o A History of the United States of America. 

As such he came over, arriving in New York on the 13th of Au- 
gust, 1824, vs^here he was received with acclamations of gratitude 
and joy. He became the guest of Vice-President Tompkins at 
his beautiful residence on Staten Island. 

Soon he was waited on by deputations from Boston, New Ha- 
ven, Philadelphia, Baltimoi'e, Richmond, and many other cities, 
urging him to visit them. He went to every part of the country, 
and everywhere was welcomed by military and civic processions, 
and by such outpourings of men, women and children as never 
had been seen before. All were eager to see him and take his 
hand for a moment. He could not refuse this token of regard, 
and continued it until his physicians were obliged to forbid him 
any longer to practice it. 

One of his visits was to the toinb of Washington at Mount 
Vernon, and was attended by recollections of the past friendship 
between them, which gave it an interest not to be expressed in 
words. He was nearly seventy years of age, and Washington 
had been dead for a quarter of a centurv, but the scenes of the 
Revolution rose up to La Fayette with the freshness of a grand 
reality. He had the opportunity of looking on the great civiliza- 
tion which both had labored to establish. He visited each one of 
the twenty- four States. 

The Congress, in recognition of the debt America owed him. 
voted him two hundred thousand dollars in money and a town- 
ship of public land in Florida. His reception and treatment in 
the United States refuted the hoary slander that " republics are 
ungrateful." 

Early in vSeptember, 1S25, he bade adieu to the people who had 
so gi"atefully welcomed him, and embarked on the frigate Brandy- 
wine, which had been so named in his honor, because in that battle 
he first shed his blood for American freedom. He returned to 
France, and lived to 1834, always the consistent friend of human 
virtue and liberty.^ 

Mr. Monroe's presidency had been in every respect a success. 
From the troubles and embarrassments of war the country had 
emerged into a condition of peace, industry and ever-growing 
success. Except on one subject, no dangerous asperities had been 
roused, and that one subject seemed to have been placated by a 
basis of settlement in which all would be disposed pennanently 
to acquiesce. Five new States had been added to the Union. 
The number was now twentv-four. Sister republics in the South 
were coming to the moral aid of the leading republic of the world. 

1 Quackenbos, 395-397. Stephens, 440, 441. Goodricli, 371, 373. 



The Prcsidcticv of ^ antes jMonroe. 66 1 

At home and abroad, on the kind, on the sea, the North American 
Union was regarded with respect and hope. 

Monroe had followed the sound precedent of Washington, Jef- 
ferson and Madison, and definitely declined to be a candidate for 
a third term. When released from the cares of office he retired 
to his country-seat in Virginia. He had not accumulated wealth. 
In the close of his life, pecuniary embarrassments bore him down ; 
but he never lost his spotless reputation. Of him Jefferson de- 
clared that, "if his soul were turned inside out, not a spot would 
be found on it." And, like Jefferson and John Adams, he died 
on the fourth day of July — the day on which his country was pro- 
claimed free and independent. 

lie was the last of those sometimes called " the Virginia Pres- 
idents " — that is, the last of those elected to the presidential office 
who w^ere born and lived and had their business, their interests 
and their homes in Viracinia. 



CHAPTER L. 
The Presidency ob~ John Quincy Adams. 

FROM the end of Monroe's administnition all that has occurred 
in the United States has been simply development or evolu- 
tion, under forces which we have sought to describe ; and the 
development has been chiefly in four forms : (i) Material wealth 
and population; (3) Territory; (3) Self-government; (4) Moral 
advance under the influences of education and religion. Except 
when these subjects demand more extended treatment, brief state- 
ments of the most important facts will be all that history need 
offer to the student. 

Four prominent men were looked to as candidates for the pres- 
idency, viz. : William H. Crawford, John Qiiincy Adams, Gen. 
Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay. A habit had arisen — after- 
wards matured into the machinery of a presidential convention — 
of nominating a candidate by a congressional caucus. Mr. Craw- 
ford received this nomination, although he was already in failing 
health ; but the voters at large did not confirm this choice. 

When the electoral votes for President were counted, it was 
ascertained that Andrew Jackson had received ninety-nine ; John 
Quincy Adams, eighty-four ; William H. Crawford, forty-one, and 
Henry Clay, thirty-seven votes. For Vice-President, John C. 
Calhoun had received one hundred and eighty-two votes, and 
was elected, a few scattering votes only having been thrown for 
others.' 

No candidate having received a majority of the whole number 
for President, the election devolved on the House of Representa- 
tives. Here Henry Clay was potent in influence ; and yet, by a 
fixed rule, his name could not be considered, because only three 
could be voted for, and he had received the lowest electoral vote. 
He advocated and voted for John Qiiincy Adams, and on the 9th 
February, 1825, on the first ballot, Adams received the votes of 
thirteen States, and was elected President. Jackson was voted 
for by seven States and Crawford by four States. 

All unprejudiced students will find ample reasons for believing 
that Henry Clay acted with entire fairness and to the best of his 

1 Stephens' tUnup. U. S., 441. 
[ 662 J 



The Presidency of jfohn ^uincy Adams. 663 

judgment in preferring Adams. Mr. Crawford's sliattered health 
was a strong objection to him ; and Clay had strongly disapproved 
of Jackson's stern measures in the Seminole war, and thought 
him unequal to the presidency in education and mental equili- 
brium.* And when President Adams assumed his office, nothing 
could have been more natural than his offer of the Department of 
State to Henry Clay, who was in every respect fitted for it. 

But the political opposition waxed warm and mounted high. 
Crawford's friends joined Jackson's in a united and sustained 
attack on Adams and Clay on the alleged ground of "bribery and 
corruption." No reliable evidence has ever appeared tending to 
prove a previous agreement or understanding between these two 
eminent men to the effect that Clay should use his influence with 
the House of Representatives for the election of Adams, and 
that, if elected, Adams should nominate Clay as Secretary of 
State.^ 

Nevertheless, on the face of the facts, enough appeared to give 
point and pungency to the charge. It injured the political stand- 
ing of both Adams and Clay, and increased the popularity of 
General Jackson, who had received a definite plurality of the elec- 
toral votes, and who, by reason of his rugged will and military 
promptness, was the favored man of the South and West. 

The earliest trouble of President Adams was a controversy 
with Georgia growing out of a treaty with the Creek Indians. 
On the 1 3th February, 1825, United States Commissioners Camp- 
bell and Meriwether had made a treaty with the leading chiefs of 
the Creeks at the "Indian Springs," by which the United States 
had procured the extinguishment of the Indian title in a wide area 
of territory, according to agreement with Georgia in her cession, in 
1803, of the Territories of Alabama and Mississippi. This treaty 
had been ratified by the United States Senate ; but some factious 
white men and Indians had opposed this treaty, and so stirred 
savage hearts that the natives fell upon their own chiefs who had 
signed the treaty, assassinated two of them, and sent a deputation 
to Washington to repudiate the " old treaty " and demand a new 
one. 

The government of Mr. Adams yielded, probably unwisely and 
prematurely, to this Indian demand, appointed new commission- 
ers, and made a new treaty January 34th, 1826. But Governor 
Troup, of Georgia, with much show of reason and law, affirmed 
the validity of the " old treaty," took possession of the ceded 

' Art. Adams, Amer. Encyclop., I. lO*?, 107. Stephens, 441, 442. 

2 Art. Adams, John Quiney, Amer. Encyclop., I. 10(5, 107. Stephens, 441-444. Prof. John- 
ston's U. S. Uist. and Const., 159, 160. 



66-4^ A Uistorv of the United States of America. 

territory, and caused surveys to be made and lines riui accord- 
inglv. He disregarded orders from Washing^ton, and, Avhen an 
intimation was given that the State surveyors would be arrested, 
he made a distinct counter-intimation that he would meet force 
by force. His tirmness prevailed. The State surveys went on 
imder the "old treatv.'' Mr. Adams submitted the whole matter 
to Congress in a full, cautious and patriotic message ; but no fur- 
ther steps were taken. The " old treaty,'' in substance, worked 
its wav.* The Creeks and Cherokees were finally removed to a 
home west of the Mississippi. 

Mexico and the South American Republics of Peru, Chili, Co- 
lombia and Central America invited the United States to unite 
with them in sending delegates to a general congress at l^anama, 
to be convened on the 2zd of June, 1826. The object was the 
formation of a permanent league or treaty for mutual defence 
against enemies of self-government, and for common welfare. 
But bv this time some of these republics had abolished slavery, 
and the slave States of North America had lost much of their 
sympathy for them.^ 

After a stormy debate the Congress declined to elect delegates ; 
but Mr. Adams appointed Richard C. Anderson and John Ser- 
geant as commissioners from the United States to attend this 
''Panama Mission." However good were his intentions, his ac- 
tion therein did not increase his popular strength ; and the "mis- 
sion" was a failure. ]Mr. Anderson, -who was already minister to 
Colombia, died of malignant fever at Carthagena, on his way to 
Panama. Mr. Sergeant did not attend. Peru, Colombia, Mexico 
and the States of Central America were represented, and con- 
structed a leaguje of friendship and confederation, to which all 
other American powers or States were invited to accede. They 
adjourned to iv-assemble in February, 1S27, at Tocubaza, a village 
near the City of Mexico. Joel R. Poinsett, United States minis- 
ter to Mexico, was appointed commissioner to this conference, 
and was readv to attend ; but the congress never met again, and 
the •" Panama Mission '' resulted in failure.* 

Meanwhile the protective policy, or " American system," was 
urged upon the coiuitry with great pertinacity by the manufac- 
turers, who were beginning to derive very large money pro tits 
from it, to the certain loss of the agricultural classes. A conven- 
tion of manufacturers was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
which sent a persxiasive memorial to Congress, urging high pro- 

» Stephens, 443. Goodrich, 374, 375. Thalheimer's Eolec. V. S., 232. Derrv's U. S., 206. 
D. B. Scott. 279. 

s Sk-iKlder's U. S., 326. » Stephens, 444. St^'udder, -326. 



llic P /■(•si(/i-i/i\' (if y oil II y^iiiiicy Aihiiiis. 66^ 

tectivc duties on many articles of prime necessity Icj iarmers and 
planters. A committee of Congress sent for persons and papers, 
and reported a new tarifl" l)ill, wliich, in its operation, not for 
irxcnue, but av()\\i'dl\ lor piotect ion, went far beyond any that 
Iiad yet been enacted.' 

The debates on this l)ill contimied iVoin the litb o(" l'\l)ru;irv to 
the 15th of vXpril, 182S. Various amenchnenls were made, but 
it finally passed both Houses, and was apjDroved by the President. 
It was so objectionable to the |)e<)|)le wlig ujiheld a strict inter- 
l^retation of the constitution, and duties for revenue only, that it 
was called by tlu-m the "bill of abominations." In Charleston, 
South Carolina, tiic bittri' opposition of tlu- i)co|)U' was mani- 
fested by displayinL;' tlie ila^s ot" tbc sbippin;^^' at ball-mast, as il 
for an occasion of mourning." 

ill the midst of these accumulating irritations against John 
C^uincy Adams the presidential election of 1828 came on. He 
had not pursued a partisan policy, and had kept many of his (jp- 
ponents in oiHce, and, when vacancies occurred, had often ap- 
pointed Democrats. He did not, howeser, strengthen his prospects 
tor re-election b\ this course. \VilIi all his grt-at learning and 
ability, he was never, while Presitlent, personally magnetic and 
j>opular.'' 

His oj)ponent \\ as Andy.'w jacUson, who, without any caucus 
nt^mination, was warndy siip[)orted for President. The vote in 
the electoral college was one hundred and seventy-eight for 
Jackson and eightv-three for Adams. [ohn C. Calhoun was 
again elected \'ice- President by one hundred and seventy -one 
votes against eighty-three for Richard Rush. 

No new State had been admitted to the I'nion during Mr. 
Adams' term. Yet his administration had been economical as to 
public expenses, and tiie country had Ijeen prosperous. Locomo- 
tive engines for cars on railroads came into use. .Some of his 
recommendations, such as that I'or an obser\ atory at Washington, 
were ridiculed l)y the opposition press when made, but were 
afterwards adopted, and found to be useful and honorable to his 
country.'' He represented his district in the House of Represent- 
atives for many years after he left the office of President, and, 
even after he was more than eighty years of age, was designated 
as "the old man eloquent." He died in 1848, leaving a lai'ge 
estate, acquired j^artly by inheritance and partly by his talents 
and by 2:)rudent investments. 

' Sloi.lioiis, ur). (.'oodrich, 377. Holmes, 19t). (imiekenbo.s, 101. Derry, 207. 
= <.iuii<'keiilio.s' U. S., 101. 3Art. Adanvs, Anwr, Eucyclop., I. 105-108. 

*A. 11. §tophciis, 440. 



CHAPTER LI. 
The Presidency of Andrp:w Jackson. 

ANDREW JACKSbN was President for two terms, running 
through the eight years from March 4th, 1829, to March 4th, 
1S37. It was a period embracing many important events, in 
which men of eminent genius or talent took part ; and his own 
character and personality entered deeply into the constituent ele- 
ments of history during his presidency. His scrupulous honesty 
appeared in the steps attributed to him before he would consent 
to assume the presidency. The law firm of which he was a mem- 
ber is said to have made large investments in town lots in Mem- 
phis. He sold out to his partner all his interests in these invest- 
ments, because of the remote possibility that they might affect his 
impartial views of duty.' 

He was a ruler by nature and habit, and having now been ele- 
vated to the high office to which he and his supporters had con- 
sidei-ed him entitled in 1825, he acted uniformly on the principle 
of making his government " a unit." His intense power of will 
permeated and controlled his subordinates. He readily adopted 
as his canon of action as to appointments and removals the words 
first formulated by William L. Marcy, of New York : " To the 
victors belong the spoils." 

But this canon belongs not to peace, but to aggressive war. It 
is specially wrong in a republic where, though the majority must 
rule, yet the minority have rights and interests which the gov- 
ernment is sacredly bound to respect and uphold. Mr. Jefferson 
expressed the true Democratic principle on this subject. Pixsi- 
dent Jackson professed to be a Democrat, but he overruled this 
principle, and by the most indiscriminate and sweeping removals 
of those who had voted against him, and appointments of those 
subservient to him, he made his government a unit indeed, but a 
unit holding very large ingredients of sycophancy and cringing. 

He selected as his first cabinet officers Martin Van Buren, of 
New York, Secretary of State ; Samuel D. Ingham, of Penn- 
sylvania, of the Treasury (chosen on the recommendation of the 

1 Washington letter, June 6th, in Richmond Dispatcli June 12th, 1891. 
[ 666 ] 



The Prcsidcjicy of Andreiv Jacksoii.. 667 

Vice-President, John C. Calhoun) ; John H. Eaton, of Tennes- 
see, of War; John Branch, of North Carolina (another of Mr. 
Calhoun's nominees), of the Navy ; John AI. Berrien, of Georgia, 
Attorney-General ; and William T. Barry, of Kentucky, Post- 
master-General. 

The inaugural address was gratifying to a large majority of the 
people. The new President recommended prompt and energetic 
steps for removing all the Indians to a territory ^vest of the Mis- 
sissippi, ^vhere they would have ^vider means for pursuing their 
own modes of life, and would cease to be subjects or sources of 
border troubles and raids. ^ 

The Congress which sat from 7th December, 1S39, to 31st May, 
1S30, passed an act for carrying out this policy, and it was gi-ad- 
ually accomplished, though with many interruptions and bloody 
episodes. 

This Congress passed a bill appropriating public money to 
"the Maysville Road." The President vetoed this bill, and the 
House of Representatives, in which it had originated, sustained 
the veto. 

President Jackson also disapproved of the protective policy, 
and recommended a complete revision and change of the Tariff 
Act of 1 828. Towards the close of the session occurred the great 
debate in the Senate, in which Robert Y. Hayne, of South Caro- 
lina, ably upheld the doctrine of " State rights," and asserted the 
right of " nullification " as a corollary from that doctrine and as 
the cherished tenet of South Carolina ; and Daniel Webster op- 
posed this view, and ended one of his powerful speeches with 
the words : " Liberty and luiion, now and forever, one and in- 
separable." ■^ 

Yet even Daniel Webster admitted that the Federal constitu- 
tion was the result of "a compact" between the original States.^ 
This was necessarily an admission that the States, as sovereigns 
and by their representatives, had entered into this compact, and 
that its terms might be broken to the injury of one or more States. 
The question of the mode of remedy and redress v^^as the one as 
to which radical divergence of opinion existed. 

The doctrine of " nullification " \vas the invention of Mr. 
Calhoun, and evinced the keen and metaphysical tendency of his 
mind. Its essential element was that, if the general government 
passed laws repugnant to the constitution and damaging to a 
State, and if they were persistently upheld to her injury, then 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 448. = Quackenbos, 404. Johnston, 168, 169. Scudder, 331, 332. 
3 He designated it as "a coustitutioual compact." Speech in U. S. Senate, January 26, 
1830. Calhoun's Works, II. 267, 268. 



668 A History of the United States of America^ 

the State possessed the reserved sovereign power to " nullify " 
such laws within her borders, so that they would become inopera- 
tive as to her, at least until three-fourths of the States should 
pronounce in favor of these laws ; and yet that, all the time, the 
nullifying State ^vould remain in the Union, claiming its protec- 
tion, sharing in its benefits, and sending representatives to its 
government.' 

This etherialized and suicidal concept had been so persistently 
taught to the people of South Carolina that, without understand- 
ing it, they had adopted it as a tenet of political faith. 

Near the close of the session of Congress, President Jackson 
learned of the position of hostility to him which Mr. Calhoun 
had taken in the cabinet of IVIonroe, as to the Seminole and 
Florida campaign. Then commenced an estrangement between 
these two eminent men which was bitter and permanent.^ They 
were both of the blood of the Scottish-Irish, who had come to 
the Carolinas ; Jackson represented its volcanic instincts and 
passions ; Calhoun, its keen metaphysics, and trained and edu- 
cated logic* 

It is believed that Jackson had intimated a purpose not to be a 
candidate for a second term, and that Calhoun expected to suc- 
ceed him in 1833 ; but the causes of personal and political alien- 
ation between them grew stronger and dissolved this vision. 

In 1 83 1 occurred a rupture in the cabinet, closely connected 
with the desire of Jackson to get rid of Calhoun's friends, Ingham 
and Branch, and not uninfluenced by certain social questions, in 
which Mrs. Eaton, the wife of the Secretary of War, was in- 
volved.* The wives of some other members of the cabinet and 
other women of high claims in Washington refused to visit Mrs. 
Eaton ; but the President, who was a long and fast friend of her 
husband, earnestly sustained her. 

Martin Van Buren had already gained a quiet, but controlling, 
influence with the President by his flattering and adi"oit modes of 
address. In order to insure the disruption of the cabinet, he re- 
signed. The others followed his lead. The cabinet was recon- 
structed. Louis McLane, of Delaware, took the Treasury Depart- 
ment ; Edward Livingston, of Louisiana, that of the State ; Lewis 
Cass, of Ohio, of War ; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, of 
the Navy ; and Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, became Attorney- 
General. Mr. Barry retained the Postoffice Department.^ 

1 Madison's letter to Everett, Va. Debates and Resol., 221 . Tucker's Lee. on Const. Law, 192. 

2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 448. ^ Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 169. 
^ Art. Jackson, Amer. Encyclop., IX. 685. 

5 Amer. Encyclop., IX. 686. Stephens, 449. 



The Presidency of Andrexu yackson. 669 

The President nominated Alartfn Van Buren as minister to 
England, and, being reasonably sure of confirmation, the eminent 
nominee crossed tlie Atlantic and went to London ; but when 
the nomination came before the Senate, Calhoun's influence was 
secretly, but potently, used against hin:. The result was a tie, 
and the Vice-President cast his vote against Van Buren and de- 
feated his confirmation.^ 

Mr. Van Buren came back, and was soon more influential with 
the President than ever. The feuds and scandals of the times 
became subjects of satire and caricature, and were afterwards 
represented in a series of amusing letters, purporting to be written 
by one " IMajor Jack Downing." They were supposed to be from 
the pen of Erastus Brooks, one of the editors of the Nexv 7'ork 
Express. 

In 1S31 the question of the succession became burning. Tlie 
legislature of Pennsylvania had already nominated Jackson for 
re-election. He had accepted the candidac\', and was earnest in 
urging Martin Van Buren as Vice-President. vSo visilile were 
the manipulations used for this purpose that they excited indigna- 
tion in some minds and good-humored merriment in others. A 
caricature appeared, representing the well-known face and form 
of President Jackson seated in a rocking-chair, dandling Van 
Buren on his lap, and singing to him a lullaby in these v.'ords : 

" Ilush-a-by, Martin ! let the wind blow. 
Vice vou shall be, whether or no; 

I'll get jou in somehow, through key-hole or cranny, 
So hush-a-by, Martin, and trust to your granny! " 

Finding his functions as Vice-President too tame and inactive for 
the crisis, Mr. Calhoun resigned in 1S31. He was almost imme- 
diately elected by the legislature of South Carolina to the United 
States Senate in the place of Mi". Hayne, who had become gov- 
ernor of the State. At nearly the same time, Henry Clay took 
his seat as senator from Kentucky, and John Qiiincy Adams as a 
member of the House of Representatives from his district in Mas- 
sachusetts. 

There were giants in those days, and the war of political eco- 
nomics went on till it came near to a war of cannon, swords and 
muskets. 

The Tariff' Bill of 1832 was, if possible, more odious than that 
of 1838. To add to the public uneasiness, the Asiatic cholera, 
during this year (1833), ci'ossed the ocean and invaded America, 
making its appearance in the United States, first in the city of 

lArt. Jackson, Amer. Encyclop., IX. GSo. 



670 A Histo7-y of the United States of Atnerica. 

New York, on the 21st of June.^ Thence it traversed the country 
in a southwesterly direction, defying medical skill for its arrest, 
and sweeping do\vn tens of thousands of lives. Yet it w^as more 
fatal in the North and in the Valley of the Mississippi than in 
the South Atlantic States. In many cases the strongest consti- 
tutions yielded, and died within thirty-six hours from the first 
attack. 

In this year came on another presidential election, the result of 
which was that, for President, Jackson received two hundred and 
nine electoral votes. Clay forty-nine, and William Wirt seven. 
Mr. Wirt had, somewhat incautiously, accepted the nomination of 
the Anti-Masonic party, which had arisen soon after the myste- 
rious disappearance of one William Morgan, a member of the 
order of Masons, residing in western New York, who had 
threatened to publish a book revealing their secrets, and who had 
been suddenly abducted from his home in September, 1836, car- 
ried to Lewiston, thence to Fort Niagara, at which point all trace 
of him was lost.^ Great excitement and commotion followed, 
and secret societies wei'e widely denounced. 

But Masonry proved too strong to be uprooted by this epheme- 
ral trouble, and Jackson was too popular to be shaken by it. 
The votes for Vice-President were one bundled and eighty-nine 
for Van Buren, forty-nine for John Sergeant, and seven for Amos 
Ellmaker.^ 

Continuity of subject and thought will require us to follow the 
" nullification " movement to its end. The people of vSouth Caro- 
lina, under the lead of Calhoun and his compeers, elected mem- 
bers to a sovereign convention, which, in November, 1S33, adopted 
a " nullification ordinance," declaring that the Tariff Acts of 1828 
and 1833 were unconstitutional, null and void, with a provision 
for testing the question in the State courts, and excluding the 
jurisdiction of the Federal courts, and declaring that if these 
measures of the State should be forcibly resisted by the Federal 
authorities, then South Carolina would be no longer a member of 
the Union. These nullification measures were to take effect Feb- 
ruary 1 3th, 1833, unless the Congress should previously abandon 
these obnoxious acts.* 

This ordinance was promptly followed by a session of the 
Legislature, and by a message from Governor Hamilton, dated 
November 27, 1832, recommending that the militia system shovdd 
be thoroughly revised, and that he should be authorized to accept 

1 Quackenbos, 402. Stephens, 450. SQuackenbos' U. S., 399, 400. 

3 Stepliens' Comp. U. S., 450. 

* Ordinance in Taylor's Centen. XT. S., 531-534. Stephens' U. S., 451. 



The Presidency of Andrew yackson. 671 

the services of two thousand volunteers for the defence of Charles- 
ton, and of ten thousand for general defence/ 

But South Carolina's nullification was met by a will w^hich 
took the most direct lines to its ends. President Jackson had 
been confirmed in Democratic principles by such men as Living- 
ston, Benton, Taney, Woodbury, Cass, Marcy and Van Buren, 
but he had also learned something of war in a difterent school. 

His message to Congress recommended that the tariff' law 
should be changed ; but he put forth a "proclamation," in which 
he briefly stated the nature and powers of the general govern- 
ment and its relation to the States, and, after declaring his ad- 
herence to the doctrines of State rights and remedies for op- 
pression announced in the resolutions and report adopted by Vir- 
ginia in i79S-'99, he denounced the "nullification" idea and 
scheme, and warned the people of South Carolina to abstain from 
force.^ 

At the same time he issued orders under which a fleet and 
army were to go to Charleston. Gen. Winfield Scott was to 
command the army. He acted with prudence and conciliation. 
But President Jackson was inflexible. He openly said that " Cal- 
houn would be hung" if he persisted in nullification. He urged 
upon the Congress the passage of a bill, \vhich has since been de- 
signated as " the Force Bill," the object of which was to provide 
means of coercing South Carolina to abandon her forcible I'esist- 
ance to the tariff' laws.* 

A collision of arms, with bloodshed and desolation, seemed in- 
evitable. It was time for patriots to move. Mr. Verplanck, of 
New York, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill 
for reduction of the tariff' duties. Virginia sent Benjamin Wat- 
kins Leigh as commissioner to South Carolina to persuade her to 
peace. He succeeded in inducing her authorities to postpone the 
nullification measures to the 4th of March, 1833. 

But the great spirit of peace came in the person of Henry 
Clay. He was looked on as the very fountain-head of the pro- 
tective system, and thei-efore a proposition of "compromise" by 
a reduction of duties came with peculiar grace from him. He 
introduced and warmly advocated a bill providing for a gradual 
reduction of all duties then higher than the revenue standard. 
One-tenth of a half was to be taken oft' each year for ten yeai's, 
at the end of which period the whole of the other half was to be 
taken off,* 

1 Message in Taylor's Centen. U. S., 527, 531. = Abstract in Taylor, 535, 536. 

3 Prof. Johnston's U. S., 170. * Stephens' Comp. U. S., 452. 



672 A History of the United States of America. 

ISIr. Ciillioun and his friends were satisfied with this bill. In- 
deed, it was so nearly an abandonment of the American system 
as to protection that Ilenry Clay was warned that it would ope- 
rate strongly against his future prospects for election to the presi- 
dency ; but, with the noble instincts of the highest patriotism, he 
answered : " I would rather be right than be President."* 

His bill passed both Houses, and was signed by the President 
on the 3d of March, 1833. South Carolina promptly re-assembled 
her convention and rescinded her nullification ordinance. Thus 
this serious political movement ended. The doctrine has never 
been revived. It is too metaphysical and self-contradictory to 
have force. But the grand debates on Federal and State powers 
between Calhoun, Clay and Webster which took place during 
this period deserve the closest study from every intelligent and 
cultured citizen of the United States.'^ 

While these grave forces ^vere working themselves down to 
rest, collisions with the Indians had been frequent. The Winne- 
bagoes and Sacs and Foxes in the Northwest had committed 
raids and murders, which called for stern measiu-es of repression. 
In 1833, military foixes organized by General Scott were sent 
against them. A number of minor encounters took place, in 
which the troops imder Generals Atkinson, Heniy and Dodge, 
Major Dement and Captain Snyder gained successes. In a final 
battle, July 35, 1833, near the Blue Mounds, west of the Rock 
river, the Sacs and Foxes, under the renowned chieftain Black 
Hawk, sustained a decisive defeat. They lost more than two 
hundred warriors. Black Hawk surrendered himself, and was 
bi'ought to the East. His people and the \\'innebagoes retired to 
their reservations west of the ^Mississippi.^ 

The most prolonged and distressing Indian war of those times 
was w^ith the Seminoles of the Everglade regions of Florida. A 
large number of negro slaves had escaped from their masters in 
this Territory and the adjoining States, and had joined the Indians 
in their gloomv and almost impenetrable forests and swamps. 
Frequent ami bloodv collisions with the whites occurred. Un- 
happy complications brought to the front Osceola, chief of the 
Seminoles, and one of the most interesting of all the Indian 
leaders in America. 

He had married the daughter of one of the female fugitive 
slaves, and was greatly attached to his wife. But in 1835, having 
with her visited a United States fort, where Gen. Wiley Thomp- 

1 A. IT. Stephens in Brtrnes V. S.. ITfi, and note. 

- Sniiplement toNilos" Reirister, XLIII., Mav, 1S33. Stephens, ioS, 454. 

3 Tiivlor's Centen. U. S., 51M5-027. Stephens, 450. 



The Presidency of Andrcjo yackson. 673 

son was in command, as Indian agent, a claim was made that 
Osceola's wife was still a slave and belonged to the person from 
whom her mother had escaped. Whatever technical claim of 
title may have existed, assuredly it was oppressive and impolitic 
to assert it by force. But General Thompson unfortunately sus- 
tained the claim, took his wife from Osceola, and delivered her 
to the claimant ; ' and, in alleged punishment for threats, he kept 
Osceola in irons for six days. 

Then all the latent i^evenge of the Indian nature took posses- 
sion of the heart of Osceola. He fled back to the Everglades and 
roused his followers to vengeance. Some of the chiefs had con- 
sented to a treaty, under which the Seminoles were to be re- 
moved to the west of the Mississippi. Compliance with this was 
no longer thought of 

Osceola trained his followers and bided his time. Like a lynx, 
he secretly watched the movements of General Thompson for 
weeks, and on the 2Sth December, 1835, finding him and four 
other whites outside of Fort King, he fell upon them with a 
small force and slew them all. Thompson's body was pierced 
by fifteen bullets. On the same day Major Dade, Avith one hun- 
dred and ten United States soldiers, marching from Fort Brook, 
was surrounded in Wahoo swamp by the savages and fugitive 
slaves, and all were massacred except one, who escaped and told 
of the horror. This was the opening of the war. 

On the 30th December, Osceola, with two hundred followers, 
fought a desperate battle on the crossing of the Withlahoochee 
with six hundred troops under General Clinch. The Indians 
availed themselves so skillfully of their knowledge of the swamp 
that they fought for an hour, and before they retreated inflicted 
severe loss. The whites could not overtake them. In several 
subsequent battles Osceola gained advantages, and on the 12th 
August, 1836, defeated a body of United States troops at Fort 
Doane. On the 33d October, 1837, having gone, under the pro- 
tection of a Hag of truce, to hold a conference near St. Augustine 
with General Jessup, he was, with the foulest treachery, seized 
and made a prisoner, with a number of his followers.^ He was 
sent to Fort Aloultrie, where he died of fever, January 31st, 1S38, 
in the thirty-fifth year of his age. 

But this dishonoring conduct of the whites did not bring the 
war to a close. It lingered, with ceaseless dangers and heavy 
losses to the people of Florida and of the country, until Christmas 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 239. Art. Osceola, Amer. Enevclop., XII. 595. 

2 Amer. Encyclop., XII. 595. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 462, 4(33. Derry, 212, 213. Tlialheimer, 
230. Ooorlrich, 383, 384. 

43 



674 ^ History of the United States of. Afnerica. 

day of 183S, when Colonel Zachary Taylor with his troops, hav- 
ing pursued the Seminoles into the very heart of the Everglades, 
inflicted on them a bloody and decisive defeat. A treaty was 
made in 1839, and peace established in 1842. All the surviving 
Seminoles have been removed to the West. 

This war, precipitated by an act of unnatural and needless op- 
pression, and attended by open bad faith on the part of the United 
States, cost her seven years of wearing struggle, six thousand 
lives, and thirty millions of dollars. No war in which she has 
ever engaged has brought her less of honor. 

Meanwhile President Jackson was engaged in a different kind 
of war. He had always been the declared enemy of the Bank of 
the United States and of the legislation under which it was char- 
tered. He applied his veto to a bill rechartering the bank, which 
had passed both Houses in the session of i83i-'32. The veto was 
sustained.^ The bank was rechartered under a State act of Penn- 
sylvania, and was managed for years by Nicholas Biddle, its pres- 
ident. His management had been supposed to be successful ; but 
it had involved large loans to speculators, and the bank went 
down in the financial crash of 1837. 

In the spring of 1S33, the President made a tour through New 
York and the New England States. Pie had enough in his char- 
acter and career to kindle enthusiasm in the masses, and he was 
everywhere welcomed by crowds and acclamations. The vener- 
able University of Harvard conferred on him the scholarly dis- 
tinction of Doctor of Laws. 

Immediately after his return to Washington he prepared to re- 
move the deposits of public money from the Bank of the United 
States and put them into certain banks of his own choice, which 
acquired the name of "pet banks." As these deposits had been 
originally made under authority of acts of Congress, it was doubted 
whether the executive department had power thus to remove 
and change them. William J. Duane had succeeded Mr. McLane 
as Secretary of the Treasury. The new Secretary felt these 
doubts so acutely that he declined to order the removal, where- 
upon Jackson promptly dismissed Mr. Duane from office and ap- 
pointed Roger B. Taney as Secretary of the Treasury. He, hav- 
ing no doubts or scruples, in October, 1S33, removed the deposits.'^ 

This course of the President became a subject of animated dis- 
cussion in the Senate, where Calhoun, Webster and Clay all united 
in condemning it, on the ground that it was an attempt to " unite 

I Stephens' U. S., 449. 

« Stephens' Comp. U. S., 454. Goodrich's U. S., 380. Quackenbos, 405, 406. 



The Presidettcy of Andretv Jackson. 675' 

the sword and the purse in one hand," and that to the Congress 
belonged the power of guarding the public treasure. A resolu- 
tion was passed by the Senate censuring the President for his con- 
duct therein ; but the House of Representatives did not concur. 

Jackson replied to the resolution of censure by a paper known 
as "The Protest." It was one of the ablest documents ever pro- 
duced in America, and had doubtless drawn to its composition 
the best powers of the finest minds in the cabinet. Thomas H. 
Benton moved to expunge the resolution from the journal of the 
Senate by causing black lines to be drawn around it and over it. 
This motion led to a battle in the Senate, which lasted until Feb- 
ruary, 1S37, when the motion was adopted by a vote of twenty- 
four to nineteen.' 

It was in the beginning of this controversy that the name of 
"Whig" was first adopted by the party opposing the President's 
policy. It was said to have been suggested by Mr. Calhoun, in 
reproduction of the English party of the same name, who pro- 
fessed to oppose all unconstitutional and oppressive exercises of 
prerogative or acts of the government.^ 

But President Jackson had so completely gained the regard and 
confidence of the people that they uniformly sustained him. 
Even the doubtful policy of putting large deposits of public 
money into eighty-nine banks led to a gi'eat expansion of bank 
credits and circulation of paper representations of money, which 
brought temporary prosperity, to be soon followed by financial 
overthrow and disaster. 

In November, 1S33, occurred the greatest meteoric display of 
modern times, in which it appeared for hours as though the stars 
w^ei'e shooting from their spheres, and tbat the heavens, being on 
fire, would be dissolved. 

On the 30th January, 1S35, ^"^ attempt to take the life of the 
President was made, just as he was leaving the rotunda of the 
Capitol to enter his carriage. The intended assassin turned out 
to be insane.* But he exploded two percussion caps on the 
loaded barrels of a pistol. The aim was close, and the life was 
saved only by the providential failure of the cap to fire the load. 
Subsequent events have vividly shown that the high position of 
President tempts assassins to murder as strongly as the high posi- 
tion of monarch. 

On the 6th of July, 1835, Chief-Justice INIarshall died, in the 
eightieth year of his age. Roger B. Taney succeeded him in his 
high office. 
1 Amer. Encyclop., IX. 686. 2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 454, 455. a Stephens, 455, 



S'jS A History of the United States of America, 

The winter of 1834— 'c; was noted for the extreme severity of 
its cold. On the 4th January, 1835, mercury froze at Lebanon, 
New York, and at other places. The Chesapeake Bay was fro- 
zen over from its head to the Atlantic capes. On the Sth Febru- 
ary, as far south as 34°, the mercury fell to eight degrees below 
zero. Orange trees were killed as far south as St. Augustine, 
Florida. 

On the night of December i6th, 1835, ^ great fire occurred in 
the city of New York, by which, in fourteen hours, property was 
consumed worth over seventeen millions of dollars. The burnt 
district covered an area of several acres in the once busiest part 
of the city. 

During Jackson's presidency two States were admitted to the 
Union — Arkansas in 1S36, and Michigan in January, 1837. 

In no part of this President's career did he appear in a stronger 
light than in his course as to the just claims of the United 
States against France for injuries done to American shipping 
and commerce during the Napoleon wars. By a treaty concluded 
in 1831, the King of the French, Louis Philippe, had acknow- 
ledged the validity of these claims, had fixed their amount at five 
million dollars, and had promised to pay them. In 1834 ^^^ terms 
of installment and payment were definitely arranged by William 
C. Rives, the American minister in Paris. Yet, afterwards, the 
draft of the United States Treasury Department for the agreed 
installment was returned dishonored, and the French Chamber of 
Deputies made no provision for payment. General Jackson sent 
a message to Congress, reviewing the facts and advising that 
mode of redress known in international law as "reprisals" — that 
is, the seizure of such amount of French shipping and property as 
would pay the debt. 

The French government took ofience, and war seemed inevit- 
able ; but in this crisis England sent a small armed ship to the 
United States, with an ofi'er of mediation, and made the same 
advances to France. This gave occasion and time for calm reflec- 
tion. France was satisfied as to her honor and paid the money. 

It is worthy of remark that throughout the two terms of Presi- 
dent Jackson the English government and that of the United 
States were on terms of the most cordial amity.' 

To the Congress of 1836— '37 the Treasury Department had the 
privilege of announcing that the whole debt of the United States 
had been satisfied, and that a surplus of thirty-seven millions of 
dollars was in the treasury. It was enacted that it should be dis- 

1 IngersoU, iu Amer. Encyclop., IX. 686. 



The Presidency of Andrew Jackson. 677 

tributed among the States ; but one or more of them (Virginia, 
for instance) refused their shares on alleged constitutional objec- 
tions. 

General Jackson followed the august precedent of Washington, 
and sent forth a farewell address to the people. He retired to the 
" Hennitage," his home, near Nashville, Tennessee, and took no 
further part in public duties. He died on the 8th of June, 1845, 
leaving behind him a reputation for sincerity, ability and firm- 
ness such as few men have desei'ved. 



CHAPTER LII. 
The Presidency of Martin Van Buren. 

THE presidential election of 1836 resulted in the choice of 
electors, of whom one lumdred and seventy voted for Martin 
Van Buren as President, fourteen for Daniel Webster, seventy- 
three for William Henry Harrison, eleven for Willie P. Mangum, 
of North Carolina, and twenty-six for Hugh Lawson White, of 
Tennessee. Mr. Van Buren was, therefore, elected President, 
having received a majority of the whole number. For Vice- 
President, one hundred and forty-seven votes were cast for Rich- 
ard M. Johnson, of Kentucky ; seventy-seven for Francis P. 
Granger, of New York ; forty-seven for John Tyler, of Virginia, 
and twenty-three for William Smith, of Alabama. Thus the 
election devolved on the Senate, who elected Richard M. John- 
son Vice-President by a vote of thirty-three against sixteen cast 
for Mr. Granger. 

It was well known that Mr, Van Buren owed his election, in 
large measure, to the favor and reflected popularity of General 
Jackson. The new President recognized this fact in his deeds 
and words. On the fourth day of March, 1837, which was clear 
and pleasant, he took his seat alongside of the venerable ex- 
President in a beautiful phicton, constructed from the wood of 
the old frigate Constitution, and presented to Jackson by Demo- 
cratic citizens of New York. Thus they rode from the Presi- 
dent's house to the Capitol. On the eastern portico Mr. Van 
Buren delivered his inaugural address in clear and impressive 
• tones. The part of it afterwards remembered was that in which 
he declared his purpose in all matters of public policy " to fol- 
low in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor." ^ 

Chief-Justice Taney administered the oath of office. The cab- 
inet consisted of John Forsyth, of Georgia, Secretary of State ; 
Levi Woodburv, of New Hampshire, of the Treasury ; Joel R. 
Poinsett, of South Carolina, of ^Var ; Mahlon Dickei^son, of New 
Jersey, of the Navy ; Amos Kendall, of Kentucky, Postmaster- 
General, and Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, Attorney-Gene- 
ral.''' General Cass had been appointed by President Jackson 
minister to France. 

I Stephens' Coinp. U. S., 459. ^ Ihid., 459, 460. 

[678 ] 



The Presidency of Martin Van Buren, 679 

Hardly had the retiring President settled into the rest of the 
" Hermitage " and the newly-elected President entered upon his 
high duties, before the financial storm, which had been gathering 
over the country almost unperceived, began to send before it 
ominous gleams of lightning, low but muttering thunder, and 
drops of rain. 

Throughout March and April, 1837, it grew more and more 
threatening, and in May it burst upon the country in widely- 
spread money embarrassment and ruin. Two hundred and sixty 
failures occurred in New York city in the space of a few days. 
In New Orleans, in two days, houses suspended payment the ag- 
gregate of whose indebtedness w^as twenty-seven millions of dol- 
lars. In Boston, the distress was apparently smaller and more 
gradual ; and yet in that city, from the end of November, 1836, to 
the end of May, 1837, ^^^ hundred and sixty-eight failures oc- 
curred.^ 

An immense number of people were very prompt in attribut- 
ing these misfortunes to the policy of Jackson, in whose foot- 
steps Van Buren had declared his purpose to walk ; and it was 
undoubtedly true that some measures of that policy had prepared 
the occasions of the bank failures. By Jackson's orders, the 
United States Treasury and Land Office had united in issuing a 
" Specie Circular " requiring all payments for public lands to be 
made in gold and silver.'^ The effect of this was to induce the 
great tide of people who were passing to the West with the pur- 
pose to purchase and settle homes, to withdraw all the gold and 
silver their means would enable them to command from the 
Northern and Eastern States and cities, and carry them to the 
Western land offices. 

And it so happened that the time of this drain of specie syn- 
chronized with- a dangerous expansion of bank paper currency. 
The eighty-nine "pet" banks discounted freely ; and their exist- 
ence and apparent success led to a great multiplication of banks 
under State charters. The number of banks in the Union rose to 
six hundi'ed and seventy-seven, and they had one hundred and 
forty-six branches ! * 

So long as they could be content with a safe and healthy busi- 
ness, under which they would always hold specie enough to re- 
deem so much of their circulating " promises to pay " as would, 
in the course of normal operations of trade, come back upon 
them, so long all was well ; but the temptation to expand and 
discount more and more was irresistible. 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 389. « Quackenbos' U. S., 411, 412. 3 JUd,, 411. 



68o A History of the United States of America. 

The result might have been foreseen. Men of small means, but 
wild and daring spirits, united together, and easily obtained dis- 
counts from the banks, who were eager to expand their profits by 
lending out their paper money. The most hazardous speculations 
were engaged in. They failed, and their projectors failed with 
them. Innumerable notes fell due, were unpaid, and were pro- 
tested ; but when the banks sought to obtain payment from the 
makers and endorsers of these notes, they found nothing in their 
hands or belonging to them.^ 

When a bank stops paying its own notes in gold and silver 
when demanded, it is bankrupt in law. This was the condition 
of nearly every bank in the United States in 1837. They all sus- 
pended payments in specie ; but it did not follow necessarily that 
the bank was insolvent, and that, if its assets (that is, its property, 
means and claims) were carefully managed and collected, it could 
not jDay its just debts. 

Many of the banks who suspended in 1837 I'^sumed specie pay- 
ments in less than two years, and were afterwards solvent and 
prosperous. It is a fact of history that the " Bank of England," 
by an order in council, suspended payments in specie in Feb- 
ruary, 1797, and never resumed such payinents until IMay ist, 
1S23 ; and yet, during all that time, "the general concerns of the 
bank were in the most affluent and flourishing situation, and such 
as to preclude every doubt as to the security of its notes."" 

But in the United States, in 1837, the ruin of the financial 
storm was fearful, and reached all classes. Eight of the States 
suspended payments of interest on their certificates of debt.^ 
Gradually the distress reached the treasury of the general gov- 
ernment. Duties could not be collected, either in specie or in 
funds of specie value. In a few months the treasuiy, \vhich in 
1836 had reported all public debts paid and a surplus of thirty- 
seven millions of dollars, found itself unable to pay the current 
expenses of carrying on the government. 

Manufacturing was prostrated ; mei'chandising was suspended ; 
imports ceased. General dismay pervaded the best business 
minds. The inerchants of New York united in a petition to the 
President, urging him to withdraw the " Specie Circular." * He 
refused this, but he called the Congress to meet in special session 
in Septeinber, 1837. Accordingly they met on the 4th of vSep- 
tember, and continued in session about six weeks. They pro- 
vided means by which the government w^as enabled to supply its 

1 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 243, 244. 2 Art. Bank, New Ajner. Encvclop., 11. 674. 

3 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S. , 243. ■« Quackenbos, 411, 412. 



The Presideficy of JSIartin Van Buren. 68 1 

current wants by issuing ten million dollars in treasury notes ; 
but they were impotent to furnish any relief for the business dis- 
turbances and distress of the country. These went on to their 
final I'esults. 

The failure of the banks to pay specie for their notes caused 
much inconvenience from want of small coins to meet the cur- 
rent exchanges of every community. This led many private 
banks, savings institutions, and even mercantile firms and indi- 
viduals, to issue on their own responsibility, and generally in 
violation of State laws, small notes for sums from five or ten 
cents up to one or two dollars. These notes were contemptu- 
ously designated as " shin-plasters " by those who looked on them 
with most suspicion. 

And yet so indispensable were they as representatives of the 
small coins that the people generally welcomed them, and re- 
ceived and used them freely in amounts aggregating millions of 
dollars, and discouraged all attempts to enforce legal penalties 
against those who issued them. And it is a fact creditable to the 
general honesty of purpose for which they were put forth, that 
gradually, in a course of a few years, they were all redeemed and 
disappeared from circulation without loss to the public. 

President Van Buren and his advisers were thoroughly alarmed 
by the money failure of the government. In the session of Con- 
gress of 1837— '38, and subsequent sessions, he constantly urged 
the adoption of a " sub-treasury " scheme for collecting, keeping 
and disbursing the public mone3's. This scheme involved a com- 
plete divorce of the government from all banks, and the estab- 
lishment at convenient points of buildings under bonded officers, 
who should receive only in gold and silver coin the public dues, 
and pay them out or dispose of them according to law.* 

On this policy Calhoun sided with Van Buren, and separated 
from Webster and Clay, who believed that a well-conducted 
United States Bank would be the best government depository and 
fiscal agent, and would repeat the services and benefits of the Bank 
of England to the British government. Calhoun was ably sec- 
onded by Thomas H. Benton and Silas Wright. 

The " sub-treasury," or independent treasury, plan ^vas enacted 
by the Congress, having passed the Senate January 23, 1840, and 
the House 30th June, 1841 ; but on the defeat of Mr. Van Buren 
it was repealed. In 1845, however, during the presidency of 
James K. Polk, it was in substance re-enacted, and continues to be 
the government system.^ It is open to the objection that it con- 

iQuackenbos, 412. Stephens, 469. Goodrich, 393, 394. 2 Goodrich's U. S., 393, 394. 



682 A History of the United States of America. 

stantly withdraws a large sum in gold and silver from business 
circulation which might be advantageously used by the people of 
the land. 

During Van Buren's tenn, petitions for the abolition of slavery 
in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of the United 
States became very numerous. .They were geneially presented to 
the House of Representatives by John Quincy Adams. He, how- 
ever, did not advocate their objects. He advocated only their 
right of petition.^ 

But thoughtful men regarded this subject as already threatening 
the peace and j^ermanency of the Union. Mr. Calhoun presented 
six resolutions, which passed the Senate in January, 1838, by a 
vote on the leading resolution of thirty-two to eighteen. They 
were a strong declaration of the rights of the owners of slaves. 
The fifth resolution declared that " the interference by the citizens 
of any of the States with the view to the abolition of slavery in 
this District (of Columbia), and any act or measure of Congress 
designed to abolish slavery in this District, would be a violation 
of the faith implied in the cessions of the States of Virginia and 
Maryland, and just cause of alarm to the people of the slave- 
holding States, and would have a direct and inevitable tendency 
to disturb and endanger the Union." The sixth resolution was 
equally strong against any attempt of the Congress to abolish 
slavery in any Territory in which it existed.^ 

In the House, equally clear and explicit resolutions were pre- 
sented by Mr. Atherton, of New Hampshire, and were passed by 
votes running up from one hundred and twenty-six ayes to seventy- 
eight noes, and reaching one hundred and ninety-four ayes to six 
nays on the first resolution, as follows : 

'■'■Resolved, That this government is a government of limited 
powers, and that, by the constitution of the United States, Con- 
gress has no jurisdiction whatever over the institution of slavery 
in the several States of the confederacy."" 

But these well-intended eflbrts did not put to rest the subject of 
slavery. 

In 1837, parties in Canada rose up in quasi rebellion against the 
English rule. Many Americans sympathized with the Canadian 
insurgents and sought to help them. President Van Buren issued 
a firm proclamation of neutrality, and sent General Wool with an 
armed force to the frontier. The steamer Caroline, which had 
been fitted out in New York waters with supplies for the Cana- 

1 Amer. Encyclop., 1. 108, 109. = Resolutions given in Stephens, 463-465. 

3 Resolutions in Stepliens' Comp. U. S., 465, 466, 



The Presidency of Martin Van Buren, 683 

dians, was seized by the British authorities, and, after having been 
set on fire, was permitted to drift over the Falls of Niagara.^ 

The boundary between Maine and the British province of New 
Brunswick had not been defined. As settlements advanced, and 
the gathering of logs and timber became more profitable, the 
settlers and loggers on each side often came into contact — some- 
times into collision ; and, having no ascertained line of title, 
actual war with deadly weapons was threatened. President Van 
Buren sought to maintain peace, and sent General Scott to that 
region. By his prudence and conciliatory measures he prevented 
bloodshed. In 1842, by the "Ashburton treaty," made by nego- 
tiation between Lord Ashburton, the British special commissionei", 
and Daniel Webster, American Secretary of State, this boundary 
line was definitely settled, and disputes were ended. ^ 

In 183S, navigation by steamers was established between Eng- 
land and America. It is worthy of note that Dr. Dionysius 
Lardner, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and a man eminent in 
science and learning, especially in the domain of steam, had 
written an article afiirming the scientific and physical impossi- 
bility of making steam-ships the means of crossing the Atlantic 
for purposes of ordinary trade and intercourse, and that his 
article was brought to the United States in the steamer which 
refuted it. So far do ^vill and energy outrun science and specu- 
lation ! 

In this same year, 1S38, August iSth, a celebrated "exploring 
expedition," sent out by the United States, sailed from Norfolk, 
Virginia. It consisted of the sloops of war Vincennes and Pea- 
cock^ of twenty and eighteen guns respectively, the Porpoise, of 
ten guns, and three smaller armed vessels. It was commanded by 
Capt. Charles Wilkes, and carried a number of men skilled in 
each science in which advance was sought.^ It accomplished all 
the purposes for which it was sent : discovered an Antarctic 
continent, two thousand miles south of New Holland and Aus- 
tralia, on the same day on which it was seen by the French navi- 
gator D'Urville ; sailed along its coast for seventeen hundred 
miles ; circumnavigated the globe, visiting many islands and 
points on continents never visited before by enlightened men ; 
took on board a large and valuable collection of live plants and 
bulbs, and prepared specimens of animals — including some of the 
genus man — of rare nature and qualities, all of which have since 
enriched the gardens and buildings of the " Smithsonian Insti- 

J Thalheimer, 245. "- Thalheimer, 245. Goodrich, 391. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 180. 

2 Reports to Congress, 1842, Goodrich, 393, 



684 A History of the United States of America. 

tute" in Washington. They brought back also, as a prisoner, 
a chief of the Fiji Islands, who, with his companion cannibals, 
had massacred and eaten the crew of a brig from Salem, Massa- 
chusetts,^ But he was spared, kindly ti^eated and instructed, be- 
cause he and his comrades " knew not what they did." The Fiji 
Islanders have since becortie Christians. 

The various vessels of this expedition sailed, altogether, dis- 
tances amounting to four hundred thousand miles ; yet so perfect 
was the system for health practiced and enforced that only eight 
men died of disease during the whole term of absence of nearly 
four years. They returned in June, 1842. 

During President Van Buren's term the " Smithsonian Insti- 
tute" was urged forward. It was the outcome of a bequest of 
about five hundred thousand dollars, given by James Smithson, 
of London, to the United States in trust, to found and maintain 
an establishment " for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
among men." 

So remarkable a bequest from such a source created a widely- 
spread and healthful influence in the United States. The report 
concerning it was first made on 17th December, 1835, and yet it 
was not until 1846 that an act was passed for erection of build- 
ings and launching the institute on its high voyage of learning 
and science. It has since become one of the great attractions of 
the national capital, and, with its beautiful and extensive grounds, 
imposing buildings, large library and niuseum rooms, and excel- 
lent publications, may be considered the living embodiment of the 
strong and enlightened spirit of the donor. 

In 1838 it was hoped by many wise statesmen that the restless 
spirit for the abolition of slavery had been permanently quieted. 
It had once gained such ascendency in Congress that, after Mr. 
Slade, of Vermont, had made a long speech against slavery, the 
Southern members withdrew for consultation, and Mr. Rhett, of 
South Carolina, made a serious proposition that a declaration 
should be made that it was expedient that the Union should be 
dissolved.^ 

But the friends of the President and of democratic government 
yet hoped to secure peace. John M. Patton, of Virginia, intro- 
duced a resolution that, when petitions or other documents relat- 
ing to slavery or its abolition were presented, they should be laid 
on the table without being debated, printed, read or i-eferred. 
This resolution was adopted by a decisive vote in the House of 
Representatives. 

1 Goodrich's U. S., 393. = Art. Van Buren, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 17. 



Tlie Presidency of Martin Van Buren. 6S^ 

Yet alDolition agitation continued. William Lloyd Garrison, 
of Massachusetts, a poor man, but bred a printer and having 
strong convictions and a stubborn will, had established, in 1831, 
a weekly newspaper called " The Liberator^ ^ 

He took the ground that slavery had originated in sin, and 
that its continuance was a sin. His paper grew, week by week, 
in circulation. Alany thousands in Ne\v England and at the 
North adopted his views. The great body of the people looked 
on the "Abolitionists" as fanatics and mischief-makers ; but Gar- 
rison and his followers, finding that the constitution of their 
country, in its truo interpretation, discouraged and condemned 
their opinions and efforts, began to attack the constitution itself. 
They openly wrote that it was "a covenant with death and a 
league with hell."^ 

The "Abolitionists " did not then organize themselves into a 
political party. They, however, often formed societies of men or 
women, or both, who were indefatigable in their labors to promote 
the progress of abolition. Persecution was tried against them, but 
it had its accustomed effect, and only increased their numbers and 
earnestness. The efforts made in Congress to ignore or suppress 
their petitions inflamed their zeal and expanded their influence. 

As the time approached for holding the nominating conven- 
tions of 1S40, it became evident that a struggle for supi-emacy 
more animated, though not more bitter, than in previous years 
was at hand. 

The "Whigs" drew to themselves all classes who opposed the 
re-election of Van Buren and desired change. They selected as 
their nominees Gen. William Henry Harrison, a native of Virginia 
and son of one of her governors, though afterwards a resident in 
the Northwest, for President, and John Tyler, of ^^irg^nia, for 
Vice-President. 

The "Democrats" had no ground of party complaint against 
Mr. Van Buren, though many of them felt no enthusiasm for his 
re-election. On one point of Democratic creed he had been in- 
cautious. He had, in one of his messages to Congress, recom- 
mended that the militia of the several States should be enrolled, 
drilled and mustered under trained officers. This was thought to 
be a measui-e savoring strongly of " Federalism," and of a " stand- 
ing army " of huge proportions, organized by the Federal gov- 
ernment. As such, it was a point of attack by W^hig debaters 
in the canvass. But it was not so intended by Mr. Van Buren, 

1 Scudder's U. S., 335. 

- Horace E. Scudder's U. S., 335. Art. Garrisou, Amer. Encyclop., YIII. 91. 



686 A History of the United States of America. 

and it has, therefore, been ahnost pretermitted and dropped out of 
view in current histories of his times.' 

The Democratic convention which met in Baltimoi-e May 5th, 
1840, renominated Van Bviren as President, but did not name a 
candidate for the vice-presidency, referring that choice to the 
States. 

The canvass that followed was one of unprecedented activity 
and general good humor. Harrison's fine military record helped 
him, and songs were shouted along the streets and in the country, 
the refi'ain of which was in the words : " Tippecanoe and Tyler 
too." The plain and homely living of the Whig candidate was 
represented by a "log cabin" with the latch-string outside, and 
his favorite beverage was said to be " hard cider," of which it 
was common to see a barrel mounted on runners, and carried to 
the points for public speaking ; and here the orators and the 
prominent Whigs, followed by all who chose to join, would drink 
gravely in succession of the " hard cider," not without some 
grimaces and wry looks when it proved too " hard." 

On the other hand, the "gold spoons" used in the dinner ser- 
vice at the President's house were sharply commented on in con- 
trast.^ The widely-spread financial distress and ruin were traced 
back to Van Buren and the measures he had advocated. 

The result was not long in doubt. Months before the electoral 
college assembled it was known that Harrison and Tyler had 
been chosen. When the votes were thrown and counted, it was 
ascertained that two hundred and thirty-four electoral votes were 
given for William Henry Harrison as President, and the same 
number for John Tyler as Vice-President. Martin Van Buren 
received sixty votes for President. For Vice-President, Richard 
M. Johnson received forty-eight ; Littleton W. Tazewell, of Vir- 
ginia, eleven, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, one vote.'* 

Mr. Van Buren retired to his home at Kinderhook, New York. 
He had never applied the veto to any enactment of Congress. 
No State had been admitted to the Union during his term. And 
yet, notwithstanding all the financial disturbances and stoppages 
of business, the population of the country, between 1830 and 
1840, rose from seventeen million to more than twenty-three mil- 
lion in round numbers, and every form of industry, art and sci- 
ence received an impetus which pressed them rapidly forward. 

iThe " Old Log Cabin," by Dr. A. S. MeRae. Dispatch (Va.). Dec. 19th, 1890. 
« Stephens' Comp. U. S., 467. ^ Stephens, 409. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. 
Bank Vetoes. — Texas. 

IN the sixty-ninth year of his age, and apparently in the enjoy- 
ment of health and strength for duty, William Henry Harri- 
son was inaugurated President of the United States on the fourth 
day of March, 1841. Washington was thronged with people — 
many from distant residences. A procession was formed from the 
hotel where the President stayed to the Capitol. He rode a white 
horse, and his immediate escort were the officers and soldiers who 
had fought under him. The oath of office was administered by 
Chief-Justice Taney, in the presence of sixty thousand people. 

Plis inaugural address was long, and yet was read with unflag- 
ging distinctness of voice. Often its declarations of thought and 
sentiment called forth cheers of approval. He closed with these 
words : 

•' Our confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be preserved by the 
same forbeaiTince. Our citizens inust be content with the exer- 
cise of the powers with which the constitution clothes them. The 
attempt of those of one State to control the domestic institutions 
of another can only result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, 
and are certain harbingers of disunion, violence, civil war, and the 
ultimate destruction of our free institutions. Our confederacy is 
perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing a com- 
mon co-partnership. There a fund of power is to be exercised, 
under the direction of the joint counsels of the allied members ; 
but that which has been reserved by the individuals is intangible 
by the common government, or the other individual members com- 
posing it. To attempt it finds no support in the principles of our 
constitution." ^ 

His cabinet consisted of Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, Sec- 
retary of State ; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, of the Treasury ; John 
Bell, of Tennessee, of War ; George E. Badger, of North Caro- 
lina, of the Navy ; Francis Granger, of New York, Postmaster- 
General, and John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, Attorney-General. 

On the 17th of March, the President issued his proclamation 
convening the Congress in special session on Monday, the last day 

1 Extract from inaugural, in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 470. 
[ 6S7 ] 



688 A ITisiory of the United States of America, 

of May. On the 27th of March he was seized with an acute and 
violent attack of pneumonia, which baffled all medical skill for 
arrest or mitigation of its power, and terminated his life on the 4th 
day of April, 1841, just one month from the day of his inaugura- 
tion. His death was mourned by millions of his countrymen. 

Then, for the first time, the Federal government was subjected 
to the trial of losing its elected President during his term ; but 
there was no interregnum — no strain. The Vice-President became 
President and the government went on. 

John Tyler was in Williamsburg when news of the death of 
President Harrison reached him.^ He went immediately to Wash- 
ington, and assumed the duties of the Chief Executive. He re- 
quested the cabinet officers of Harrison to retain their places, and 
they complied. He sent forth an inaugural address after the cus- 
tom of his predecessors. 

The Whig party, which had won the great victory of 1840, was 
a conglomerate of many diverse elements : National Republicans ; 
the opponents of the doctrines of President Jackson's proclama- 
tion and of the " Force Bill," led by Tyler and Tazewell, of Vir- 
ginia ; the followers of Henry A. Wise and John Bell, who 
strongly disapproved of the removal of the "deposits" by Jack- 
son ; the many, under the lead of Judge Hugh Lawson White, 
who condemned the " expunging resolution," and the great num- 
ber, led by Legare, of South Carolina, Tallmadge, of New York, 
and Rives, of Virginia, who repudiated the sub-treasury scheme 
of Mr. Van Buren.^ 

It was known that Mr. Tyler had always been a States' rights 
man. He had opposed John Quincy Adams and had sided with 
Crawford, Calhoun and Jackson ; had voted against the Tariff' Bill 
of 1838, and opposed that of 1833. Though he disapproved of 
" nullification," he had opposed the " Force Bill " in an elaborate 
speech, and had supported the vote of censure on Jackson for re- 
moving the public moneys from the United States Bank. 

But he had opposed the bill to continue the charter of that bank,^ 
and had repeatedly and publicly announced his opposition to such 
an incorporation as unconstitutional.* From 1833 to 1841, the 
question of the re-charter of such a bank had been regarded, even 
by such Whigs as Henry Clay, as an " obsolete question." ^ 

In his message to the Congress which convened May 31st, 1841, 
President Tyler discussed the question of the public revenue, and 
said : " In intimate connection with the question of revenue is 

1 Art. Tv'ler, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 684. 

2 Lyon G. Tyler's " Parties aud Patronage," 1891, pp. 56-59. » Amer. Encyclop., XV. 684. 
* Lyon G. Tyler's Letters and Times of the Tvlers, I. 471-477, 496, 504. s jfyid., I. .596-628. 



The Presidency of yohn Tyler. 689 

that which makes provision for a suitable fiscal agent, capable of 
adding increased facilities in the collection and disbursement of 
the public revenues, rendering more secure their custody and con- 
sulting a true economy in the great, multij^licd and delicate oper- 
ations of the Treasury Department. Upon such an agent depends 
in an eminent degree the establishment of a currency of uniform 
value, v^^hich is of so great importance to all the essential interests 
of society ; and on the w^isdom to be manifested in its creation 
much depends. I shall be ready to concur with you in the adop- 
tion of such system as you may propose, reserving to myself the 
ultimate power of rejecting any measure which may, in my view 
of it, conflict with the constitution or otherwise jeopard the pros- 
perity of the country." 

But the word "bank" is not found in this passage. President 
Tyler held the view of Thomas Jefferson, that Congress had no 
power, under the constitution, to incorporate a bank in any State 
without her consent and the consent of all States in which she 
might establish branches. Before the inauguration of Harrison, 
Mr. Tyler had definitely expressed his views against a national 
bank to Waddy Thompson, of vSouth Carolina, and John M. Botts, 
of Virginia.* 

But many in the Congress regarded with favor the establish- 
ment of a United States Bank as the fiscal agent of the govern- 
ment. A plan of incorporation of the " Fiscal Bank of the United 
States" was drawn up by Secretary Ewing, of the Treasury De- 
partment, and introduced by a bill in the Senate. It was not in 
all respects what the President would have prefen*ed, but was in 
substance the plan which he regarded as in accord with the consti- 
tution. It created a bank in the District of Columbia (over which 
Congress had express jurisdiction), and provided for branches with 
definite consent of the States in which they should be created.^ 

This bill was referred, on motion of Henry Clay, to a select 
committee on finance, of which he was chairman. Here the bill 
was so reconstructed as to make it a charter of a bank on the old 
plan, with power to establish branches without the express con- 
sent of the States where established. A leading journal openly 
declared that the sentiments of the President, as " well known and 
maintained for fifteen years," were adverse to this.^ 

His opposition to such a scheme was so well known that John 
M. Botts, of Vii'ginia, had obtained a personal interview with 
him, and had asked his consideration of a paper which proposed 
that "branches might be established in any State the legislature 

1 Letters and Times of the Tylers, II. 15-17, 68. « Ihid,. II. 44, 51. 

3 National Intelligencer, June 5, 1841. Tylers, II. 44. 



690 A Hi story of ihe United States of America. 

of which did not by a formal act express their dissent at their next 
session, and that, even in case of such dissent, Congress might au- 
thorize the branches wherever the public interest might seem to 
demand them." ^ The President promptly condemned this propo- 
sition. But it was introduced into the Bank Bill, which passed the 
Senate by a vote of twenty-six to twenty-three, and the Plouse by 
a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to ninety-seven. It was 
promptly vetoed by President Tyler, and returned with his rea- 
sons for dissent. It could not command the t\vo-thirds vote needed 
to pass it over the veto. 

Private conferences went on between leading members of both 
Houses and Mr. Tyler. A second bill was passed chartering a 
bank under the title of " The Fiscal Corporation of the United 
States." A second veto followed, on grounds clearly given. 

The excitement and fury among the Whigs have been described 
as follows : " The papers burst out into a tirade of vituperation 
and invective ; the fires of a thousand efhgies lighted the streets 
of the various cities ; Whig orators and politicians vied with each 
other in casting at him the filth and garbage of falsehood and de- 
famation ; hundreds of letters were received and opened by the 
President's private secretary threatening him ^vith certain assassi- 
nation."' 

But the President, conscious of his own right and consistency, 
preserved his composure ; nor did he lose it, when his veto was 
followed by the resignations of Ewing, Bell, Badger, Crittenden 
and Granger. Daniel Webster alone remained at his post. Plis 
reasons were: First, "because he had seen no sufficient reasons 
for the dissolution of the late cabinet by the voluntary act of its 
own members ; second, because if he had seen reasons to resign 
his office, he would not have done so without giving the Presi- 
dent reasonable notice, and aftording him time to select the hands 
to which he should confide the delicate and important matters 
now pending in this department ; " third, because he was engaged 
in negotiating with Lord Ashburton the northeastern boundary 
questions, which resulted in the important treaty of 1S42.* 

If hopes had been indulged that these precipitate resignations 
would fatally embarrass the government, such hopes were vain. 
Mr. Tyler promptly sent in names vv^hich the Senate could not 
refuse to ratify. 

The cabinet was arranged with John C. Spencer, of New York, 
Secretary of War ; Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, of the Navy ; 
W^alter Forward, of Pennsylvania, of the Treasury ; Charles A. 
Wickliffe, of Kentucky, Postmaster-General ; and Hugh S. Legare, 

' The Tylers, II. 55-58. 2 lUd., H. 82. 3 lUd., 118-124. Scudder, 345. Stephens, 473. 



Tltc Presidency of yoJin Tyler. 691 

of South Carolina, Attorney-General. In May, 1843, Mr. Web- 
ster resig-ned the State Department. ISIr. Legare was appointed 
to the office. He died soon afterwards, during a visit which he 
made with the President to Boston to take part in the ceremonies 
attending the completion of the Bunker's Hill monument. Sub- 
sequent changes occurred, by which Upshur became Secretary of 
State ; George ]M. Bibb, of Kentucky, of the Treasury ; William 
Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, of War ; Thos. W. Gilmer, of V^ii-ginia, 
of the Navy ; and John Nelson, of Maryland, Attoi'ney-General. 

But on the 2Sth of February, 1844, occurred a fatal explosion, 
which again produced vacancies in President Tyler's cabinet. 
The United States steamer Princeton was lying in the Potomac 
river below Washington. By invitation of Captain Stockton, the 
President, with most of the members of his cabinet, several sen- 
ators and members of the House, officers of the army and navy of 
high rank, and well-known citizens of Washington, male and 
female, went aboard of her to witness her manoeuvres, and espe- 
cially the firing of an enormous gun called the "Peace-maker," 
mounted on her deck, with a companion gun of the same calibre. 
They carried a shot of two hundred and twenty-five pounds. At 
the second firing the "Peace-maker" exploded, and her flying 
fragments struck and killed Secretaries Upshur and Gilmer and 
many others, some of whom were eminent in office or in private 
life. The sudden tragedy carried desolation to families and lov- 
ing hearts.^ 

John C. Calhoun was appointed Secretary of State, and John 
V. Alason, of Virginia, Secretary of the Navy. 

The efforts of the Abolitionists became more and more per- 
sistent. They poured in upon the Congress petitions for destroy- 
ing slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories. Mr. 
Adams, in steady maintenance of the right of petition, presented 
these papers. But, in November, 1843, as he was returning from 
a tour though the West, he was met at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
by an association of these petitioners and their sympathizers. 
To them he made an address, parts of wdiich greatly amazed and 
discouraged them, and placed this able man in a higher light be- 
foi-e his country.^ 

He said : "As to the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, I have said that I was opposed to it, not because I have 
any doubts of the power of Congress to abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict, for I have none ; but I regard it as a violation of republican 
principles to enact laws at the petition of one people which are 

1 Amer. Encyclop., XV. 686. 

-Art. Stockton, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 108. Stephens, 475. Goodrich, 401. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S.,475. 



692 A History of the United States of America. 

to operate upon another people against their consent. As the 
laws now stand, the people of the District h.iXYC property in their 
slaves." 

Thoughtful people in the South had long looked with anxiety 
on the progress of this abolition sentiment. They saw that a de- 
termined purpose existed to restrict the existence of slavery by 
lines whicii would, sooner or later, make the slave area compara- 
tively small.' The question of the annexation of foreign territory 
became the pretext for renewed opposition to the institutions of 
the South. 

The island of Cuba, with her rich soil, hot suns, and tropical 
products, was a desirable possession ; but Cuba was beyond reach 
for the time. Several attempts had been made by American 
Presidents to purchase the island from Spain, but she had refused 
to sell. In 1835, wliile Henry Clay was Secretary of State under 
the presidency of John Qiiinc)- Adams, Spain had proposed, in 
consideration of certain important commercial advantages to be 
granted by her, that the United States should guarantee to her the 
title and possession of Cuba.^ But Mr. Clay had sagaciously de- 
clined this proposition, because it would entangle his country in 
forms of guaranty not congenial to her institutions. Thus Spain 
retained Cuba ; and Mr. Calhoun never approved of lawless at- 
tacks or "filibustering" against her. 

While people in the Northern and Eastern States were zeal- 
ously seeking to disturb the rights of the Southern people in their 
slaves, one of the New England States became the scene of a 
rebellion against constituted autliority. This was the revolu- 
tionary movement, in 1843 and subsequent years, stirred up by 
Thomas W. Dorr and those who agi"eed with him in seeking to 
overturn the old constitution of Rhode Island, which was cer- 
tainly behind the requirements of the age. We have already, in 
a previous chapter, given an account of this movement and its 
results. President Tyler's intervention with the United States 
authority and military force was cautious and salutary.* Yet 
grave constitutional questions emerged from these troubles, which 
reached the Supreme Court, and wei'e adjudicated in Luther vs. 
Borden, decided at the December term, 1S48.* 

President Tyler's term was immortalized by the success of 
the "Magnetic Telegraph," invented by Samuel F. B. Morse, 
who discovered a method by which the powers of the all-pervad- 
ing electricity of earth and air should be used to transmit nearly 

> Scudder's U. S., 336, 337. ^Art. Cuba, Amer. Encyclop. Eggleston, 300. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 473, 474. Goodrich's U. S., 400, 401. 
* Luther rs. Borden, VII. Howard, 1-55. 



The Presidency of yolni Tyler. 693 

instantaneous messages. He set up and worked a telegraphic 
wire as early as 1835.^ 

But he sought pecuniary aid, and, with " hope deferred," ere he 
could obtain the means needed for setting his grand invention in 
practical movement, he became very poor — so poor that during 
some days he had no food at all. A bill appropriating thirty 
thousand dollars for testing his invention had made some progress 
in the Twenty-seventh Congress ; but it was crowded by conflict- 
ing bills and business. The bill "was warmly supported by Presi- 
dent Tyler, and was finally passed on the last day of the session. 

The -first experimental line was between Washington and Bal- 
timore, and the first message sent over it was by Miss Ellsworth, 
in these words : "What hath God wrought? " An early one was 
in 1844, announcing the nomination of James K. Polk as Presi- 
dent. The feat was so amazing that the old politicians refused 
to believe it or act on it until the regular mails confirmed it.^ 

But the deed was done. The tour of thought expressed in 
visible symbols by the power of lightning had commenced. 
Morse's name has become one of the great names of the earth. 
Broad ribbons, with jewels and kingly decorations, came to him 
in such profusion that space on the expanded breast of his coat 
could hardly be found for them. That first transit of forty-five 
miles has extended to more than one hundred and fifty thousand 
miles, and wires stretch under all seas and convey messages from 
people to people, which travel faster than the earth on her axis. 

Early in January, 1S45, a treaty with the vast empire of China 
was ratified by the Senate. It had been negotiated by Caleb 
Cushing, of Massachusetts, with the Governor-General Tsyeng, on 
behalf of the Emperor Taou Kwang, and opened this ancient and 
mysterious land of China to the commerce and intercourse of the 
United States to an extent never before accorded to any people.' 

Meanwhile on the southwestern frontier of the United States 
had arisen a new I'epublic, destined to exert a material influence 
on the fortunes and welfare of the whole North American conti- 
nent. Texas, in territorial extent, is an empire in herself, contain- 
ing about two hundred and thirty-eight thousand square miles of 
ai"ea, extending from the Gulf of Mexico and the parallel of 2^° 
c;o' to 36° 30' north, and from the meridian line of 93° 30' to 107° 
west, and embracing fine harbors, navigable rivers, i^ich arable 
lands, broad prairies, immense pasturing districts, forest stretches, 
and unmeasured mineral deposits of coal, gypsum and valuable 
granite and limestone rocks.* 

1 Kggleston's Household U. S. 280, 281. =76iU,2Sl. Barnes, 183. Tlialheimer, 250. 

8 Goodrich, 403. Stephens, 479. * Art. Texas, Amer. Eucyclop., XV. S97. 



694 -^ History of the United States of America. 

To Moses Austin, of Durham, Connecticut, Texas owes her 
rise and settlement, first as a Spanish colony, then as a part of 
the province of Cohahuila, under the republic of Mexico, and 
finally as an independent State. In 1820 he obtained from the 
government of Spain a very extensive grant of land for the pur- 
pose of planting thereon a large colony of immigrants ; ' and 
these were nearly all from the United States. 

On the 2d of May, 1824, the Cortes^ or congress, of Mexico 
passed an act intended to encourage settlements in Texas, declar- 
ing that, when in population and development it was ready, it 
should become an independent State of the Mexican republic, 
equal to the other States, free, sovereign and independent in 
whatever exclusively related to its internal government and ad- 
ministration.^ 

On the faith of this act, immigration from the United States 
and other countries went forward, not only to Austin's colony, 
but to other parts of Texas ; but in 1830 came a sudden and op- 
pressive interruption from a usurper of power. Bustamente, by 
intrigue and violence, assumed power as president or emperor in 
Mexico. He issued decrees forbidding the subsequent immigra- 
tion of foreigners, and overturning the free constitution of 1824. 
The Texans were roused to resistance. When Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna overthrew Bustamente in 1832, something better was 
hoped for. But this new tyrant speedily showed himself in his 
true colors. He entirely overturned the republican constitution 
of 1S24, and established a centralized and consolidated govern- 
ment, of which he was "dictator," and which had only the name 
of a republic, Avhile the republic, in fact, was dead.* 

These measures were in themselves enough to justify the peo- 
ple of Texas in throwing ofi" the rule of Mexico and establishing 
for themselves an independent State. But they were not to suc- 
ceed without a bitter struggle, in which they maintained their 
cause most gallantly by force of arms. This war belongs to the 
history of Texas, and not of the United States. 

It was substantially ended by the battle of San Jacinto, fought 
near the banks of that river on the 21st of April, 1836. Santa 
Anna, with an overwhelming force, had, in February of that 
year, first bombarded and then carried by assault the Fort Alamo, 
defended by one hundred and forty Texans, imder Colonel Travis. 
The defence was heroic and the slaughter of the Mexicans terrific. 
But numbers prevailed. The assailants were four thousand strong. 
David Crockett, of Tennessee, here fell. The whole garrison re- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 480. 2 Act of the Cortes, May 2d, 1824. Stephens, 480. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 481. 



The P residency of John Tyler. 695 

maining alive were put to the sword on the 6th of March. But 
the assailants lost sixteen hundred men;^ and on the 27th of 
March, by Santa Anna's orders, and in gross violation of the 
terms of surrender, the whole of Colonel Fannin's command of 
three hundred men, who, after fighting a force of several thou- 
sand for a whole day, had yielded themselves as prisoners of war 
at Goliad, were deliberately put to death in cold blood.^ 

The Texan army under Gen. Samuel Houston wei'e roused to 
the highest point of thirst for revenge and retribution when they 
heard of these atrocities. They were somewhat depressed by 
three retreating moves of Houston — first to the Colorado, next to 
the Brazos, and finally to the San Jacinto. But the Texan gene- 
ral was wise. His design was to scatter and divide the Mexican 
forces ; and he succeeded. 

Santa Anna, flushed with confidence of victory, left much of 
his army and artillery behind, and pressed after Houston in full 
pursuit. On the 3ist of April, with a force still numbering about 
two thousand, he found himself face to face with Houston's army 
of eight hundred men. The time for battle had come. The 
Texans, shouting, " Remember the Alamo ! remember Goliad ! " 
rushed upon the Mexicans with a fury and vehemence which 
made their attack resistless. The enemy's ranks were broken. 
Hundreds were slain and wounded. The rest surrendered them- 
selves prisoners as fast as they could. Santa Anna was found 
and taken prisoner the next day. The loss of the Mexicans was 
six hundred and thirty killed, two hundred and eight wounded, 
and seven hundred and thirty prisoners. The Texan loss was 
small. 

Impulse and revenge would have called for the immediate exe- 
cution of Santa Anna ; but civilized warfare and prudent policy 
forbade it. General Houston entered into negotiation with this 
Mexican dictator and obtained from him an order under which 
the Mexican troops under Generals Filiosola and Urrea, demoral- 
ized and half-starved, retreated to Mexican territory, leaving 
Texas with no enemies on her soil. Santa Anna gave his parole 
as a prisoner of war, and was permitted to pass into the United 
States and make his way to Washington. 

Thus Texas had gained her independence. Mexico did not 
acknowledge it, but sent no troops to maintain even a show of 
authority. On the 12th November, 1835, the people of Texas, by 
their delegates in convention, adopted a State constitution. On 
the 22d October, 1836, Gen. Samuel Houston was inaugurated as 

1 Art. Tpxas, Amor. Encyclo-p., XV. 404. 

" Art. Fannin, Kew Amer. Encyclop. Stephens, 483, 484. Democratic Review on Texas 
Campaigns. 



B96 - A History of the United States of America. 

the second President, Austin having been the first. Mirabeau 
B. Lamar was the third, and Anson Jones, the fourth President, 
in 1844. On the 3d of March, 1837, the United States in solemn 
form acknowledged the independence of the new republic. Two 
years afterwards it was recognized also by France and England, 
and very soon afterwards by all the leading powers of Europe.' 

On the 4th of August, 1837, Texas made formal application for 
admission to the Union, but President Van Buren declined to en- 
tertain the proposition ; and the treaty for her admission first 
made by President Tyler was rejected by the Senate. 

Mr. Upshur and Mr. Calhoun and their followers desired the ad- 
mission of Texas on the expressed ground " to extend the influ- 
ence of slavery and secure its perpetual duration.'"* But Presi- 
dent Tyler's views were much higher. Although he was warmly 
vSouthern and had voted against the " Missouri Compromise," he 
deprecated slavery and desired its ultimate extinction so earnestly 
that he was one of the earliest presidents of the Virginia Coloni- 
zation Society.' He desired Texas to be a part of the United 
States because he recognized in her an empire of future greatness 
and wealth. 

In the Congress of i844-'45 i^^^riy propositions for the admis- 
sion of Texas were introduced. The one which prevailed was 
that of Milton Brown, of Tennessee. He was a Whig, but a 
Whig who adopted the " strict construction " view of the consti- 
tution, and, therefore, sided with William C. Rives in the Senate 
and Henry A. Wise in the House, in supporting Mr. Tyler. 

His resolution was in three clauses. It provided for the imme- 
diate admission of Texas, with safeguards as to her debts, and 
with the provision in the third clause that new States, not exceed- 
ing four in number, formed from the soil of Texas, might there- 
after, with her consent, be admitted into the Union, and that such 
States as might be so formed out of Texas territory lying south of 
36° 30' north latitude, commonly known as the " Missouri Compro- 
mise " line, should be admitted into the Union, with or without 
slavery, as the j^eople of such State asking admission might de- 
sire.* 

This proposition was in the true spirit of the " Missouri Com- 
promise," and ought, therefore, to have been supported by the 
anti-slavery members ; but it encountered vehement opposition 
from many of them. It was, however, adopted on the 35th of 
January, 1S45, in the House by a vote of one hundred and twenty 
yeas to ninety-eight nays.'' 

» Stephens' Comp. U. S., 484. 485. ^ Calhoun's report. Thalheimer, 249. 

3 Letters and Times of the Tylers, I. 566-570. 

* Kesolutious in Stephens, 477, 478. ^ Stephens, 478. 



The Presidency of jfohn Tyler. 697 

Meanwhile conventions of both the Whig and the Democratic 
parties had been held to make nominations for President and Vice- 
President. The Whigs met in Baltimore, May 1st, 1844, and 
nominated Henry Clay for President, and Theodore Frelinghuy- 
sen for Vice-President. The Democratic convention met also in 
Baltimore on the 27th May, and nominated James K. Polk, of 
Tennessee, for President, and George ]SI. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, 
for Vice-President. The rule requiring a vote of t%vo-thirds to 
nominate had become the fixed law in Democratic conventions. 
Van Buren was defeated by this rule. He was opposed to the 
admission of Texas. 

The Abolitionists now entered the field as a political party, and 
presented James G. Birney, of Michigan, for President. The ques- 
tions of national bank, protective tariff', and internal improve- 
ments by the Federal government, were largely discussed before 
immense popular assemblages ; but the all-absorbing issue was 
the admission of Texas. 

The result was perfectly distinct. For James K. Polk as Presi- 
dent, one hundred and seventy electoral votes were returned, and 
the same number for George M. Dallas as Vice-President. One 
hundred and five electoral votes were returned for Henry Clay 
as President, and the same number for Theodore Frelinghuysen 
as Vice-President. No electoral vote was returned for Mr. Bir- 
ney ; but out of a popular vote of two million five hundi^ed thou- 
sand, he received about sixty-five thousand votes. This was 
ominous of coming events. 

The true Democrats of the United vStates have always been 
those who have held States' rights doctrines and strict construc- 
tion of the Federal constitution, because the people (<5'/;/<ojr) had 
been the basis of the colonies which became the States and for- 
mulated the constitution. But gi'adually another element of the 
democracy came into being — people who acted on the principle 
that the will of a mere majority must always be carried out, and 
that to the leaders who could command such majority belonged 
the spoils and all authority. President Jackson had been the idol 
of such Democrats, and Van Buren, Benton and others had kept 
this spirit alive and infused it into their followers. During Jack- 
son's presidency the term " Locofoco " was invented as applicable 
to this form of democracy, and was cotitinued for years.' 

When Milton Brown's bill to annex Texas went to the Senate, 
Thomas H. Benton (who was a leader among the Locofocos) in- 
troduced a bill which assumed that Texas could only be annexed 

1 Letters and Times of the Tylers, I. 469, 507. 



698 A History of the United States of America. 

by negotiation and treaty. This menaced indefinite delay. But 
Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, a native of Pennsylvania, who 
merits a high place in history because of his fairness and ability, 
offered a joint resolution, introducing Brown's proposition and 
Benton's proposition as alternatives, and authorizing the President 
to elect under which Texas should be admitted. This passed the 
Senate, February 37th, 1S45, by a vote of twenty-seven to twenty- 
five, and was adopted by the House by a vote of one hundred and 
thirty-two to seventy-six.' 

This joint resolution did not reach President Tyler until March 
1st. He pi"oniptly signed it, and after consulting his cabinet, and 
communicating to the President-elect his purpose, he elected the 
Milton Brown proposition and sent a special message to Texas 
communicating the i^esolution and his action. President Anson 
Jones called a convention, which met in Texas on the 4th July, 
ratified the terms of admission, and adopted a constitution, which 
was submitted to the people and approved.^ The formal vote of 
Congress admitting Texas as a State of the Union was approved 
December 37th, 1S45. 

Two States were added to the Union during President Tyler's 
term : Texas, by force of the joint resolution of March ist, and 
Florida, by act of Congress passed and approved March 3d, 1845. 

John Tyler encountered during his presidency an amount of op- 
position and vituperative obloquy such as has seldom been borne 
by a man elevated to high station by popular vote ; but no charge of 
broken faith, or even of inconsistency, has been sustained against 
him. He was strongly hostile to every form of the "spoils doc- 
trine," v/hich had become so prevalent in presidencies preceding his. 
He vv^as opposed to removals from office merely on party grounds. 
During the brief month that General Harrison had lived as Pres- 
ident, his Postmaster-General, Francis Granger, had removed 
seventeen hundred postmasters of all grades. President Tyler, 
on assuming office, instantly put a stop to this merciless proscrip- 
tion. Granger afterwards stated that, but for Mr. Tylei''s acces- 
sion and prohibition, three thousand more postmasters would have 
been removed ! ^ 

John Tyler retired to his home in Virginia. He enjoyed the 
confidence and affection of many friends, but took no active part 
in public affairs until the approach of the great war. Then his 
counsels and efforts wei^e for peace. 

1 Tylers, n. 360-365, 630 ; II. 304. "^ Art. Tejcas, Amer. Encyclop., XV. 405. 

3 Lyon G. Tyler's Parties and Patronage, 68, 69, note. 



CHAPTER LIV. 
The Presidency of James K. Polk. — War with Mexico. 

GOOD, patriot blood ran in the veins of James Knox Polk. 
He was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, in 
1795. The original name of the family was Pollock, and his 
great-uncle had been active in promoting the " Mecklenburg De- 
claration " in i77v^ James K. Polk had graduated with the first 
honors at the University of North Carolina in 18 18, had settled 
in Tennessee, had served in her legislature and as her governor, 
had been in the Congress of the United States for fourteen years, 
had been Speaker of the House of Representatives, and had 
always proved himself to be a consistent Democrat. He had 
been conspicuous as the adversary of the national bank, the pro- 
tective tariff and the appropriation of Federal money for internal 
improvements, and as the supporter of the measures of General 
Jackson.* He had not the highest genius, but he had decided 
talent. His term was brilliant in events which added fame to his 
country and vastly extended her territory and her power. 

He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1845, in the fiftieth 
year of his age. Chief-Justice Taney administered the oath, in 
the presence of a crowd great indeed, but not so vast as that which 
had attended the inauguration of Harrison.' 

President Polk, in his inaugural address, placed himself squarely 
on the platform erected by the Democratic convention of May 
27th, 1844. He approved of the annexation of Texas, and asserted 
that the title of the United States to the whole of Oregon was 
clear, and intimated his purpose to maintain it by force, if neces- 
sary. 

One of his early measures was injurious to the coherency of the 
Democratic party. Philip P. Blair, Senior, and John C. Rives, 
editors of the Congressional Globe, had, from the beginning of 
Jackson's presidency, been recognized as conductors of a paper so 
influential as to be the organ of the administration. They had 
been elected public printers, and had thus annually secured large 

> Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 259 (note). 

2 Amor. Encvclop., XIII. 458, 45"J. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 496. 

•' Stephens' Comp. U. S., 486. 

[ 699 ] 



7oo A History of the United States of America. 

money profits ; but in the discussions previous to the Democratic 
convention and during the convention itself, they had zealously 
supported the nomination of Martin Van Buren and opposed any 
other. On the other hand, Thomas Ritchie, of the Eiiqtiirer, of 
Richmond, Virginia, though he had earnestly supported Jackson, 
had bitterly opposed the nomination of Van Buren in 1844, and 
had exerted a prevalent power in defeating him. Soon after 
assuming his high office, Mr. Polk insisted on dethroning Blair 
and Rives, and promoting Thomas Ritchie to their former posi- 
tion, influence and profits. This step rankled in the hearts of the 
Van Buren Democrats, and alienated them from the party .^ 

But events more important than party quarrels and newspaper 
changes soon absorbed public attention. 

General Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washington, had 
remonstrated against the annexation of Texas. Soon after the 
opening of the new administration, Almonte demanded his pass- 
ports and left the city. All friendly intercourse with Mexico 
was now ended. She had never acknowledged the independence 
of Texas, and, therefore, from her standpoint, could not look upon 
the course of the United States as friendly. In fact, the Whig 
party and the followers of Mr. Van Buren had earnestly argued 
that the annexation of Texas must necessarily lead to war with 
Mexico ; and the event vindicated their foresight. 

But, on the other hand, the Texas advocates had urged, with 
great force of law, logic and sentiment, that Texas had been 
really independent for years ; that her existence as an independ- 
ent State had been acknowledged by the United States and by 
all the leading European powers for eight years ; that Mexico 
had no right to continue to claim a sovereignty which had been 
extinguished for so long a period, and therefore had no right, ac- 
cording to the principles of international law, to make the an- 
nexation of Texas a casus belli against the United States. There 
was no sound answer to this reasoning. 

But Mexico was not governed by wise counsels. Her prepara- 
tions for hostilities soon became apparent. The State authorities 
of Texas reported these movements to the general government, 
and asked for protection. President Polk did not hesitate as to 
his duty. 

He had organized his cabinet by appointing James Buchanan, 
of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State ; Robert J. Walker, of Mis- 
sissippi, of the Treasury ; William L. Marcy, of New York, of 
War ; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, of the Navy ; Cave 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 486. 



The Presidency of y antes K. Polk. yoi 

Johnson, of Tennessee, Postmaster-General, and John Y. Mason, 
of Virginia, Attorney-General. 

Col. Zachary Taylor, who had come out of the war against the 
Seminole Indians with a higher reputation than any other officer 
of his grade, was made brigadier-general, and was ordered to 
take command of all the United States troops that could be 
speedily obtained for Texas, amounting in the aggregate to about 
five thousand men/ 

A question of boundary existed. Mexico claimed that the river 
Nueces was the western boundary of the province of Texas ; but 
Texas, as a State, claimed that the river known as the Rio Grande 
was her true western boundary ; and this claim was corroborated 
by all the ancient and modern maps and by the natural land and 
water marks. ^ The only plausible basis for the Nueces boundary 
was that the territory between the rivers was settled chiefly by 
Mexicans ; but immigrants who sympathized strongly with the 
cause of Texas' independence were also there, and the State did 
not choose to abandon them to the perturbed and unwise rule of 
Mexico. 

It was clearly the duty of the United States, after receiving 
Texas into the Federal Union, to maintain her territorial bounds 
as she claimed them until they were definitely settled ; but, as 
the western boundary was disputed, an offer was made by Presi- 
dent Polk's State Department to settle the line by negotiation. 
This offer was scornfully rejected by the Mexican authorities.' 
Mr. John Slidell, who had been sent to Mexico as commissioner, 
was refused reception by both Plerrera and Paredes.* 

Nothing remained but to use force against force. General 
Taylor established a depot of provisions and military supplies 
near Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Nueces, on the Gulf of 
Mexico, about twenty-one miles from Matamoras, which was a 
Mexican town at the mouth of the Rio Grande. 

On the 13th of January, 1846, orders were given to him to ad- 
vance to the Rio Grande. On the 28th of March he reached its 
eastern bank and erected a fortress, afterwards called Fort Brown, 
within cannon-shot of Matamoras. 

In April, General Ampudia, with a large Mexican force, arrived 
at Matamoras, and sent notice to General Taylor that, unless he 
withdrew his troops without delay to the eastern side of the 
Nueces, war would commence ; and on the 26th of April, Cap- 

J Quackenbos, 424, 425. Stephens, 487. 

s Compare Amer. Encyclop., XV. 3'J6. Derry, 224, 225. Prof. Johnston, 183. Thalheimer, 
253, and map, 257. Swinton, 192, and map. 

3 Quackenbos, 424. Holmes' U. S., 209. < Blackburn & McDonald, 363, 364. 



702 A History of the United States of America. 

tain Thornton and sixty-three dragoons of the American army, 
while foraging in the disputed region, were surrounded by a large 
force of the Mexicans, and, after losing sixteen men, killed and 
wounded, were forced to surrender. Captain Thornton escaped 
and reported the facts.' Thus Mexico, beyond question, made 
the first attack and shed the first blood in the war. 

As the enemy, in numbers not known, were now east of the 
Rio Grande, General Taylor feared for his depot of supplies at 
Point Isabel, near to Corpus Christi. He therefore left a garrison 
of about four hundred men in the fort under INIajor Brown, and 
with the main body of his army marched to Point Isabel. 

Here he found all safe. Having strengthened the works and 
defending force, he set out immediately to return to the relief of 
Fort Brown, knowing it would be hard pressed. His army was 
two thousand two hundred and eighty-eight strong, and he con- 
voyed a large provision train. 

On the Sth of ]\Iay, he encountered the Mexican army, six thou- 
sand in number, near the prairie of Palo Alto. Such disparity 
might have given pause to a less resolute commander ; but Gene- 
ral Taylor ordered an immediate advance and attack. He posted 
his artillery advantageously and played upon the columns of the 
enemy with destructive efiect. After a 'combat of five hours the 
Mexicans \vere driven from the field with a loss of nearly four 
hundred in killed and wounded. The Americans lost nine killed 
and forty-four wounded ; but among their dead was the brave 
Major Ringgold, of the artillerv. While directing his batteries 
he was stricken down by a shell. His comrades hastened to his 
side. He said : " Leave me alone ; you are wanted in front." ^ He 
lived long enough to hear the shouts of victory as the enemy fled 
from the field. 

In the afternoon of the next day General Taylor again advanced 
with his army. At three o'clock he came upon the Mexicans oc- 
cupying a strong position at Resaca de la Palma, about three 
miles from Fort Brown. The battle was commenced by the artil- 
lery on both sides. The Mexican guns were better posted and 
better served than on the previous day, and their fire was more 
efficient. A charge of cavalry to attempt their capture was de- 
termined on. Colonel May, at the head of his dragoons, dashed 
upon the guns at full speed, though they were firing grape and 
canister all the time. Half of the assailants fell, but the rest 
reached the gunners and cut them down or drove them to the rear, 

1 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 407. Stephens, 487. Derry, 226. 
- Quackenbos, 426, 427. Stephens, 488. 



The Presidency of yamcs K. Polk. 703 

capturing General La Vega, who commanded all the Mexican ar- 
tillery. At the same time the American infantry charged. The 
Mexicans gave way and took to flight in utter rout. By nightfall 
not a Mexican soldier remained east of the Rio Grande. The vic- 
tory was complete. The Americans lost one hundred and twenty- 
two killed and wounded. Two hundred of the enemy were found 
dead on the field, and their total loss was not far from one thousand.^ 

During General Taylor's absence with his army, Fort Brown 
had been almost constantly boinbarded by iVrista (who had suc- 
ceeded Ainpudia) from his heavy guns at Matamoras ; but every 
attempt at advance had been met by the fire of the fort. Major 
Brown, exposing himself in order to observe the movements of 
the enemy, had received a mortal wound. The day after the bat- 
tle of Resaca, Taylor, with his army, re-entered the lines of the 
fort and relieved the faithful, but wearied, garrison.^ 

When news of these successes reached the people of the United 
States, a feeling of relief and intense excitement pervaded them. 
Many had opposed the war ; and ^vherl it was known that, by or- 
der of the government. General Taylor had marched into the dis- 
puted strip of territory with forces small in numbers compared 
with the Mexican armies which confronted and almost sur- 
rounded him, fears and predictions of disaster were abundant. 
But now came tidings of the blood shed in the attack on Thorn- 
ton and his men, the successful march of Taylor to relieve Point 
Isabel, his return and his decisive victories with his heroic army 
against greatly superior numbers at Palo Alto and Resaca, the 
resolute defence and complete relief of Fort Brown. Instantly all 
opposition to the war was hushed ; all united in the sentiment that 
Taylor must be reinforced and the war prosecuted with vigor.* 

On the nth of May, 1S46, President Polk sent in a message to 
Congress briefly narrating the facts, and declaring that "IMexico 
had invaded our territory and shed the blood of our citizens on 
our own soil." No disposition any longer existed to criticise the 
accuracy of such a statement. The Congress promptly passed 
an act reciting that " war existed by the act of Mexico," and 
authorizing the President to accept the services of fifty thousand 
volunteers for the war, and appropriating ten million dollars for 
its prosecution. Large popular meetings were held in many of 
the States, and in a short time two hundred thousand men offered 
themselves as volunteers.* 

1 Quackenbos, 427. Stephens, 48S. Derrv, 22G, 227. 

2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 320. Quaekeobos' U. S., 427. 
3C. iB. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 620-622. 

< Compare Stephens, 488 ; Thalhelmer, 253 ; Quackenbos, 42.S ; Goodrich, 408. 



yo4 A History of the United States of America. 

A government council of war was held, in which Gen. Win- 
field Scott took prominent part. A plan of military operations 
against Mexico was devised, as comprehensive and far-reaching 
in its grasp as it was afterwards brilliant in its execution. 

A strong fleet was to be concentrated in the Pacific Ocean to 
attack all assailable points on the Mexican coast there. A mili- 
tary force, called " the Army of the West," was to make its way 
across the Rocky Mountains, conquer California, and subdue New 
Mexico and all her contiguous territories. General Taylor's forces 
were to constitute " the Army of Occupation," and were to 
march forward from the Texas frontier near Matamoras, occupy- 
ing and holding the country as they advanced. Another invading 
force, to be called " the Army of the Centre," was to be collected 
in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, on the Gulf of iSIexico, and, 
after capturing that strong point, was to march into the very 
heart of Mexico, if possible to the capital city itself, and to co- 
operate with General Taylor in holding the countiy until a peace 
was conquered.^ 

The well-trained lawyers in the cabinet aided the military 
men, and instructions were given to the commanding generals 
under which, in case of success, a peace concluded on the basis 
of uti possedetis, so common for centuries (that is, that each 
belligerent should be entitled to what he held at the end of the 
war), would leave large regions of Mexico in the dominion of 
the United States. 

General Wool, who had gained tlie fame of a hero at Queens- 
town, was ordered to the coast of Mexico to muster the volun- 
teers into service as fast as they came forward ; but General 
Scott was to be in supreme command.'' 

Having received reinforcements which brought his numbers up 
to about six thousand five hundred men of all arms. General Tay- 
lor, in the latter part of August, 1S46, marched from Matamoras, 
capturing several small towns which made no resistance. On 
the 19th September he appeared before Monterey, the capital of 
New Leon, a strongly-fortified place, defended by forty-two pieces 
of artillery and garrisoned by ten thousand Mexican troops. 

Taylor was approaching by the northeastern route, and Monte- 
rey, being seated amid mountains, was accessible by only one 
other route, through a rocky gorge from the west, which con- 
nected it with Saltillo. To cut oft' the food supplies of the city, 
and assault it on both sides at once. General Taylor detached 

» Quackenbos, 428. Scudder, 341, 342. Stephens, 488. Thalheimer, 253. 
2 Quackenbos, 428. 



The Presidency of ya/nes K. Polk. ^05 

Brigadier-General Worth, with six hui:idred and fifty men, to 
gain the Saltillo road in the rear. By cutting in part a new road, 
and with severe fatigue and hard fighting, this object was accom- 
plished. Worth gained the rear of Monterey, and with his small, 
but resolute, force assaulted the " Bishop's Palace," a stone build- 
ing unfinished, but strongly fortified. The Americans clambered 
up the heights, and, though suffering heavy loss, drove oft' the de- 
fenders and seized this commanding position. This virtually w^on 
the city. 

Meanwhile Taylor and his subordinates, Twiggs, Qiiitman and 
Butler, were making a determined attack on the other side. 
Their troops fought their way from wall to wall, carrying barri- 
cade after barricade, until they eftected a lodgment in the city. 
The decisive assault was on the 23d of .September. A persistent 
fire was poured on the assailants from houses and barricades 
which commanded the streets ; but they moved always forward 
until they gained the plaza and hoisted their flag. Then, enter- 
ing the houses, they broke their ^vay ^vith crowbars until they 
gained the roofs, and speedily dislodged or shot down the de- 
fenders. The contest was hand to hand and blood}^ ; but the 
Americans were victorious.^ 

On the morning of the 34th the city capitulated. The Mexi- 
can garrison were allowed to march out with the honors of war 
and retire. General Taylor, being short of provisions, and having 
good reason to hope that the Mexican government would propose 
peace, agreed to an armistice, to continue eight weeks, or until 
instructions to renew hostilities should be received from the re- 
spective governments of the commanders.^ 

These terms wei"e assuredly reasonable and honorable, having 
been obtained by a commander who had, bv skillful movements 
and sanguinary battle, dislodged a force nearly twice as numerous 
as his own from a powerfully fortified city. But President Polk 
and his cabinet refused to ratify the armistice, and on the 13th 
of October, 1846, instructed General Taylor to renew offensive 
operations. A part of the Congress took the same view. The 
people began to suspect that jealousy of Taylor's singular suc- 
cesses had some influence in government counsels. Tavlor v\'as 
a Whig. 

It had become manifest that the Alexicans as soldiers were far 
below even the Indians of North America. They had not the 
woodcraft, the wiles or the patient endurance of suftering which 



' Stephens, 488. Thalheimer, 25:1. Quackenbos, 428, 429. 
2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 488, 489. 



45 



706 A History of the United States of America. 

distinguished those savages ; and they had very little of the en- 
thusiasm of patriotism. The constant and rapidly succeeding 
changes and revolutions which had sw^ept over their country, at- 
tended by selfishness and atrocity in their leaders, had dissipated 
real patriotism, and left them with no high purposes ; and they 
were a mixed race, with few of the native virtues either of Span- 
iards or Aztecs, They were not able to withstand the fierce and 
concentrated onset of American volunteer soldiers. 

General Scott was preparing for his decisive campaign against 
Mexico — to begin with an attack on Vera Cruz and the adjacent 
castle of San Juan D'Ulloa. Commodores Conner and Perry, 
with their divisions of the " Home Squadron," had already cap- 
tured Fronteira, Tabasco and the convenient port of Tampico, on 
the Gulf of Mexico. There was, therefore, no difficulty in pro- 
viding a point of rendezvous for gathering of provisions, military 
stores and ammunition to be used against Vera Cruz. 

But General Scott was not willing to undertake his attack and 
subsequent march with less than thirteen thousand men. To ob- 
tain this number as early as possible, he issued orders to General 
Taylor, near Monterey, to send to him, in the neighborhood of 
Tampico and Vera Cruz, the larger part of his men.^ 

Taylor did not hesitate to comply with this order, although 
he knew it left him with an inadequate force in a hostile coun- 
try, and compelled him for a time to act on the defensive only. 
The people of the United States looked on his prompt obedi- 
ence and heroic bearing, under such circumstances of trial, with 
deep sympathy, which manifested itself afterwards in generous 
support. 

He had occupied Saltillo, but thought it best to fall back with 
his depleted army to Monterey. Fortunately, General Wool had 
drilled his men into an effective force at San Antonio, and on the 
20th of September marched towards Monterey. He kept his 
troops under strict discipline and treated the country people with 
so much justice and humanity that they willingly supplied him 
with fresh provisions at fair prices. They found themselves safer 
under his rule than under that of Mexico.^ 

Finding that General Taylor had captured and was occupying 
Monterey, Wool, though entitled to a separate command, gladly 
adopted his suggestion and united his forces Avith Taylor's. The 
annistice being ended, and some other reinforcements having 
reached Monterey, General Taylor again found himself at the 

1 C. B. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 630. Quackenbos, 430. Scudder, 342, ?. IJ. 
2Quackenbos, 430. Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 549. 



The Presidency of yames K. Polk. yoy 

head of about six thousand men. His daring spirit urged him to 
an advance, though he was obliged, in prudence, to leave suffi- 
cient garrisons at Monterey and Saltillo. 

With four thousand seven hundred men of all arms he marched 
on the roads leading towards San Luis Potosi. He soon learned 
that an army, numbering probably twenty-three thousand men, 
under the famed Mexican General Santa Anna, was advancing 
to attack, with the assured hope on their part of overwhelming 
and destroying or capturing his small forces. 

Santa Anna had been banished from Mexico and was living in 
exile at Havana, in Cuba ; but as the war went on, his country- 
men, believing him to be a great general, desired his return. It 
is a curious fact of history that President Polk and his cabinet 
also desired his return to IVIexico, under a vague hope that his so- 
journ in the United .States and his knowledge of their strength, 
and of the divided and enfeebled condition of his own country, 
would induce him to use his influence for giving up Texas and 
for a treaty of peace.* Accordinglv, secret orders were issued, 
under which the American cruisers of Commodore Conner's squad- 
ron permitted the ship to pass unmolested which bore Santa Anna 
from Havana to a Mexican port. 

Paredes had been already overthrown, and Salas was provis- 
ional president. Under him Santa Anna was appointed general- 
issimo of all the ISIcxican armies, and in December he was elected 
president." 

What facts had produced the hopes above stated in the minds 
of the American rulers have never been made known. What is 
certain is, that vSanta Anna prosecuted the war with all the skill 
and energy he could command, and that nothing save the great 
superiority of the American troops in courage, enthusiasm and 
discipline saved them from destruction by the immense numbers 
arrayed against them under Santa Anna's leadership. 

He had learned of General Scott's orders, under which the 
greater part of Taylor's army was withdrawn from him. This 
fact was instantly seized upon by him as furnishing the opportu- 
nity for crushing Taylor by a swift and heavy blow. At the head 
of his army of not less than twenty thousand men, he marched to 
attack General Taylor's small force. 

Hearing of his approach, Taylor called in all his outlying regi- 
ments and companies, and took a strong position at the mountain 
pass of Buena Vista, about nine miles from Saltillo. 

» Quackenbos, 429, 430. Art. Santa Anna, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 340. 
2Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 341. 



^oS A Historv of the United States of America. 

Santa Anna was confident of success. On the 33d of Febru- 
ary, 1847, after some exchanges of cannon shots, he sent forward 
a flag of truce. Colonel Crittenden, of Taylor's »tafi', went for- 
ward to meet it under a similar flag. Santa Anna's demand 
was simply for unconditional surrender, with a promise that his 
prisoners should be treated with all kindness. Crittenden's reply 
was equally simple : " General Taylor never surrenders."^ No- 
thing remained l)ut preparations for battle. 

At sunrise on the morning of the 33d, the Mexicans sought to 
outflank the Americans by advancing a large bodv of light troops 
along the mountain pass ; but the rifleinen of Illinois played havoc 
in their ranks and drove them back. The cannon fire on each 
side was without intermission. At about eight o'clock a charge 
by a huge, though irregular, column of the enemy was made on 
the American centre ; but the destructive fire of Washington's ar- 
tillery and the stern resistance of General Wool's infantry broke 
them and drove them to the rear. The next and best sustained 
attempt of the enemy was on the left flank of the Americans ; 
and here for a time the fate of Taylor's army trembled in the 
balance. Two regiments, one from Arkansas and one from In- 
diana, after sustaining the shock of rushing thousands for a time, 
wavered and were broken. General Taylor instantly ordered to 
the critical point a regiment from Kentucky and one from Mis- 
sissippi, under Col. Jeflerson Davis. These pressed into the strife, 
and, with incessant fire of their rifles and steady facing of the foe, 
broke their advance and turned it into flight ; but the Mexicans 
captured and bore ofl' with them two brass six-pounders. 

Meanwhile the American artillery, under Sherman and Bragg, 
were performing prodigies of destruction and blood by their rapid 
fire of solid shot, grape and canister upon the ci'owded and more 
and more confused masses of the enemy. Taylor sa^v the work 
they were doing and its eftect. He had been riding on his war- 
horse "Old Whitey" all day from point to point, greatly ex- 
posed, yet had escaped with only a bullet through his coat. He 
had felt that the day was one of supreme hazard. In his own 
words : " For several hours the fate of the day was extremely 
doubtful, so much so that I was urged by some of the most expe- 
rienced officers to fall back and take a new position."^ 

But he declined to give such order, and stubbornly clung to his 
ground. Riding up to his artillery, he said : " Give them a little 
more grape. Captain Bragg ! " ^ The order was obeyed with 

1 Barnes' U. S., 187, note. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 6.'?4. 

- General Taylor's words in Centennial U.S., 634. 

3 Barnes' U. S., 187 and note. Quackenbos, 432. Holmes, contra, but unsustained, 211, note. 



The Presidency of jfanies K. Polk. 709 

alacrity. The fire became too hot and destructive to be borne. 
Along the whole front the Mexicans fell back out of range, and 
the battle was ended. Each army held nearly the same position 
as in the morning ; but the Mexicans, numbering four times the 
force of the Americans, had been the assailants, and had been 
bloodily repulsed at every point. 

The little army of heroes, commanded by a general who knew 
no fear, slept on their arms, chilled by the wintry air, yet ready 
for instant renewal of the combat. But the Mexicans had no 
thought of again encountering foes so determined and terrible. 
With the remnant of his army, dispirited and sorely broken, 
Santa Anna withdrew towards the coast. 

In this stern battle the loss on both sides Avas fearful. The 
Americans lost two hundred and sixty-seven killed, four hundred 
and fitU'-six wounded and twenty-three missing. In officers the 
loss was very severe. Twenty-eight were killed, among whom 
were Capt. George Lincoln, assistant adjutant-general ; Colonels 
Hardin, McKee and Yell, and Lieutenant-Colonel Clay, the son 
of the great Kentucky statesman. The Mexicans left five hun- 
dred of their dead on the field. Their total loss reached two 
thousand in killed, wounded, prisoners and missing.^ 

This battle fixed the image of General Zachary Taylor in the 
hearts of the people of his country. His army took no further 
active part in the sanguinary contests of this war ; but he was 
already chosen for the highest station that could be bestowed.^ 

INIeanwhile important events were in progress which added 
vast regions of conquered territory to the United States. 

Colonel John C. Fremont had been sent out by the United 
States government in 1S43, with a small part}-, to explore the 
Rocky Mountain region. On the 15th day of August he reached 
the highest ridge, from which he beheld a snow-crowned peak 
towering still a thousand feet above him. Up this he succeeded 
in climbing with his men, and with an iron ramrod they set up 
the United States flag on the very highest pinnacle and cast its 
folds to the breeze.' 

In 184!^, he was sent out again, and explored the great basin of 
the Salt Lake and large parts of California and Oregon. Many 
Americans had settled in all this region. The United States gov- 
ernment feared that England would endeavor to acquire Califor- 
nia. Passing the winter there, and hearing in the spring of 1S46 
of the war with Mexico, Fremont had little difficulty in persuad- 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 633. Quackenbos, 432. 

2Eggleston's Household U. S., 287. 

3 Quackenbos, 440, 441, and pictorial sketch. 



yio A History of the United States of America. 

ing the people to declare the State independent, which they did 
July 5th, 1846. 

Some bodies of Mexicans made opposition, but Fremont, with 
American volunteers, pursued and dispersed them. While on one 
of these expeditions he learned that Commodore Sloat, with his 
fleet, had captured Monterey, on the Pacific coast. The people, 
under Fremont's lead, promptly decided to abandon the position of 
independence and to submit to the government of the United States, 
which Commodore Stockton (who had succeeded Sloat), with his 
naval force, and Fremont, with volunteer land forces, v\^ere amply 
able to maintain.' 

In June, 1846, Colonel Kearney, vi^ith one thousand men (part 
of the "Army of the West"), marched from Fort Leavenworth, 
and, after passing over nine hundred miles of distance, subduing 
the country as he went, reached vSanta Fe, the capital of New 
Mexico, and promptly captured it, driving oft' the feeble Mexican 
forces. He was met by Kit Carson, a noted hunter and guide in 
the Rocky Mountains, who informed him of the success of Stock- 
ton and Fremont in California. 

Sending back part of his men to Santa Fe, Kearney pushed on 
with the remnant, fighting his vs^ay towards the Pacific. He took 
part in the battle of San Pascual, in which he was twice wounded, 
and in that of San Gabriel, fought on the 8th of January, 1847, 
between land and marine forces, under Kearney, Fremont and 
Stockton, and a large body of Mexicans, who were completely 
routed. Thus, with forces strangely small, all this vast region 
was wrested from Mexican rule. Nor was the result seriously 
impaired in eft'cct by the controversies and jealousies which arose 
between the American leaders.^ 

Colonel Donij^han, imder orders from Kearney, set out from 
Santa Fe with one thousand Missourians, and made a marvelous 
march, placating and making peace with the Navajo Indians, tra- 
versing extensive deserts, where his men were nearly exhausted 
for want of food and water, defeating an army of Mexicans four 
times as numerous as his own, capturing the city of Chihuahua, 
and taking formal possession of the province of w^hich it is the 
capital, and finally efiecting a junction with the forces of Gene- 
ral Wool at Saltillo. The enlistment of his men being about to 
expire, Doniphan led them back to New Orleans. They had 
marched two thousand miles, and had overcome foes and obsta- 
cles, and achieved adventures which give to their whole career 

1 Art. Fremont, American Encyclop., VII. 745. Scudder, 341. 
- Quackenbos, 442. Amer. Encyclop., X. 124. 



The Presidency of James K. Polk. 7 1 1 

the appearance of a romance rather than what it surely is, viz., 
the truth stranger than fiction.^ 

Thus we reach the last act in the splendid drama of the war 
with Mexico — an act embracing several scenes, each one of which 
rises above those preceding it in all the magnificent pageantry, 
heroism and terror of war. 

The first scene was the approach to and attack on Vera Cruz 
and her fortress by the army under General Scott. Thirteen 
thousand strong, and well equipped and furnished in all arms, 
they landed on the coast near the threatened city on the 3d 
day of March, 1S47. The arrangements and discipline were so 
perfect that the landing was effected without the loss of a single 
life.^ 

Ceaseless activity prevailed. On the 13th the complete in- 
vestment of the city was effected. On the 23d the preparations 
for bombardment were nearly perfected General Scott now sent 
a courteous summons to the Spanish Governor of Vera Cruz, urg- 
ing him to surrender in order to secure the beautiful city from 
desolation, and to save the inhabitants, and especially the women 
and children, from useless effusion of blood and the horrors of an 
assault. The governor replied that the city and castle were de- 
fended at all points, and would not be surrendered.^ 

Immediately after receiving this reply the American fire was 
opened fi-om ten mortars in battery, and from two steamers and 
five schooners of their fleet. The batteries of the city and castle 
also opened, but did very little damage to the assailants. The 
fire continued without intermission to the 34th, by daybreak of 
which day the American naval officers and men had succeeded, 
after incredible labor and difficulty, in transporting three thirty- 
two pounders and three eight-inch Paixhan guns three miles, over 
sand and stones, and establishing them in battery on a command- 
ing height only seven hundred yards from the city. The effect 
of the fire from this battery was frightfully destructive ; yet for 
two further days, the 24th and 25th, the defenders held out. 

On the morning of the 26th the governor made a signal for a 
truce. The fire on each side ceased, and terms of capitulation 
were agreed on. The city and castle were both surrendered, with 
their garrisons and all the material of war, including four hun- 
dred pieces of artillery. The Mexican soldiers, numbering about 
four thousand, were paroled and dismissed to their homes. The 
castle of San Juan D'Ulloa had been built by the Spaniards 

1 Quackenbos, 442. Derry's U. S.. 22S. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 188, note. 
^Taylor's Centen. U. S., 636. Art. Scott, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 446, 447. 
3 Quackenbos, 434. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 636. 



7 13 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

during their rule at a cost of four million dollars, and was sup- 
posed to be, next to Quebec, the strongest citadel in America ; 
but, after capture of the city, it could not have held out long, 
being surrounded by deep water. Moreover, it had suffered hea- 
vily by the fire.^ 

In this siege and bombardment the loss of the Americans was 
only two officers and ten privates. Their fire had been among 
the most destructive of modern war, having expended from the 
hind batteries six thousand seven hundred shot and shells, weigh- 
ing more than four hundred thousand pounds, and from the naval 
batteries three thousand ten-inch shells, each weighing ninety 
pounds, and one thousand Paixhan shot, each weighing sixty- 
eight pounds.^ 

War is horrible. A writer who entered the city says : " No 
power of language can portray the sufferings, agony, despair and 
helpless miseiy which the inhabitants of Vera Cruz had endured 
for five days and nights previous to the cessation of hostilities. 
The number of killed and wounded will, perhaps, never be 
known to us, but it must have been very great ; though, in all 
such cases, the soldiers suffered less than the women and chil- 
dren." ^ 

But, with all its horrors, war goes on. General Scott imme- 
diately organized his army for the march on the City of Mexico, 
the capital of the country. Santa Anna hastened to oppose his 
march with all the troops he could raise ; and they always out- 
numbered the Americans in the proportion of about four to one. 

The first encounter was at the i^ocky pass of Cerro Gordo, on 
the road to Jalapa, about fifteen miles from Vera Cruz. This 
pass was strongly fortified, and was held by Santa Anna with a 
very large force. To attack in front would have exposed his 
troops to butchery, and General Scott had no thought of so doing. 
General Twiggs led the advance, and the American army was 
eight thousand five hundred strong. Scott, as a general, mani- 
fested great mental i^esources, and he was aided in all this won- 
derful march by such engineers as Lee, McClellan, Lyon, Beau- 
regard, and others equally distinguished. 

A new road was cut over steep ascents, and with hasty bridges 
over rocky chasms. By these the exposed flank of the enemy 
was reached, and a concentrated attack was made on the iSth of 
April, 1847, with the greatest precision and vigor. The Mexi- 
cans were routed at every point and driven from the pass, with a 

' Blackburn & McDonald's U. S.,'373, 374. Quackenbos, 433. 

- Taylor's Centen. U. S., 637. » Narrative in Taylor's Centen. U. S., 637. 



The Presidency of fames K. Polk. ^13 

loss of one thousand in killed and wounded, three thousand pris- 
onei's (including five generals), five thousiind stand of arms, and 
forty-three pieces of artillery. Colonel Harney greatly distin- 
guished himself in these assaults. Santa Anna attempted first to 
escape in his carriage, but, finding himself hard pressed, took to 
his swift mule and fled, leaving behind his private papers and his 
cork leg. This trophy, clothed in a boot of fine workmanship, 
was sent back to the United States. The American loss, in killed 
and wounded, was four hundred and thirty-one.' 

The next day the victorious army entei'ed Jalapa ; but no delay 
was permitted. They pressed on and took, without resistance, 
the strong castle of Perote, on a lofty ridge of the Cordilleras. 

On the 15th of jSIay, they took possession of the ancient city 
of Puebla, then held by eighty thousand inhabitants. The peo- 
ple gazed on them with wonder. Their chief astonishment was 
that the American officers and soldiers wore uniforms of simple 
blue and had none of the resplendent colors and decorations vv^hich 
they had been accustomed to see on their own military They 
thence concluded that the secret of the constant triumphs of 
these Americans was in their " grey-headed leaders ; " ^ but, in fact, 
every man in that army was a hero. 

At Puebla General Scott was compelled to arrest his march 
and to await reinforcements, which ought to have reached him 
sooner, and would have, had his own urgent recommendations to 
the War Department been complied with.^ 

His position was a difficult one, in the heart of a hostile coun- 
try with a small army depleted by sickness and losses in battle.* 
But he kept open his communications, and by prudent regula- 
tions not only subsisted his army, but checked private assassina- 
tions and other crimes, and gave the people Avholesome examples 
of law and order.^ 

The health of his troops improved, and he received reinforce- 
ments, so that his eff'ective army, early in August, iS4y, amounted 
to ten thousand seven hundred and forty-eight men. With these 
he prepared again to advance ; but the delay had enabled Santa 
Anna to collect another large army and to fortify on all sides the 
approaches to the City of Mexico. 

Three and a quarter centuries had passed since Cortez liad cap- 
tured this city from the feeble and imwarlike Aztecs. Many 
changes had occurred. The city had exj^anded and become beau- 
tiful and magnificent ; but there were some conditions which had 

1 Quackenbos, 434, 435. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 410. Taylor's Centen. U. S., 640. 
sQuackenbos' U. S., 435. • ^ Art. Scott, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 447. 

lEggleston's nousehold U. S., 290. ^ Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 447, 



714 -A History of the Ufiited States of America. 

not materially changed. The city was yet lying near the centre 
of the primitive basin of vast extent formed by the encircling 
ridges of the mountains. It had once been surrounded by water 
and reached only by causeways running from the roads through 
the mountain walls ; and though much draining had been done, 
the city was still dotted round by lakes and marshes, and ap- 
proachable only by broad causeways/ 

On the loth day of August, 1847, ^^ advance of the American 
army obtained their first view of the city. The road from Puebla 
entered on the east, passing between the two lakes, Tezcuco on 
the north and Chalco on the west ; but this route led by the pow- 
erfully fortified inound called El Penon. It was reconnoitered, 
and the American engineers concluded that to capture it would 
cost the army a bloody and disabling loss.^ Therefore, they 
sought another line of entrance. Every approach was defended 
by formidable works manned by thirty thousand Mexican sol- 
diers. To penetrate into the city with an attacking army of ten 
thousand men was an enterprise from which the most resolute 
general might well have shrunk. 

General Worth with his division was at the east end of Lake 
Chalco. Under instructions from the commander-in-chief, Worth 
and his engineers found that a difficult, but practicable, route round 
the lake existed.^ With consummate skill the detour was made, 
and the American army reached San Augustin, directly south of 
the city, before Santa Anna knew of the change in the line of 
approach. General Twiggs had continued to menace El Peiion 
up to the i6th, when he silently withdrew. 

But on the chosen route formidable obstacles yet remained. 
The village of San Antonio was fortified and held by a large 
force, and the works at Contreras were strong. A combined move 
of the brigades of Shields, Persifer F. Smith and Cadwallader 
carried Contreras in the most brilliant style. The attacking force 
was without artillery or cavalry, and numbered only four thou- 
sand five hundred rank and file. The Mexicans had seven thou- 
sand men on the spot and at least one thousand two hundred 
more hovering within sight. The attack was made on the soth 
of August, with so niuch vigor and impetuosity that the Mexi- 
cans broke and fled, losing seven hundred killed, eight hundred 
and thirteen prisoners, including two generals and eighty-eight 
lower officers, also twenty-two brass cannon, seven hundred pack 
mules and horses and many thousands of small arms and accou- 

' Art. Scott, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 447. 

2 Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 447. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 410 and note. 

* Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 447. 



The Presidency of yames K. Polk. 715 

trements. Among the cannon captured were two brass six- 
pounders which had been borne off in the furious rush of the 
Mexicans at Buena Vista, and were now regained by the Ameri- 
cans.' 

This signal victory was immediately followed by the forcing and 
capture of San Antonio by General Worth ; an advantage of 
very important nature being thus gained, as a shorter and better 
road was opened to the capital.^ 

But other hot battling remained for this memorable 20th of 
August. Santa Anna, with twelve thousand men, held the forti- 
fied heights of Churubusco and several strong positions beyond 
them and nearer to the city. Worth and Twiggs stormed the 
heights and captured or drove off the defenders, and when Santa 
Anna hastened to the rescue with his outlying forces he was en- 
countered by Shields and Pierce with their brigades, and after a 
fierce and obstinate conflict for several hours the Mexican lines 
were broken and they v^^ere driven from the field. 

Five distinct battles had been fought in one day ; for the final 
movement of General Persifer F. Smith against Contreras was 
separate from the general attack. Thirty-two thousand Mexicans 
had been driven from strong intrenched positions by about nine 
thousand American soldiers, and defeated with a loss of seven 
thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners, besides guns and 
stores. The American loss was one hundred and thirty-nine killed 
and eight hundred and seventy-six wounded.* 

Nicholas P. Trist had been appointed by President Polk com- 
missioner to arrange terms of peace with Mexico. He had joined 
General Scott at Puebla, and from that place had made peaceful 
overtures, but in vain. He continued with the American army, 
and now, when it seemed easy to capture the city, Scott proposed 
an armistice, hoping that terms might be agreed on and further 
humiliation spared to Mexico.* 

Santa Anna consented to the armistice on the terms that sup- 
jDlies from city or country for the American army should not be 
obstructed by the Mexican authorities, and that no measure should 
be adopted to enlarge or strengthen any existing work or fortifi- 
cation or make new defensive works within thirty miles of the 
city.^ 

The peace commissioners on both sides had several meetings, and 
were not far from agreement on the 22d September. The chief 

iGen. Scott's report, quoted in Centen. U. S., 648, 649. 
2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 649. Quackenbos, 436, 437. 

8 Amer. Encvclop., XIV. 447. 448. Taylor's Centen., 652, 653. Quackenbos, 436. 437. Good- 
rich, 410, 411. 

< Quackenbos, 437. Blackburn & McDonald, 376, 377. ^ Taylor's Centen., 653. 



'jiG A History of the United States of America. 

points of disagreement were on boundaries, and Mr. Trist pre- 
sented his ultimatum on that subject on that day, and the nego- 
tiators adjourned to meet again on the 6th of September. But 
in the meantime several important violations of the terms of the 
armistice had been committed by the Mexicans, and w^hen Gen- 
eral Scott brought them to the attention of Santa Anna, the only 
reply was a denial couched in offensive and insolent terms. The 
armistice ended on the 7th of September, and Scott prepared to 
capture the city. 

Molinos del Rey was a village strongly fortified, not much 
more than a mile from Tacubaya, the headquarters of the Ameri- 
can commander-in-chief. It contained a foundry for cannon, and 
large deposits of gunpowder ; and information had been obtained 
that a number of church bells had been sent thither to be cast 
into cannon.' 

At three o'clock on the morning of the 8th September, Gen- 
eral Worth opened the attack with about thirty-two hundred 
troops of all arms. It was entirely successful, though it cost the 
Americans eleven out of the fourteen commissioned officers of 
the command, and seven hundred and twenty-nine men, killed and 
wounded. Santa Anna commanded in person, and had fourteen 
thousand men, of whom he lost three thousand in killed, wounded 
and prisoners. Two thousand deserted after the rout. The cap- 
ture of the foundry, guns and ammunition at Molinos left nothing 
defensive between the Americans and the city except the power- 
ful fortress of Chapultepec, on a natural isolated mound of great 
height, and intrenched at its base and on its acclivities and 
approaches.^ 

No obstacle seemed sufHcient to arrest the assailants ; but Gen- 
eral Scott took care to make the risk of failure as small as 
possible. Feigned movements on an alarming scale were made 
on the southern side of the city, and continued during the 12th 
and down to the afternoon of the 13th of September. The 
Mexican troops were hurried to the threatened approaches. 

Meanwhile a heavy cannonade against Chapultepec was carried 
on by Captain Huger. This fire made obvious impression on the 
works. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th September, 
at a given signal, the Americans, under Pillow, Andrews, John- 
stone, Caldwell, Ransom, Barnard and Howard, advanced to the 
assault over lava beds, rocks, chasms and hidden mines. They 
captured first the redoubt and then the fortress itself, which was 
on the site of the ancient " Hall of the Montezumas." Captain 
1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 654. ^Centen. U. S., 656. Goodrich, 411. 



The Presidency of yatncs K. Polk. ^ly 

Barnard planted the unfurled flag of his rej^iment on the works. 
Lieutenant Selden, of the eighth infantry, one of the first to 
mount the scaling ladder, fell down severely wounded. The 
assault was so vehement and rapid that the Alexicans were routed 
and driven from the works before they had time to fire the trains 
which would have exploded the hidden mines and wrought 
destruction to the conquerors.^ 

The fugitive Mexicans poured in confused bodies along the 
causeways leading into the city. Worth pressed them upon the 
route leading by the San Cosme aqueduct. Qriitman advanced by 
the Belden route, gallantly supported by Smith and Shields. The 
latter, though wounded at Chapultepec, would not leave the field. 
General Qiiitman carried by assault a battery of ten guns, and 
then began to thunder with his artillery upon the gate itself. 
The dispirited troops of Santa Anna fled before him. He en- 
tered the gate, and, establishing himself in a sheltered position, 
waited for the morning. 

General Worth was equally successful in fighting his way to 
the San Cosme, or custom-house gate. Just outside of it, by 
General Scott's direction, he posted his troops under shelter, and 
placed guards and sentinels, ready the next morning to march 
upon the Great Scpiare, cathedral and palace, and occupy the 
heart of the city. 

The work was done. That night Santa Anna and his disor- 
ganized forces and all the prominent officers of the Federal gov- 
ernment fled from the city.^ At four o'clock on the 14th of 
September, 1847, ^ deputation from the municipal government 
waited on General Scott, asking terms of capitulation in favor of 
the church, the citizens and the civic powers. Of course, no 
terms could be granted. The city was already in possession of 
the American army. The conmiander-in-chief and his heroic 
officers, marshaling their troops, marched in triumph into the 
Grand Plaza. Some irregular attacks from the tops of houses and 
the corners of streets were made by two thousand convicts re- 
leased from jails and State prison the previous night by the flying 
government. By their fire Lieut. Sidney Smith, of Virginia, and 
some of his men were killed. But these movements were speed- 
ily suppressed, and good order, under martial law, was estab- 
lished.^ 

The war was ended. An eflbrt was made by Santa Anna, with 
a small force, to capture the sick and wounded and the guard of 

1 Goodrich. 411. Blaokbnrn & McDonald, 378. Centen. U. S., 658. 659. 

2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 660. Quackenbos, 438. 3 Taylor's Centen. r. S., 661. 



yiS A History of the United States of America. 

four hundred men left at Puebla-; but he was promptly defeated 
and driven off by the advance of General Lane.^ 

Commissioner Trist renev\^ed his overtures for peace. Some 
months of delay occurred, caused by crushed hopes, paralyzed 
efforts, and distracted public councils in Mexico. Their great 
man, Santa Anna, was a failure, their generals were dispersed or 
prisoners, their soldiers feeble and hopeless. No prospect of 
continuing the war with advantage was seen . 

At length a quorum of the Mexican Congress assembled and 
appointed commissioners to treat for peace. They met the Amer- 
ican Commissioner Trist at Guadaloupe Hidalgo, and here, on 
the 3d of February, 1848, a "treaty of peace, friendship and set- 
tlement " was signed. It was eminently liberal and favorable to 
the defeated belligerent, Mexico, and presented a striking con- 
trast to the hard terms often exacted by the despotisms and mon- 
archies of the Old World. Especially did it differ from the terms 
exacted by Germany in 187 1 after defeating France. 

By the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo it was agreed that all 
United States troops should be withdrawn from Mexican terri- 
tory within three months ; that all prisoners should be released, 
and all paroles considered as discharged ; that the boundary line 
between the two republics should commence at the mouth of the 
Rio Grande, and run thence up the middle of that river, follow- 
ing the deepest channel, to the point where it strikes the south- 
ern boundary of New Mexico ; thence westwardly along the 
whole of that southern boundary to its western termination ; 
thence northward to the river Gila, and thence to the Pacific 
Ocean, following the river Gila and the southern boundary of 
Upper California. And in consideration of the extension of ter- 
ritory and boundaries thus acquired by the United States, they 
agreed to pay to Mexico fifteen millions of dollars, and to assume 
and pay her debts to citizens of the United States, amounting to 
three and one-quarter millions more.^ By Article XL the United 
States agreed to restrain Indian marauders on the Mexican 
frontier. 

This was more like an amicable purchase of territory than 
a forced surrender exacted from a vanquished enemy. The 
Americans in this war had expended twenty-five thousand lives, 
and more than one hundred and sixty millions of money .^ They 
paid a fair price for the territory acquired outside of Texas. 
Gold in abundance had not yet been discovered in California. 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S.. 663, 665. Dem-'s U. S., 230. 

2 Blackburn & McDonald's U. S., 379. Tavlor's Centen. U. S., 670. 

« Compare Derry, 231 ; Blackburn & McDonald, 379, 380 ; Stephens, 491. 



T]ic Prcsidoicy of yanies K. Polk. 719 

The treaty was promptly ratified by the vSenate, and on the 4th 
day of July, 1848, President Polk issued a proclamation of peace. 

To preserve the logical and material continuity of the subject, 
it is best here to state that differences of claim arose under this 
treaty concerning a strip of territory on the Gila rivei", and con- 
cerning the eleventh article before mentioned ; and as it was 
important that the United States should own this strip, negotia- 
tions were conducted and concluded by Gen. James Gadsden, of 
South Carolina, during the presidency of Franklin Pierce, in 
1853. By this new treaty Article XL was abrogated, and a com- 
mission provided for mutual adjustment of claims. The whole 
Mesilla valley was ceded to the United States, and she paid Mex- 
ico ten millions of dollars besides the fifteen millions of dollars 
originally agreed on.^ By these successive annexations the United 
States acquired not only Texas to the Rio Grande, but all the 
country now comprised in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, 
and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico.^ 

And hardly had the treaty of peace been made, on the 2d of 
February, 184S, before a discovery of golden treasures in the 
soil and river-bottoms of California took place, which drew to 
her the eyes of all the civilized world, and caused a rush of immi- 
grants to pour into her bosom such as was never before known. 

About the last of February, 1848, a laborer employed by one 
Captain Sutter, an Americanized Swiss, who had settled on the 
Upper California branch of the Sacramento river, was digging 
out a mill-race. He found some glittering particles, which turned 
out to be pure gold. Hardly was this ascertained before similar 
discoveries were made in the streams and soil of the neighbor- 
hood.^ 

Immediately the excitement spread from man to man, until it 
reached the harbor of San Francisco, and thence the outer world. 
Immigration began from all parts of America, and even from Eu- 
rope and Asia. In eighteen months one hundred thousand per- 
sons went from the United States to these " gold diggings." At 
first the precious nietal, in pure fragments and lumps, was so 
abundant that fortunes Avere easily gathered. Gradually, how- 
ever, the surface gold was found in less quantity, and quartz- 
crushing and mining on a large scale were practiced. Still the 
pouring in of people continued. Thousands came by the Utah 
and Arizona deserts, amid hunger and sufferings, with fatigue 
and sickness, which strewed the way with skeletons. 

» Amer. Encyclop., VIII. 37, 38. 2 Horace E. Scudder, 344. 

3 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 190. Quackenbos, 443. Justin Winsor's Amer., VIII. 231. 



y20 A History of ike United States of America. 

San Francisco, \vhich had been a sleepy Spanish " mission " 
town, surrounded by a village of mud or adobe cabins, sprung up 
into a busy city within a year.^ In the early stages of the gold 
excitement it was not uncommon for whole crews (in some cases 
headed by the officers) to desert their ships and run up to the 
" tliggings." In the city streets were laid out, houses built, pub- 
lic buildings planned and commenced, and churches erected, con- 
secrated and dedicated to the service and worship of the Triune 
God. 

The effect of the enormous production of gold from California 
upon the business activities of the world has been beyond com- 
putation. Never was there such progress as during the forty -four 
years from that accidental glancing at gold particles in the mill- 
race of Captain Sutter. And in this period the effect has been 
increased by the gold discoveries in Australia and the silver yield 
of Nevada. The world has sprung forward as if under a new 
power. 

In time the people of California found out the important fact 
that her wealth did not consist merely in her gold. The early 
excesses of outlaws in the towns and mines were put down with 
a strong hand. Good order was established. The soil was 
found admirably adapted to wheat, grapes and fruit of the best 
kinds. The serene skies and equable climate made health and 
enjoyment the normal condition of the people.^ 

The dispute with England as to the northern boundary of 
Oi'egon Territory, on the Pacific, had threatened to involve the 
United States in war, especially after the inconsiderate declara- 
tion of the Democratic convention of 1844, that "our title to the 
whole of the Territory of Oregon is clear and unqviestionable," 
and that " no portion of the same ought to be ceded to England 
or any other power," ^ and the equally incautious endorsement of 
this claim, in his inaugural address, by President Polk. Oregon 
ran up to the northern parallel of ^4° 40', and the expression, 
"Fifty-four forty, or fight! " was used with effect on both sides 
during the canvass. 

But President Polk and his advisers ^vere too wise to have two 
wars on their hands at the same time ; and as it is known that 
Great Britain had plans of her own, more or less defined, concern- 
ing Texas and the region west of her, it is impossible to say what 
would have been the cramping and restraining effects on the ter- 
ritorial limits of the United States which would have resulted 

1 Thalheiraer's Eclec. U. S., 257. 2 Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 257, 258. 

3 Platform in Stephens, 476. 



The Presidency of James K. Polk. 72 T 

from a simultaneous war waged by her against Mexico and Great 
Britain. Happily, all danger of such war was eliminated in time 
to enable her to deal in arms with Mexico alone. 

England's claim to Oregon was old, and ran back so far that it 
sought to link itself to the voyages and discoveries of Sir Francis 
Drake in 1579 ; but she had not matured her title by actual and 
permanent settlements by her subjects. The American title was 
founded on the early patents of the English kings, which made no 
limit in their grants westward ; on the voyage of Captain Gray, 
in 1793, who discovered the mouth of the Columbia river and 
sailed up its channel many miles ; on the grant from France, in 
1S03, who conveyed the Spanish title as well as her own ; on the 
explorations and discoveries of Lewis and Clarke, from 1803 to 
1S06, and on the very important fact that American citizens had 
made permanent settlements in this region. 

As both countries claimed it, some arrangement between them 
had been necessary to preserve peace. During the terms of Mon- 
roe and John Qviincy Adams a convention had been made for 
joint occupancy for ten years. Another convention, made Aug- 
ust 6th, 1 82 7 (during the presidency of Adams), had continued 
the joint occupancy indefinitely, but with a provision that either 
nation might terminate it by giving to the other twelve months' 
notice. 

The negotiation was transferred from London to Washington, 
and in August, 1844, the British minister offered to divide, by the 
line of 49° north latitude, provided the navigation of the Colum- 
bia should be equally free to the people of both countries. This 
proposition was rejected by the American Secretary. 

When Mr. Polk became President, his Secretary renewed the 
negotiation, and offered the line of 49°, but without the right to 
free navigation of the Columbia. The British minister, in his 
turn, rejected this offer. 

President Polk, in a message to Congress, recommended that 
the executive department be authorized to give the notice to ter- 
minate the joint occupancy according to the convention of 1827. 
This proposition was known to involve momentous issues, and 
led to an earnest debate in the Congress. A resolution passed 
both Houses authorizing the course recommended by the Presi- 
dent ; and on the 2Sth April, 1846, official notice from the Amer- 
ican government ^vas given to Her Majesty Qiieen Victoria, of 
Great Britain, that " the convention of August 6th, 1837, would 
terminate at the end of twelve months " from the delivery of the 
notice. 

46 



H21 A History of the Uitited States oj^ America. 

Befoi'e this notice England had taken steps to renew negotia- 
tion ; and on the 15th June, 1846, a treaty was signed by which 
the forty-ninth parallel was agreed on as the dividing boundaiy, 
the line, however, to be continued westward to the middle of the 
channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, 
and the navigation of that channel and of the Columbia to be free 
to the subjects and citizens of both nations ; with the proviso that 
nothing in the treaty should prevent the United States from 
making any regulation as to navigating the river or its branches 
not inconsistent with the treaty.' The Senate promptly ratified. 
Thus wisely was settled a controversy which intemperate claim 
would have ripened into a war. 

But another cloud was on the American horizon, engendered by 
the growth of her territory, and which, though sometimes appar- 
ently dispersed, was to gather blackness and electric power until 
it burst in a storm of bloodshed and war. 

On the 6th of August, 1846, President Polk had sent in a mes- 
sage to Congress asking an appropriation of three millions of dol- 
lars to enable him to negotiate for peace with Mexico upon the 
basis of obtaining territory for the United .States outside of Texas." 
A bill for such appropriation was introduced. 

Immediately David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, offered an amend- 
ment, as follows : 

'■'■Provided., that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in any territory which shall hereafter be acquired or be 
annexed to the United States, otherwise than in the punishinent 
of crimes whereof the party shail have been duly convicted. Pro- 
vided always, that any person escaping into the same from whom 
labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the United 
States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed 
out of said territory to the person claiming his or her labor or 
service." 

This amendment, afterwards known as the "Wilmot Proviso," 
ignored the " Missouri Compromise " and the line of 36° 30'. We 
need not wonder, therefore, that it re-awakened, in the most 
alarming forms, all the bitter feelings, slumbering, but not dead, 
between the free and slave States and their respective people. 

John Quincy Adams, in the House, opposed it with eloquence 
and power, on the ground that it would embarrass and, perhaps, 
defeat the appropriation, and also that it was not needed, as Mex- 
ico had already abolished slavery in the territory contemplated.' 

» Taylor's Centen. U. S., 624, 626. Thalheimer's Eclec. U. S., 252, 253. 
2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 491. 3 Stephens, 492. 



The Presidencv of yavics K. Polk. ^23 

But the bill, with this provision in it, passed the House. The 
Senate cast out the proviso.' 

It became painfully evident that the anti-slavery men in Con- 
gress had abandoned all intention to respect the compromise line 
of 36° 30'. Mr. Calhoun and his followers sought to obtain the 
passage of resolutions declaring that the territories held or to be 
acquired belonged to the States of the Union as their joint and 
common property, and that the Congress had no right to discrimi- 
nate so as to deprive any class of their right and power to carry 
their property into the territories, and use and enjoy it there. ^ 

These resolutions gave rise to animated debate, but never came 
to a vote. When the boundaries of Oregon were defined by 
treaty, a bill for its territorial organization was introduced into 
the House, January 15th, 1847, and the " Wilmot Proviso" was 
incorporated in it. Mr. Burt, of South Carolina, moved to insert 
just before this restrictive clause these words : " inasmuch as the 
whole of said Territory lies north of 36^ 30' north latitude ;" but 
this amendment was rejected by the anti-slavery members.^ 

After the treaty of peace, efforts were made to pass territorial 
bills for Oregon, California, New Mexico and Utah. Stephen 
A. Douglas, in the Senate, made an impressive and urgent appeal 
that the compromise line of 36° 30' should be adhered to as 
to slavery ; but it was utterly repudiated by a controlling majority 
from the Northern vStates, both in Senate and House.* Oregon's 
organization, with the Wilmot restriction, succeeded ; the others 
failed. 

During Air. Polk's administration, two new States were ad- 
mitted to the Union — Iowa, in 1846, and Wisconsin, by act of 
Congress of May 29th, 1848. 

Notwithstanding the brilliant events of President Polk's term, 
the people showed no enthusiasm for him, nor any disposition 
to re-elect him. In truth, Zachary Taylor was already chosen 
by their hearts, and his election was almost a foregone con- 
clusion. 

The Whig convention nominated him for President, and Alil- 
lard Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. The Demo- 
cratic convention nominated Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for 
President, and Gen. Wm. O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-Presi- 
dent. The opponents of the extension of slavery, under the 
name of the " Free-Soil party," met at Buffalo, New York,' on 
the 8th August, 1848, and nominated Martin Van Buren for 

1 Acts and Jounials, 1846-7. Stephens, 492. 

- Resolutions of Calhoun in Senate, Stejihens, 494. 

3 Stephens, 493, 494. ■« 1 bid., 495. 



724 ^ History of the United States of America. 

President, and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice- 
President. 

The result of the election was that one hundred and sixty-three 
electoral votes were cast for Taylor and Fillmore, and one 
hundred and twenty-seven for Cass and Butler. No electoral 
votes were cast for Van Buren and Adams ; but out of a popular 
vote of about three million, they received nearly three hundred 
thousand individual votes. The " Free-Soil " party was yearly 
gathering strength. 

On the 3 1st February, 1848, the venerable John Quincy Adams 
was stricken with paralysis in his seat in the House. He was 
b®rne to the room of the Speaker, where he died on the 33d, in 
the eighty-first year of his age. He was a true patriot, according 
to his view of his country's rights and interests, and will never 
be forgotten. 

Mr. Polk, at the close of his brilliant term of office, retired to 
his home in Nashville, Tennessee. He died, in his fifty-fourth 
year, in less than four months after his presidency closed. 



CHAPTER LV. 
Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. 

GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR was a plain and honest soldier, 
farmer and planter, but never pretended to be either a states- 
man or a politician. His letters to Capt. J. S. Allison — one dated 
Baton Rouge, April i3th, and the other IMay 33d, 1848 — were 
eminent in simplicity and in his humble view of his own qualifi- 
cations for the high office to which he was invited. He declared 
himself a Whig, but said : " If elected I would not be the mere 
President of a party. I would endeavor to act independently of 
■party domination. I should feel bound to administer the govern- 
ment untrammeled by party schemes." He disapproved of the 
exercise of the veto power, except in cases of clear violation of 
the constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration by 
Congress. He expressed no opinions on slaveiy, on the "Missouri 
Compromise," the "Wilmot Proviso," the rights of slave-owners to 
carry their slaves into any Territory and use them there, or on 
the questions germane to such subjects, and which were now most 
profoundlv agitating the minds of the people.^ 

He had received a majoritv of the electoral votes of both North- 
ern and Southern States. The 4th of March, 1849, being Sun- 
dav, he was inaugurated on Monday, the 5th, in the presence of 
an immense assemblage. The oath was administered by Chief- 
Justice Taney. ^ The inaugural address was conciliatory and, on 
the whole, satisfactorv t*o '' the friends of the Union under the 
constitution." 

President Taylor chose as his cabinet John M. Clayton, of Del- 
aware, of State ; William M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania, of the 
Treasury ; George W. Crawford, of Georgia, of War ; William 
Ballard Preston, of Virginia, of the Navy ; Thomas Ewing, of 
Ohio, Secretary of the Interior — a new department created by act 
of Congress ; Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, Postmaster-General, 
and Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, Attorney-General. 

Early in his term a riot occurred at and near the Astor Place 
Opera,- in New York city, which was only important as mani- 

1 Gen. Taj'lor's letters to Allison, Stephens, 497-499. - Stephens, 499. 

[ 725 ] 



726 A History of the United States of America. 

festing the virulence and strength of international prejudice, and 
the necessity for allaying it. W. C. Macready was the great tra- 
gedian of England ; Edwin Forrest of America. Forrest had 
played in London, and was supposed to have received a slight 
from Macready, injuring his reputation and success. Therefore, 
when the English actor came to New York the friends of Forrest 
determined on a bitter and systematic opposition to his playing. 
The result was a mob in May, 1849, and a conflict between a 
tumultuous assemblage of twenty thousand people on the one 
side and the police and military on the other. The soldiers were 
obliged to fire on the mob, and twenty-two persons were killed 
and thirty-six wounded. Macready was in imminent danger, but 
escaped unhurt. He made no further attempts to fill his engage- 
ment, and soon sailed for England.^ 

Agitations of a diflTerent kind, and far more deeply-seated and 
far-reaching in their cause, but equally tending to bloodshed, were 
in progress in the council chambers of the nation. The Congress 
of 1849— '50 was one of the longest and stormiest ever known. It 
continued from the 5 th of December, 1849, to the 30th of Sep- 
tember, 1850. The repeated and persistent repudiations of the 
compromise line of 36'^ 30' by the Anti-Slavery party had re- 
opened a question for which there was no solution, save either in 
the extirpation of slavery or the dissolution of the Union. 

The first contest in the House was over the election of Speaker. 
It led to the fiercest and most bitter debates and denunciations. 
During one of these scenes, which have become historic, Robert 
Toombs, of Georgia, maintained his right to the floor and his op- 
position to what he deemed unconstitutional opposition to his 
rights, through some hours of struggle against a host of foes and 
under a ceaseless torrent of calls, protests, motions and provoca- 
tions which taxed the highest powers of the stenographic re- 
porter. '^ 

In the contest for Speaker, at one time a vote of a majority had 
been actually thrown for William J. Brown, of Indiana ; but 
before the vote was announced it was ascertained that Brown 
had come to a discreditable understanding with certain "Free- 
Soil" members, under which he had pledged himself, if elected 
Speaker, to constitute three important committees according to 
their wishes. The moment this was known, Southern Demo- 
crats rose and withdrew their votes from Brown and he was 
defeated. 

1 Our First Century. Art. Macready, New Anier. Encyclop., XI. 21, 22. 

- Henry W. Wheeler, in Congress. Globe, Thirty-first Congress, 1st session, 61. 



The Presidency of Zachary Taylor. 727 

Finally a i-esolution was adopted that the man who received a 
mere plurality of votes, if it was a majority of a quorum, should 
be declared elected.^ 

A vote was taken. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, received one 
hundred and two votes, Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, 
ninety-nine votes ; twenty votes were scattering. The whole 
number thrown was two hundred and twenty-one ; thus Mr. Cobb 
received only a plurality, not a majority. He was declared elected 
Speaker, but against the protests of many. 

Such scenes indicated coming storms. It seemed hardly possi- 
ble to avert immediate convulsion ; but at this point the great 
pacificator, Henry Clay, again came to the front. 

John C. Calhoun, though near his end, was yet living and full 
of solicitude for his country. He sent his last words, which 
were read by Mr. Mason, of Virginia. They were solemn and 
full of warning against the centralizing tendencies of the gov- 
ernment and its encroachments on the rights of the States which 
upheld slavery.^ Mr. Calhoun died in the city of Washington on 
the 31st day of March, 18^0, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 
He was recognized by all parties as a great power in the land. 
For a time his death stilled the voices of passion and partisan- 
ship. 

But they were soon heard again, and the necessity of compro- 
mise was imperative. California had grown rapidly in jDopula- 
tion, had adopted a constitution forbidding slavery within her 
bounds, and was applying for admission as a State ; but, as a large 
part of her territory lay south of 36'-' 30', the members of Con- 
gress from the slave States objected to her admission.' Many 
also objected because they could not recognize the. validity of the 
convention, under General Riley's order, which framed Califor- 
nia's action.* 

The excitement in the country all centred around the questions 
arising out of slavery, and became so great that the maintenance 
of peace seemed impossible. It being understood that Henry 
Clay would, on the 29th of January, 1850, ofter resolutions for 
compromise and pacification, an immense crowd of citizens and 
strangers on that day pressed into the galleries, lobbies and other 
places belonging to the Senate chamber. 

ISIr. Clay presented his plan, afterwards known as the " Omni- 
bus Bill," and sustained it in one of the noblest and most earnest 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 502, 506, 511. 

2 Calhoun's speech, Cong. Globe, Tliirtv-flrst Cong-., 1st session, p. 453. 

3 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., note, 418. Blackburn & McDonald, 3S2. 
* Stephens' Comp. U. S., 513. 



728 A History of the United States of America. 

of all his great speeches. It is remarkable, however, that, as 
originally offered, it did not contain the principle which was 
afterwards introduced, and without which it could not have been 
enacted, and which constituted the true element of compromise 
between the slavery and anti-slavery States. This principle in- 
volved the abandonment of the " Missouri Compromise " line of 
36° 30', and the recognition of the right of any Territory, no mat- 
ter Avhere located, to come into the Union (when qualified accord- 
ing to the United States constitution) with or without slavery, as 
her people might determine and provide.^ 

This principle was introduced by an amendment to Mr. Clay's 
bill, offered in the period of the greatest excitement during the 
debate, and offered on the 17th of June, the anniversary of the 
battle of Bunker's Hill, by .Senator Pierre vSoule, of Louisiana. It 
applied to the Territories of Utah and New Mexico and all 
other obtained froin Mexico, excejDt California, and Avas in the fol- 
lowing words : 

" And when the said Territory, or any portion of the same, 
shall be admitted as a State, it shall be received into the Union, 
with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the 
time of their admission." * 

The Anti- Slavery party, having already I'epudiated the compro- 
mise line of 1S30, ought, in justice and consistency, to have ac- 
quiesced in this principle ; but they opposed it. 

The debate was stern and long in both Houses. Robert 
Toombs, of Georgia, foreshadowed the coming conflict of arms in 
these words : ^ " I speak not for others, but for myself. Deprive 
us of this right, and appropriate this common property to your- 
selves ; it is then your government, not mine. Then I am its 
enemy, and I will then, if I can, bring my children and my con- 
stituents to the altar of liberty, and, like Hamilcar, I would 
swear them to eternal hostility to your foul domination. Give us 
'our just rights and Ave are ready, as ever heretofore, to stand by 
the Union, every part of it, and its eveiy interest. Refuse it, 
and, for one, I iv ill strike for indcpetidcncc.^'' 

Other senators sustained the plan of settlement, conspicuous 
among whom Avere John Bell, of Tennessee, Henry S. Foote, of 
Mississippi, and Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois ; but -when, on 
the 7th of March, 18:^0, Daniel AVebster arose, the vast crowd 
present in the Senate chamber, lobbies and galleries was hushed 
to a silence so profound as to be almost painful. 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 513, 532. 

2 Congress. Globe, Thirty-first Cong., 1st session, p. 1239. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 622. 



The Presidency of Jlillard Fillmore. 729 

He spoke for the plan of compromise and peace in words 
weighty with thought and power. He concluded thus : " Sir, my 
object is peace, my object is conciliation ; my purpose is not to 
make up a case for the North, or to make up a case for the South. 
My object is not to continue useless and irritating controversies. 
I am against agitators, North and South ; I am against local ideas, 
North and South, and against all narrow and local contests. I 
am an American, and I know no locality in America. This is 
my country. My heart, my sentiments, my judgment, demand of 
me that I shall ever pursue such a course as shall promote the 
good and the harmony and the union of the whole country. 
This I shall do, God willing, to the end of the chapter."' 

Loud applause greeted this speech. Every heart experienced 
emotions of relief and gratitude. The cause of peace, for a time 
at least, had triumphed. 

Amidst these exciting scenes in the national Congress, Presi- 
dent Taylor was stricken 'with malignant fever, and, notwith- 
standing all the efforts of skillful physicians, he died on the 9th 
day of July, 1850. He had sought faithfully and honestly to do 
his duty as he understood it. His last words were : "I have tried 
to do my duty ; I am not afraid to die." Public business Avas 
suspended for a time, and eulogies Avere pronounced on him by 
leading statesmen of all parties.^ 

ISIillard Fillmore became President. He was a man of noble 
personal appearance, of well-poised mind, and of statesmanlike 
culture. His cabinet consisted of Daniel Webster, Secretary of 
State ; Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, of the Treasury ; Charles M. 
Conrad, of Louisiana, of War ; William A. Graham, of North 
Carolina, of the Navy ; Alexander H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, of 
the Interior ; Nathan K. Hall, of New York, Postmaster-Gene- 
ral ; and John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, Attorney-General. 

Mr. Fillmore approved of Henry Clay's plan in all its essential 
features. A committee of thirteen able men, with Air. Clay at 
their head, was appointed to consider it. Thev made their re- 
port. The " Omnibus Bill " was never enacted as an undivided 
whole ;^ but all its most important elements were enacted by 
both Houses and signed by President Fillmore, who said of them : 
"They are regarded by me as a settlement in principle and sub- 
stance — a final settlement — of the dangerous and exciting subjects 
which they embrace." * How short-sighted are the wisest of 
men ! They contained the germs of disorganization and war. 

1 Daniel Webster's speech, Thirty-first Cong. Stephens, 519-523. 

2 Quackenbos' U. S., 447, 448. Stephens, 526. Thalheimer's Eclec, U. S., 2(51, 

3 Stephens, 526. * Holmes' U. S., 216. 



730 ^ History of the United States of America. 

They embodied six subjects : ( i ) That, according to agreement 
when Texas was annexed, new States, not exceeding four, wei'e 
to be formed out of her territory, to be admitted with or without 
slavery, as they might choose ; (2) That California should be ad- 
mitted under her constitution forbidding slavery ; (3) That terri- 
torial governments should be established for New Mexico and 
Utah vs^ithout restriction as to slavery, and that, when in condi- 
tion to become States, their people should decide whether they 
would or would not have slavery ; (4) That Texas should give 
up her claim to New Mexico in consideration of ten million dol- 
lars, to be paid to Texas from the United States treasury; (c;) 
That a more efiicient law should compel the rendition of fugitive 
slaves ; (6) That the slave-trade should be jDrohibited, under 
heavy penalties, in the District of Columbia.^ 

Before California was thus admitted, a terrible lire desolated 
San Francisco, which then consisted chiefly of wooden buildings. 
It took place March 4th, 18:^0. The city has since risen from her 
ashes in splendor, with imposing public and private buildings of 
brick and stone. The gold mines have been yielding an annual 
average of nearly eighty millions of dollars.^ 

During President Fillmore's term a naval expedition, com- 
manded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother of the hero 
of Lake Erie, sailed, in iSi^s, from the United vStates to visit and, 
if possible, establish amicable treatv relations with the kingdom 
of Japan, covering the beautiful islands of the Pacific between 
America and China. This expedition was perfectly successful, 
and the treaty made by Perry was the opening of a new life to 
Japan.^ 

In a country settled and explored as the United States have 
been, a large element of the population will always be found 
restless, aspiring and ready to undertake lawless raids and enter- 
prises, however much of personal hazard may attend them. 

Cuba was believed by many to be ready to throw otT the Span- 
ish rule and annex herself to the United States, if some leader, 
with a sufficient body of armed men, would stir up her people. 
Preparations for this jDurpose, under General Marcisco Lopez, a 
Spaniard professing republican principles, became so manifest 
that President Taylor had issued a proclamation of neutrality and 
warning on August nth, 1849. 

Nevertheless, Lopez, with six hundred armed men in his ves- 
sel, effected a landing and captured Cardenas, a Cuban port, on 

1 Quackenbos, 447. Goodrich, 410, 420. Thalheimer, 260, 2G1. Ilolmes, 216. Derrv, 235, 
Barnes' U. 8., Vii. 

2 Goodrich, 417. 3 Amer. Encyclop., XIII. 154. 



The Presidency of Millard Fillmore. 731 

the 19th of May, 1850. They found, however, neither the people 
nor the Spanish soldiers ready to help thein. They hastily re- 
embarked, and, closely pursued by a Spanish war-steamer, suc- 
ceeded in gaining the port of Key West, Florida ; but in the next 
year Lopez made another effort, landing with four hundred and 
eighty men on the northern coast of Cuba. The Spanish govern- 
ment had concentrated forty thousand troops on the island They 
speedily surrounded Lopez and his small force, captured them, 
shot most of the privates, and put Lopez and prominent olRcers of 
his command to death by the gar rote in Havana on the ist of 
September, 18^1. Among those executed TV'as a nephew of the 
United States Attorney-General. These events caused much ex- 
citement. Allen F. Owen, of Georgia, the American consul at 
Havana, exerted all his powers of intercession and influence to 
save them ; but in vain. They had deliberately staked their lives 
on the issue, and they lost them.^ A few of the prisoners were 
sent to Spain. They wei'e generously released by the Queen and 
sent to the United States.^ 

In this year, 18:; i, also sailed an interesting expedition fitted out 
by Henry Grinnell, of New York, at his own expense, to go to 
the polar seas and seaixh for Sir John Franklin and his ships. 
The United States furnished the sea officers. Lieut. De Haven 
commanded, and Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, as surgeon and scientist, 
accompanied the expedition. Though they found no traces of 
Franklin or his ships, yet in their absence of sevei-al years they 
accumulated much interesting information about those wintry seas. 

In 1853, Daniel Webster was compelled, by failing health, to 
retire from ofiice. Edward Everett succeeded him in the Depart- 
ment of State. The increasing excitement concerning the Island 
of Cuba induced England and France to propose to the United 
States a " tripartite treaty" by which each of these three powers 
should disclaim all intention of seizing upon Cuba, and should 
guarantee the title and possession of Spain. This proposal called 
out froin Edward Everett a reply in writing of great power and 
clearness. He declined the proposal, and reiterated the " Mon- 
roe doctrine " in the strongest terms, declaring that, while the 
United States would keep good faith with Spain, she did not re- 
cognize in any European power the right of interfering in ques- 
tions that were purely those of the American Continent and its 
contiguous seas and islands. 

Another presidential canvass was now approaching. The 
Democrats nominated for President, Franklin Pierce, of New 

1 Quackenbos, 448, 449. Stephens, 536, 537. = Taylor's Centen. U. S., 687, 688. 



^32 A History of the United States of America. 

Hampshire, a strict constructionist of the strictest sect of the 
Jefferson school ; for Vice-President, William R. King, of Ala- 
bama, of the same political faith. The Whigs nominated for 
President, General Winfleld Scott ; for Vice-President, William 
A. Graham, of North Carolina. The "Free-Soil" party, who 
began to call themselves " Republicans," nominated John P. 
Hale, of New Hampshire, for President, and George W. Julian, 
of Indiana, for Vice-President.' 

The canvass was in several respects remarkable. It showed a 
power of discrimination in the people encouraging to Democ- 
racy. General Scott had covered himself with glory in the Mex- 
ican war ; and although, in simplicity and openness of character, 
he w^as not the peer of Taylor, yet he was more than his equal in 
intellectual power. There seemed a fair prospect of his election. 

But the Whig party had adopted, in their convention in Balti- 
more, on the i6th of June, 1852, a platform sound in its limita- 
tions upon the Federal power, and fully endoi'sing " that series 
of acts of the Thirty-first Congress, known as the compromise 
measures of 18=^0 — the act known as the Fugitive Slave Law 
included" — as a settlement, in principle and substance, of the 
dangerous and exciting questions which had agitated the country. 

In a work written and published by Horace Greeley since the 
great war between the States, he represents this part of the Whig 
platform of 1852 as having been " imposed on the convention by 
the Southern delegates," and as " but another dictation of the 
slave power." ^ 

But these statements are without foundation in truth. This 
Whig platform of 18^52 -was drawn up by Rufus Choate, of Mas- 
sachusetts, and other Northern Whig statesmen, in consultation 
with Daniel Webster at his house in Washington ! ^ The part 
above quoted received their special attention and approval. 

But General Scott, unhappily for his prospects of success, 
yielded, as is .with good reason supposed, to the influence of Wil- 
liam H. Seward, a strong anti-slavery statesman of New York, 
and refused to express any direct approval of the Whig platform, 
and especially of that part of it adopting the comj^romise mea- 
sures, " including the act known as the Fugitive Slave Law." 
The statenient of Horace Greeley, in the work aforesaid, that 
" General Scott made haste to plant himself imequivocally and 
thoroughly on the platform thus erected " is the vei"y reverse of 
the truth.'' 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 537-540. - Greeley's American Conflict, Vol. I., p. 223. 

3 A. H. Stephen-s' Comp. U. S., 538, 539. < Greeley's Amer. Conflict, Stephens, 539. 



The Presidency of Millard Filhnore. 733 

This refusal weakened Winfield Scott beyond measurement in 
the hearts and minds of all Southern and of many Northern 
Whigs. On the other hand, General Pierce and Mr. King planted 
themselves promptly and squarely on the Democratic platform, 
including a resolution of strong approval of the Virginia antl 
Kentucky resolutions of 1798 and 1799. 

The result was that two hundred and lifty-one electoral votes 
were thrown for General Pierce for President and Mr. King for 
Vice-President, and only forty-two electoral votes for Scott and 
Graham. Pierce and King received the votes of twenty-seven 
States ; Scott and Graham of only four States. The Free-Soil 
candidates received no electoral vote, and a popular vote of only 
one hundred and fifty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty- 
five, being verv little over half their vote in the previous election. 

California was the only State received into the Union in the 
presidencies of Taylor and Fillmore. 

In this period occurred the memorable struggle for independ- 
ence made by Hungary against Austria, commencing in 184S, 
and which would probably have been successful but for the brute 
force which Russia brought to the help of Austria to crush the 
right of self-government in man. The people of the United 
States deeply symjDathized with Hungary. The Department of 
State, under direction of President Taylor, had sent A. Dudley 
Mann as special envoy to Vienna to watch the struggle, and re- 
cognize the independence of Hungary should she be successful. 
Chevalier Hulsemann, the Austrian cJiargc at Washington, took 
exception to this, and made a formal protest. He objected spe- 
cially to the epithet " iron rule," said to have been applied to 
Austria, to the designation of Kossuth as " an illustrious man," 
and to some severe animadversions on the course pursued by Rus- 
sia. To all this Daniel Webster replied with consummate learn- 
ing and skill, leaving Chevalier Hulsemann with narrow and 
crumbling ground on which to stand.' 

Subsequently, by invitation, a United vStates ship brought Kos- 
suth and a number of his fellow-patriots to America on the 5th 
of December, 1851. The Hungarian exile paid a visit to, and 
had a long conversation with, Henry Clay, who was then so 
feeble in health that he was confined to his home. He expressed 
warm sympathy for Hungary, but could not encourage Kossuth 
with the hope that the United States would take up arms for his 
country, or entangle herself in the political sti'uggles of Europe.^ 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 680, 682. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 423, and note. 

2 Contemporary accounts in papers. Amer. Encydop., X. 213. Goodrich, 423, note. 



734 ^ History of tlic United States of America. 

Kossuth received a warmer welcome and kinder attention in 
America than any European other than La Fayette. He was en- 
tertained at a banquet given by both Houses of Congress, and was 
addressed by Daniel Webster and General Cass, and, in reply, 
made a speech replete with classic eloquence. He was invited 
by deputations from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Anna- 
polis, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis, Jacksoli, Alobile, 
and many other places, North and South, and in compliance made 
numerous addresses urging that the independence of Hungary 
should be acknowledged.^ 

But Europe was not ready ; not even France was ready. A 
fortnight after his landing came news of the coup d'etat by which 
the adventurer Louis Napoleon became Emperor of the French 
dominions. Kossuth felt deeply the humiliations to which the 
cause of human freedom in Europe was thus exposed, and in- 
dulged in impatient complaints, which brought on him just criti- 
cism. He received large money contributions for the cause of 
Hungai'y, and returned to Europe in July, 1853. 

Henry Clay, who had long been gradually sinking in strength, 
died at his I'ooms in the National Hotel, Washington, on the 29th 
June, 1852, in the seventy -sixth year of his age. He was soon 
followed by Daniel Webster, who died at his home, Marshfield, 
Massachusetts, October 24th, iS!;2, in the seventy-first year of his 
age. These three men — Calhoun, Clay and Webster — who were 
all taken from the world within the years 1850— 1852, were the 
giants of the American Senate and of the forum of constitu- 
tional law. Different as were their opinions and views, they felt 
for each other profound regard. The world will probably never 
see such a " trio " again in the same age. They died in time to be 
spared the bloodiest scenes of their country's history. 

1 Art. Kossuth, Amer. Encyclop., X. 213. Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 423. 



CHAPTER LVI. 
The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. 

IN the face of a violent eastern snow-storm, accompanied by 
wind and chilling rain, Franklin Pierce took the required oaths 
before Chief-Justice Taney, and was inaugurated President on the 
4th day of March, 1853. Notwithstanding the inclement heav- 
ens, a very large crowd attended. The new President was a finer 
public speaker than any who had gone before him. His inaugu- 
ral was patriotic and strong in endorsenient of the peace meas- 
ures, and was delivered in finished style, and in a voice so clear 
and penetrating that it was distinctly heard at a great distance.^ 

His cabinet officers were : William L. INIarcy, of New York, 
of the vState Department ; James Guthrie, of Kentucky, of the 
Treasury; Jeflerson Davis, of Mississippi, of War; James C. 
Dobbin, of North Carolina, of the Navy ; Robert McClelland, of 
Michigan, of the Interior ; James Campbell, of Pennsylvania, 
Postmaster-General, and Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, Attor- 
ney-General.^ 

For a time the countiy seemed quiet, though volcanoes were 
slumbering beneath the political soil. The " Gadsden treaty " 
was commenced and completed, which we have already noted, 
and under which the Mesilla valley and other territory, em- 
bracing more than thirty thousand square miles of area, were 
ceded by Mexico to the United States, and th^ embarrassing 
Article XL of the treaty of peace of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo was 
abrogated. For these advantages the United States paid Mexico 
ten million dollars.^ 

It was becoming more and more obvious that a rapid and safe 
mode of transfer of passengers, freight and mails from the At- 
lantic coast to the Pacific was needed. Postage had been reduced 
in 1851 to three cents per half ounce on prepaid letters. There- 
fore, extended reconnaissances and surveys were made early in 
President Pierce's term, which resulted in a grand trans-conti- 
nental railroad in a period of about ten years.* 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 541. 2 Quackenbos. 452. Stephens' U. S., 541. 

SDerry's U. S., 238. ^Goodrich's U. S., 427. 

[ 735 ] 



73^ A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

England, under the lead of Prince Albert, consort of Queen 
Victoria, had successfully planned and conducted, in 1S51, a 
great "exposition" of the arts and industries of all the nations 
of the world far enough advanced in civilization to take part in 
it. The visible sign and method of this exposition had been the 
wonderful Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London.^ 

A similar exposition was planned in America. The huge 
Crystal Palace in New York was framed entirely of iron, and 
covered with glass. It was opened July 14, 1S53. President 
Pierce attended and inaugurated the proceedings with an address. 
In the great variety and beauty of the products exhibited, and 
the crowds who attended, it was a success ; but in the money result 
it was a loss to the liberal joint stock projectors, who had poured 
out money so profusely on all the objects sought that even the 
large returns did not repay them ; yet they had established a jDre- 
cedent to be followed by many successes. 

Franklin Pierce was one of the wiseat and most consistent of all 
the American Presidents. Numerous difficult questions threat- 
ened complications with several foreign countries. His govern- 
ment managed them all with skill, and brought them to peaceful 
terminations honorable to his country.^ 

One of these troubles was with Great Britain, concerning the 
right of fishery. By a convention made in 1818, Americans of 
the United vStates had liberty to take fish, within specified limits, 
on the southern coast of Newfoundland and on the southern 
coast of Labrador ; but on other parts of the British coasts in 
America, were restricted to regions of the sea at least three miles 
distant from land. Adventurous fishermen, howevei", from the 
United States had claimed and exercised the privilege of fishing 
where they pleased in the great bays, beyond three miles from 
the shore. To this England objected, and sent ships of war to 
prevent it. She insisted that the clause meant three miles from 
a line drawn from headland to headland. For a time a serious 
disturbance of peace was threatened ; but the dispute was trans- 
ferred to Washington in October, 1853, and in 1854 a " recipro- 
city treaty " was agreed on, by which the people of both coun- 
tries acquired the right to take all fish (except shell-fish and fish 
frequenting rivers) in all English and United States waters of 
America, without reference to the distance from land.^ 

Another complication with England arose out of the " Crimean 
War," waged by Russia on the one side, and England, France, 

1 Quackenbos, 452, 453. Tallis' Illus. Volumes, Hist, and Descrip. Crystal Palace, three. 

2 Prof. Holmes' U. S., 217, 218. * 

3 Art. Fisheries, Amer. Encyclop., VII. 529, 530. Quackenbos, 451. Goodrich, 424. 



The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. 737 

Turkey and parts of Italy, on the other.^ Being hard pressed for 
troops for this war, England, by her charge in the United States, 
Mr. Crampton, and with the aid of her consuls in New York, 
Philadelphia and Cincinnati, enlisted within the United States 
a considerable number of reci'uits for the British armies. When 
this was brought to the attention of President Pierce, he promptly 
condemned the proceedings as in violation of the neutral rights 
and position of the United States. He issued a proclamation 
to that effect, and demanded that Mr. Crampton should be re- 
called and the offending consuls withdrawn. England hesi- 
tated and delayed and finally declined, no doubt under the con- 
sciousness that her officials had acted accoixling to her wishes ; 
but Mr. Pierce could not enter into her motives, and promptly 
ended the matter, in May, 1S56, by requiring Mr. Crampton and the 
consuls to leave the country.^ The British ministry were too well 
versed in international law to take offence at this prompt justice. 

Another of the public difficulties was with Austria, and ex- 
cited keen interest in all the civilized world. A Hungarian, 
named Martin Koszta, had been actively engaged in the revolu- 
tionary contest of 1S48. He had escaped to the United States, 
and, according to the naturalization laws, had declared formally, 
in a court of record, his purpose to become an American citizen. 
Visiting Smvi'na for business purposes, he was recognized by de- 
tectives in the employ of Austria. He placed himself under pro- 
tection of the American consul ; but he was seized by a party of 
men, acting without warrant or authority of law, and carried 
aboard the Austrian brig of war Hiissarl" 

Fortunately for Koszta and for the cause of human freedom, 
Capt. Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham, commanding the United 
States sloop of war St. Louis., had arrived at Smyrna June 22d, 
18^3. Being informed of the facts, and having conferred with 
the American consul. Captain Ingraham demanded that Koszta 
should be surrendered to him by four o'clock of the afternoon of 
July 3d. No time could be lost. An Austrian steamer was lying 
near the Hussar ready to receive Koszta and convey him to Trieste. 
Once there he would have been hopelessly in the power of Austria. 

But Ingraham was prompt and resolute. He cleared his ship 
for battle and brought her within easy range of the Hussar, with 
her guns in order.* These sieps were decisive and brought a de- 
cision. At eleven o'clock the commander of the Hussar proposed, 

1 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 688. 2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., 688. Goodrich, 4.31, 432. 

3 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 427. Quackeiibns, 453. Amer. Enryclop., IX. 527. 
*(;ooflrich'sPict. U. S., 427, 428. Quackenbos, 453, 451. Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and 
Const., \m. « 

47 



73^ A History of the United States of Ainerica. 

though under protest, to deliver Koszta into the hands of the 
French consul in Smyrna, to be held subject to the disposition of 
the consuls of Austria and the United States, and not to be de- 
livered without their joint order in writing. As this secured the 
safety of Koszta, Ingraham consented.^ 

The result was that Koszta was released and returned to his 
adopted home in the United States. Chevalier Hulsemann made 
the facts a subject of long written protest and complaint, to 
which Seci'etary Marcy replied with so much of clear and crush- 
ing logic that Austria dropped the subject. The conduct of Cap- 
tain Ingraham was fully approved by his government, and the 
Congress voted him a gold medal.^ 

In 1854, President Pierce gave notice to Denmark that Amer- 
ican ships would no longer pay the "sound duties" exacted from 
vessels entering the Baltic. This led to a treaty, in 1S57, extin- 
guishing such exactions. 

In 1S54, under the inspiration of Prof. James P. Espy, aided 
by Alexander H. Stephens and others like minded in Congi^ess, 
the United States meteorological officers commenced sending out 
reports as to the weather probabilities for about twenty-four 
hours to come. These reports were never mere guesses, but were 
founded on observation and experience. They have been ever 
since continued with expanding advantage and usefulness. 

But amid all these foreign successes and scientific advances, a 
political storm was gathering during President Pierce's term, 
which darkly portended what followed it. 

The Whigs, having received a disastrous defeat in 1852, had 
little to encourage them ; but a new party arose in 18^4, to which 
many of them gave adhesion. Its most dignified title was the 
"American party," but its members were generally called " Know- 
Nothings," because their organization was secret and somewhat 
Masonic in its forms. They had lodges, initiatory ceremonies, 
grips and pass- words. Their principles, as far as revealed, were 
that foreign-born people and adherents of the Roman church 
ought to be excluded from office, and that the term of years of 
residence for a foreigner to become a citizen ought to be greatly 
extended.* 

These " Know -Nothings " grew in numbers and carried the 
elections of 181^4 and part of those of 1855, so that in the House 
of Representatives which met in December, 1855, there was a 
large anti-administration majority. 

1 Art. Ingraham, Amer. Encyclcrp., IX. 527. 

2 Taylor's Centen. U. S., ti.s4. Amer. fcicyclop., IX. 527. 

3 Stephens, MS, 546. Quackeubos, 457. 



The Presidency of Fravkl'ni Pierce. ^39 

As the slavery excitement increased, and evidences of a pur- 
posed dissolution of the Union appeared more and more, the 
higher men of the "American party" organized a secret order, 
pledged, under the most solemn promises, to maintain the union 
of the States in all circumstances and against all enemies. Large 
numbers of Whigs and some of other parties joined this order. 

But the " Know-Nothings " were assailable in their principles, 
especially in the religious element thereof. They met their first 
and most disastrous defeat in the State camjDaign of Virginia for 
governor in 185:^. Henry A. Wise was the Democratic candidate. 
Although not strong in health, he made a personal canvass, tra- 
versing the State in all directions, traveling more than three 
thousand miles and making more than fifty speeches to immense 
crowds.^ He was elected by more than ten thousand majority. 
From that time the "American party" declined in strength, until 
they became virtually extinct after the presidential election of 1856. 

Cuba continued to be an object of interest, especially to the 
slave States, and, therefore, to the Democratic party, whose 
strength was firmly buttressed on those States. In February, 
1854, the American steamship Black \]arrior was seized in the 
harbor of Havana, under process for violating a revenue law, and 
ship and cargo were confiscated. In 18:^4 the American ministers 
to England, France and Spain, viz. : ^Messrs. Buchanan, IVIason 
and Soule, met at Ostend, Kelgium, and, after conference, issued 
a manifesto showing in strong terms the advantages which would 
accrue both to Spain and the United States by a sale of Cuba to 
the latter power at a fair price, and also the dangers to public 
peace constantly arising from the retention of Cuba by Spain. ^ 

This proceeding was, to say the least, supported by veiy am- 
biguous precedents in diplomacy. It accomplished nothing. Eng- 
land and France both promptly took the part of Spain in declin- 
ing a coerced sale of the island, which she esteemed " the Queen 
of the Antilles." France, then under the jealous espionage of the 
parvemi Emperor Louis Napoleon, went so far as to arrest M. 
Soule on her territory. He was French by birth, and had been 
banished because of his republican sentimerrts and acts ; but per- 
mission had been given him to return. He was arrested in Calais 
October 24th, 18:54 ; but he was soon allowed to pursue his jour- 
ney to Madrid. Spain promptly and satisfactorily settled the 
Black Warrior complication.^ 

1 Art. Wise, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 503, 5n4. 

2Thalheimer'.s Eclec. U. S., 265. Goodrich, 429. Eggleston's (too strongly colored) House- 
hold U. S., 304. 
3 Goodrich, 429. 



740 ^ History of the United States of America. 

While the fi'iends of slavery were thus seeking to secure more 
territory for her expansion, her enemies were waging ceaseless 
war on the institution. We need not \vonder at this when we 
i-emember that hy this time the opponents of slavery had become 
convinced by exhaustive argument that the institution did not ori- 
ginate in Divine command, and was against natural right and law. 
Therefore, the Fugitive Slave Law was bitterly opposed, and 
its provisions were substantially made inoperative and null by 
the passage of "personal liberty" laws in many of the Northern 
States, and by the pei'sistent efforts of State officers and citizens 
to rescue fugitive slaves from the claims of their alleged owners.' 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, 
Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, all enacted laws 
systematically adapted to defeat the rendition of fugitive slaves.^ 

And even in the few cases in which the law for rendition was 
curried out, the effect was to increase rather than diminish the 
popular opposition. A noted case occurred in Boston. The 
ownership was proved, the order of surrender made, and, to guard 
against rescue, the volunteer soldiers of the city ^vere called into 
service, and marched under arms, protecting the owner as he 
carried ofl' his slave. But prudent slave-owners had no desire to 
encounter such scenes. 

In 185 1— '52 Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe had fur- 
nished to the National Era., an anti-slavery nev^^spaper of moder- 
ate circulation in Washington city, the successive numbers of her 
novel entitled " Uncle Tom's Cabin." When completed it was 
republished in Boston in two volumes. It produced a profound 
impression. Other editions followed, and the sale became enor- 
mous ; and through all the years of the presidencies of Fillmore, 
Pierce and Buchanan this work of fiction, containing much of 
truth, continued to sway the public mind, not only of America, 
but of foreign lands, against African slavery. In the United 
States, four editions — one in the German language — were pub- 
lished, and rapidly sold to the amount of four hundred thousand 
copies.* In Great Britain, there being no burden of copyright, 
five hundred thousand copies were sold at prices running from 
six pence to ten shillings. It w^as translated into every living 
language of Europe, and into several of those of Asia, including 
Arabic and Armenian. Steam presses ran day and night to sat- 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 542. 

2 Report in Va. Legis., 1859-'C0. Journal of Senate 31: 19, 48, 49. So. Lit. Mess., April, 
1862, 217, 218. 

3 Art. Stowe, New Amer. Encyclop., XV. 126. 



The Presidency of Frajtklin Pierce. 741 

isfy the demand for this work. The accuracy of some of its 
statements having been publicly called in question, Mrs, Stowe 
published, in 1S53, a "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,'' verifying all 
that was material by official or otherwise authentic documents.^ 

The phenomena attending this work alone, if properly weighed, 
ought to have admonished the slave-holders of America that their 
institution had few friends and innumerable enemies in all the 
civilized world, and that if they desired to maintain it, even for 
a time, the greatest caution, prudence and moderation on their 
part were needed. But passionate and earnest men seldom exer- 
cise those virtues when the supreme crisis comes. 

Notwithstanding all the growing influence of the opponents of 
slavery, none of them had ever claimed the right, under the con- 
stitution, to interfere with it in the States where it existed, or in 
which it might be regularly established by the free choice of the 
people, seconding the conditions of soil and climate. It might, 
therefore, have been conserved for an indehnite time, and have 
been gradually eliminated without shock or bloodshed, but for 
the fatal breach in the Democratic party caused by the move- 
ments of their leaders in passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 
i8:;4. 

Although the giants Calhoun, Clay and Webster had passed 
away, the Congress still held men of intellectual strength and 
broad statesmanship, prominent among whom were Benton, of 
Missouri ; Houston, of Texas ; Bell, of Tennessee ; Hunter and 
jSIason, of Virginia ; Chase, of Ohio ; Seward, of New York ; 
Douglas, of Illinois ; Toombs and Stephens, of Georgia ; Charles 
.Sumner, of ISIassachusetts ; Andrew Pickens Butler, of South 
Carolina ; and Clement C. Clay, of Alabama. Among these, 
Stephen A. Douglas was a leader of the Democrats. He was 
short in person, but powerfully framed. . By his physical strength 
and mental accomplishments he had gained the name of " the 
little giant." ^ 

The Territories of Kansas and Nebraska were part of that ac- 
quired by the Louisiana purchase from France, and were there- 
fore included, in definite and certain terms, by the " Missouri 
Compromise " of 1820. They were both north of the line of 36° 
30' ; in fact, the southern line of Nebraska was many degrees 
north of it. They were adapted to the culture of wheat and 
similar cereals. They were not adapted to cotton, rice, sugar- 
cane, indigo, or any of the products specially calling for slave- 
labor ; slave-holders did not feel drawn to them. They might 
1 Amer. Eucyclop., XV. 126. 2 Thallieimer's Eclec. U. S., uote, 267. 



742 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

safely have been left to the operation of the " Missouri Compro- 
mise," and of the laws of nature and of natural settlement. In 
truth, under these laws, they were healthily filling up with a free 
population, and one of them would soon be ready for admission 
to the Union. 

But now came in the political disturbance to vex and distract 
the laws of nature. Stephen A. Douglas led this disturbance ; 
he was the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.^ It was intro- 
duced in the Senate in January, 1854, and for five months was 
the subject of fierce and acrimonious debate. It was the first dis- 
tinct proposition to break down the "Missouri Compromise," It 
proposed that the actual settlers and residents in those Territories, 
no matter how short and precarious the time and nature of their 
residence, should have authority to constitute a State, and by a 
mere majority should have power and authority to decide whether 
the State should be a slave or a free State. The principle on 
which this plan was founded was afterwards very justly stigma- 
tized as the principle of "squatter sovereignty."'' 

While it is true that the anti-slavery powers in Congress had 
ignored the line of 36° 30' as to the territory acquired from Mex- 
ico, yet they had acted in the interests of human freedom, had sim- 
ply recognized this territory as already free from slavery, under 
the laws of .Mexico, and had refused to convert free territory into 
slave territory. They did not touch, by their legislation, the ter- 
ritory embraced in the " Missouri Compromise." 

We need not be surprised, therefore, that this Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill excited the sternest opposition among the opponents of the 
extension of slavery. It was denounced as a distinct violation of 
good faith on the part of the advocates of slavery;^ and it was 
denounced as the prophet and forerunner of an unnatural strife for 
possession of the soil of these Territories, not according to health- 
ful and normal laws of settlement, but under the morbid stimulus 
of partisan excitement. Three thousand New England clergy- 
men sent a memorial to Congress against it. 

Nevertheless, it passed both Houses, and was signed by the 
President. One clause in it declared the " Missouri Compromise" 
of 1830 " inoperative and void."* Then came precisely the scenes 
of strife and evil predicted. Slave-holders from Missouri and 
other States hastened, with little preparation and no intent of per- 
manency, into Kansas. Prominent men, among whom Benjamin 

lEggleston's Household U. S., 301. 

2 Goodrich, 429. Thalheimer, note, 267. "Popular sovereignty," according to Quacken- 
bos, 45G. 

* Horace Greeley, in New York Tribune. Stephens, 544. *Amer. Encyclop., X. 104. 



TJie Prcs'idcucy of I^rankli/i Pierce. ^43 

Franklin vStringfellow, of Missouri, was first in vigor and talent, 
hastened into Virginia and others of the older slave States, and 
sought to hurry extemporized settlers from them into Kansas. 
The same process was repeated in the Northern States, and with 
even greater virulence. It was known that conflicts of arms 
would take place and blood would be shed. Therefore, collec- 
tions were taken up to buy Sharpe's rifles for the Northern settlers 
in Kansas. Among those most earnest in this work were Henry 
Ward Beecher, a Congregational minister of the gospel, and his 
people of the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York.^ 

Probably the most unwilling blood of this controversy was that 
shed by an anti-slavery Senator. Charles Sumner having, in a 
speech of two days, in Alay, 1S56, made some severe reflections 
on Senator Butler, of South Carolina, who was an old man, 
Preston S. Brooks, the nephew of Senator Butler and a member 
of the House of Representatives, resented the insult to his rela- 
tive, and assaulted Senator Sumner, knocked him down and beat 
him so severely with his cane that three years of I'est and travel 
were required for his recovery. Brooks, being called to account 
in Congress, resigned his place as representative, but was im- 
mediately re-elected and returned to the House by his constit- 
uents.^ 

The result of the unnatural forcing measures for the occupation 
of Kansas were just what sound reason would have expected. 
The people from each section came not to settle, to fence, to build 
houses, to cultivate the soil, and to develop the country into 
homes of virtue and intelligence ; they came for strife, with 
tents and arms. 

The Missourians pressed in first and sought to close the easiest 
gates of ingress to the Northern comers, and to force thein into 
circuitous routes through lowa.^ Collisions and bloody contests 
soon followed. In 1S56 an election, -which wanted nearly every 
essential of qualification in the pretended electors, of free expres- 
sion of opinion and will, and of real representation of the senti- 
ments of the people, was held ; and members Avere chosen to a 
convention, which was held at Lecompton. They adopted a State 
constitution permitting slavery.* 

The Northern settlers were equally active, and adopted meas- 
ures equally irregular and inadequate to give fair expression to 
the public will. They elected members to a so-called conven- 

' Contemporary narratives in newspapers, 1854. Eg-gleston, 302. Scudder, 370. Barnes, 195, 
and note. Blackburn & McDonald, 387. 

Barnes' U. S., note p. 195. SThalheimer, 265, 266. 

^Thalheimer'sEclec. U. S., 266. Quackenbos, 456. Scudder's U. S., 370. 



744 ^ Histof-y of the United States of America. 

tion, which met at Topeka, and framed a constitution prohibiting 
slavery.^ 

Thus in this distracted Territory there were two governments, 
two forms of constitution, two sets of officers, and two hostile 
populations battling with each other. A inore complete demon- 
stration of the folly of the legislation involved in the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act could not have been given ; yet President Pierce 
and a majority of his cabinet felt bound to attempt to sustain the 
policy of that act, and favored the Lecompton constitution.^ 

Contests of armed men speedily ensued. The Missouri men 
and a number of armed parties from Georgia, Alabama and other 
Southern States, under Major Buford, arrived in Kansas. The 
town of Lawrence had been settled by Northern men and was 
their rallying point. It was besieged by a large force of pro- 
slavery men, and on the 3ist of May, 1856, imder a promise of 
safety to persons and protection of property, the residents gave 
up their arms to the sheriff. The besiegers immediately entered 
the town, blew up and burned the hotel, burned the residence of 
a Mr. Robinson, destroyed two printing presses, plundered several 
stores and houses, and committed other acts of violence in open 
disregard of the terms of surrender.* 

Murder was now common. Civil war in its most hateful forms 
existed. The Congress sent a committee to investigate facts. 
They returned evidence making a voluine of eleven hundred 
pages, and a report of a majorit}' of two and a report of a mi- 
nority of one. The two — Howard, of Michigan, and Sherman, 
of Ohio — reported that " every election had been controlled, not 
by the actual settlers, but by citizens of Alissouri. None have 
been elected by the settlers, and your committee have been unable 
to find that any political power whatever has been exercised by 
the people of the Territory." * On the other hand, the one — Mr. 
Oliver, of Missouri — reported that the majority report was par- 
tisan and one-sided, and that no evidence had shown that " any 
violence was resorted to, or force employed, by which men were 
prevented from voting." ^ 

These fatally incongruous reports were, in themselves, proof of 
the distraction in the Territory. And now, out of these seething 
elements there rose up a man who was a stubborn fanatic and 
acted a leading part in kindling the bloodiest and n:iost desolating 
war of North America. 

1 Scudder, 370. Thalheimer, 266. 

2Scuddcr's U. S., 370. Thalheimer, 266, note, 267. Amer. Encyclop., X. 104-106. 

3 Art. Kansas, Aiuer. Eneyelop., X. 105. Thalheimer, 266. 

* Majority report, Amer. Kiicyclop., X. 105. 

5 Jliuority report, Amer. Eucyclop., X. 105. 



The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. 745 

This man was John Brown. He led the Northern people of 
Kansas in several sharp encounters, and especially in one at Osa- 
watamie, on the 39th August, 1856, in which a detachment of 
armed men from a force assembled by David Atchison, who had 
been a United States Senator from Missouri, attacked a body of 
about fifty men under John Brown. They made an obstinate and 
brave defence, but were at length driven out of Osawatamie, with 
a loss of two killed, five ^vounded and seven prisoners. Five of 
the assailing force were killed and several wounded. They were 
so irritated by the fierce defence that they burned about thirty 
buildings.' From this time that rugged hater of slavery \vas 
called " Osawatamie Brown." We shall meet him again. 

These sanguinary conflicts continued until President Pierce ap- 
pointed Brigadier-General John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania, gov- 
ernor and commander-in-chief in Kansas. He did what he could 
to restore peace ; but the disturbance went on, and continued 
during a large part of the term of Mr. Pierce's successor. Mean- 
while crowds of real settlers poured into Kansas, chiefly from 
the Northern and Northwestern .States. Slave-holders found little 
to attract them as cultivators of the soil. Repeated efforts wei'e 
made to bring Kansas into the Union. Congress finally referred 
the Lecompton constitution (permitting slavery) to the people 
of Kansas. It was rejected by ten thousand majority of votes. 
The State was admitted under a constitution forbidding slavery 
on the 39th day of January, iS6i.^ 

No State w^as admitted during the presidency of Franklin Pierce. 
Plis administration was a time of profound internal commotion, 
shaking the very basis of the Union ; yet nearly all his inter- 
course with foi-eign nations tended to peace. 

An English exploring squadron had been sent to the Arctic 
seas to look for Sir John Franklin's ships. One of the ships of 
this squadron — the Resolute — had been caught in the ice and so 
severely " nipped " that she was abandoned by her officers and 
crew, who went aboard the other vessels of the squadron. On 
the 33d December, 18^5, Captain Buddington, of an American 
merchant ship, found the Resolute drifting at the mercy of wind 
and wave, and brought her into the harbor of New Bedford.^ 

President Pierce and his government conceived and carried out 
a happy thought. They paid all needed expenses of salvage and 
of perfectly repairing and refitting the Resohtte. They then sent 
her to England in December, 1856, with a picked cre^v under 

1 Art. Kansas, Amer. Encyclop., X. 105. 3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 569. 

3 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 434. 



74^ A History of the United States of America. 

Lieutenant Hartstene, as a gift from the United States to Her 
Majesty Queen Victoria. The Qiieen with a few attendants, and 
in simple style, came down to Southampton, went aboard the 
Resolute, and on her deck received the message of goodwill from 
the United States, which Captain Hartstene delivered in brief and 
well chosen sentences. The Queen replied in a few words of gra- 
cious thanks. The incident was in all respects fortunate and 
cheering in its influence. 

The Whig party had now become almost extinct, and the Dem- 
ocratic party had been greatly weakened by the unhappy policy 
led by Stephen A. Douglas. In the conventions of 1856, the 
Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for Pres- 
ident, and John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for Vice-President. 
The "American party " nominated Millard Fillmore for President, 
and Andi'ew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President.' 

The Anti-Slavery party had gathered strength from the very 
causes which had disorganized the Whigs and weakened the 
Democrats. They united all the elements which opposed the 
extension of slavery and proposed to restrict it to existing bounds 
and territory pledged to its uses. They called themselves now 
" Republicans," and were growing daily in numbers. They met 
in convention at Philadelphia on the 17th June, 1856, and nomi- 
nated John C. Fremont, of California, for President, and William 
L. Dayton, of New Jersey, for Vice-President. In their platform 
they proclaimed that it was "both the right and the duty of Con- 
gress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism — 
polygamy and slavery." ^ 

The elections resulted in sending to the college of electors mem- 
bers who voted as follows : one hundred and seventy-four votes 
for Buchanan as President and Bi'eckinridge as Vice-President ; 
eight votes (all from Maryland) for Fillmore and Donelson ; one 
hundred and fourteen votes for Fremont for President and Day- 
ton for Vice-President. Though the Democratic candidates were 
elected, it had become evident that the Anti-Slavery party had 
gathered immense strength, and that the coming struggle, on 
which the alternative existence either of the Union or of slavery 
depended, would be between the Democrats and Republicans. 
Patriots on both sides viewed this struggle with increasing alarm. 

Franklin Pierce had done his part consistently and firmly ac- 
cording to his principles. He retired to private life in his State. 
He visited the Island of Madeira, and traveled extensively in Eu- 
rope, returning from his tour in i860. 

1 Stephens. 546. * Narrative and platform Republican party, 1856. Stephens, 646. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

The Presidency of James Buchanan. 

TAMES BUCHANAN, the sole "bachelor" President of the 
kJ United States up to this time, was inaugurated on the 4th 
day of March, 1857, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. A great 
crowd attended the ceremonies. The oath of office was admin- 
istered by Chief-Justice Taney. The inaugural address was con- 
ciliatory ; but it adopted the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, and therefore ministered to the increase of the Anti-Slavery 
party. His declaration that the object of his administration 
would be " to destroy any sectional party, whether North or 
South, and to restore, if possible, that national fraternal feeling 
between the different States that had existed during the early 
days of the republic," was doubtless honest, but was utterly in- 
operative.' Sectional feeling never grew more alarmingly than 
during his term. 

Early in his term a financial crisis came on in Europe and the 
United States, attended by many failures of merchants and tem- 
porary suspension of specie payments by the banks ; but it soon 
ended, and had no permanent effects. 

President Buchanan's cabinet consisted ot Lewis Cass, of 
Michigan, Secretary of State ; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, of the 
Treasury ; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, of War ; Isaac Toucey, 
of Connecticut, of the Navy ; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, 
of the Interior ; Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, Postmaster- 
General, and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Attorney-Gen- 
eral.'^ 

The first serious trouble of the government was concerning the 
"Mormons" in Utah. The uprising, influence and increase of 
this evil sect are a singular illustration of the truth that the de- 
praved nature and passions of the human race incline them to 
"believe a lie." False prophets, teaching false doctrine, have 
been in the world from the time of the fall in paradise to the 
present day ; and their continued coming and deceptions after 
his death, resurrection and ascension had been predicted by the 
iBarnes&Co.'sU. S., note, 196. ^gtephens' Comp. U. S., 517, 518, 

[ 747 ] 



748 A History of the United States of America. 

omniscient Son of God himseltV But the strange fact concern- 
inor the Mormons is that they had their origin in the brilliant 
light of the nineteenth century ; and, notwithstanding the com- 
plete proof of the wickedness, falsehood and fraud of their lead- 
ers, their sj'stem has had so much that is attractive to the native 
evil in men and women that it has retained its coherency for more 
than half a century. 

One Solomon Spalding is the real author of the greater part of 
the " Book of Mormon." He never pretended to inspiration 
from God, nor to be the author of a book on which a new reli- 
gious faith was to be founded. He was born in 1761, in x\shford, 
Connecticut, graduated at Dartmouth College, was a student of 
Holy Scripture and general literature, wrote several works of fic- 
tion, which found no publishers, wrote afterwards an extended 
romance founded on the unproved hypothesis that the Indians of 
North and South Ainerica are lineal descendants from the ten lost 
tribes of Israel, and giving many fictitious names, such as Mo- 
roni, Mosiah, Zeniff, Alma, Nephi the First, the Second and the 
Third. The work shows much misspent ingenuity and industry. 
It adopts the simplicity and style of the King James (English) 
version of the Holy Scriptures, and quotes many passages from 
it. This romance was actually announced in 1S13 as soon to be 
printed and published ; but Mr. Spalding died in Amity, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1816.^ 

He called his cin*ious work the "Manuscript Found," and left 
it, in 1812, in a printing ofiice in Pittsburg, in which a man 
named Sidney Rigdon was employed. Rigdon is known to have 
made a copy of this manuscript before the original was returned 
to the author.* 

Seven years after the death of Mr. Spalding, one Joseph Smith, 
in company with Sidney Rigdon, began to claim that a special 
revelation from God had been made to him. Smith belonged to 
a disreputable family from Vermont — people intemperate, un- 
truthful, avoiding honest labor, and often suspected of sheep- 
stealing. Joseph Smith, as a boy, was one of the woi'st of the 
clan.* He could neither read nor write, except very imperfectly. 

But he proved adequate to give birth to the Mormon delu- 
sion. He pretended that the angel Moroni had aj^peared three 
times to him and given him information as to certain metallic 
plates on which the new revelation was inscribed, and of two 
transparent stones, in silver rims like spectacles, which were 

1 Matt. xxiv. 23-28. JIark xiii. 21-2.3. Luke xxi. 8, 9. Second Peter ii. 4. 

2 Art. Mormons. New Amer. Encyclop., XI. 73.5, 736. ^Amer. Encyclop., XI. 735. 
*Art. Mormons, Amer. Encyclop., XI. 733. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 548. 



The Presidency of James Buchatian. 749 

anciently the " Urim unci Thummim," and by looking through 
which the inspired writings on the plates could be read. 

And so by this bold fraud, running through more than six years, 
and in which Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery 
were the chief agents, though others probably of more culture and 
cunning -were concerned, the "Book of Mormon " ^vas published 
in 1830. The sect of Mormons had already arisen. 

Like the Koran of Mohammed, this new pretended revelation 
had enough of Holy Scripture, and of the ancient prophets, and 
of Christ and his apostles, to give it currency with those trained 
under the canonical Scriptures. Its warp and woof have been 
recognized and identified by several competent and credible wit- 
nesses as the work of Solomon Spalding.' 

The Mormons made converts and grew in numbers. They 
planted themselves first in Missouri, but soon attracted public 
odium, and were subjected to persecutions and violence which 
drove them into Illinois. Here they were kindly received. A 
charter for a city to be called Nauvoo was granted by the legisla- 
ture, conferring undefined and extensive powers upon the ofiicers. 
Joseph Smith became a successful speculator, and in a few years 
amassed a fortune of more than a million of dollars. The Mor- 
mons were thrifty and industrious, and accumulated wealth quite 
rapidly. 

On the 6th of April, 1S41, the foundations of a great temple 
at Nauvoo were laid. Smith and many of his coadjutors had be- 
come Freemasons, and used imposing ceremonies. 

He had a lawful wife, to whom he was united in marriage in 
1S27. The " Book of JMormon," in its original form, definitely 
forbade polygamy ; ^ but Joseph Smith, to indulge his brutal pas- 
sions, had persuaded a number of women to live and cohabit with 
him, under the title of his " spiritual wives," and when his wife 
grew jealous and restive, and murmurs began to be heard from 
others, he openly claimed that he had received, July 12th, 1843, a 
revelation from God authorizing polygamy.* 

This foul pretence has been tenaciously adhered to ever since 
by the leaders of the sect ; and, unhappily, it has had a sinister 
influence in leading women of the lower type of character to join 
them. 

In 1843 and 1844, Smith made impure advances to so many 
women in Nauvoo that a commotion was excited, imder which a 
number of men and women of decent characters who had joined 

1 Anier. Enoyclop., XI. 735. 736. « Quotation in Amer. Encyclop., XI. 734. 

■*Art. Mormons, Amer. Encyclop., XI. 7o8. 



750 ^ History of the United States of Amei'ica. 

them were impelled to come out openly and denounce Mormon- 
ism, and expose Smith and his frauds in articles published over 
the names of the authors in the Expositor, a newspaper started to 
oppose the delusion. The result was that Smith and his follow- 
ers, on the 6th May, 1844, attacked the Expositor oifice, razed it 
to the ground, destroyed the printing presses, and wrecked the 
whole building. 

A furious excitement arose. The owners got out warrants for 
the arrest of Smith and his compeers. The Mormons armed 
themselves. Civil war seemed inevitable. The Governor of Illi- 
nois interposed, and persuaded Joseph Smith and his brother 
Hyrum to yield themselves up for trial. 

They were put in jail at Carthage, and a guard was stationed 
to protect them ; but in the night of June 27th, 1844, an indig- 
nant mob (chiefly Missourians) assembled, attacked the jail, over- 
powered the guard, and shot both Hyrum and Joseph Smith dead 
with their rifles. Joseph defended himself to the last with a re- 
volver, and was shot as he leaped from a window.' 

This irregular and unlawful " taking ofl"" for a time discouraged 
the Mormons ; but Brigham Young, a native of Whittingham, 
Vermont, had joined the sect, and by his talent and tact had ac- 
quired leadership. He was chosen first president. He persuaded 
his followers to abandon Nauvoo, and acquire property near the 
Great Salt Lake of Utah. He arrived there July 24th, 1847. ■'-^ 
May, 1848, the main body of the " Saints " set out to join him, 
and arrived in the autumn. Salt Lake City was founded, and 
large tracts of land were brought under cultivation. 

But their vices accompanied them and made them odious in the 
eyes of the Christian world. When Brigham Young reached 
Utah it was yet under the dominion of Mexico ; but the treaty of 
peace in 1S48 transferred it to the United States. The ISIormons 
were again under a government able to rule them firmly. They 
seriously debated the question of going farther to the southwest 
among Apaches and Mexicans ; but they decided to remain.^ 

They formed a constitution and government to suit themselves, 
calling their land "the State of Deseret ; " but the Congress 
ignored their action, and created a territorial government for 
Utah in September, 18=50. By advice of Col. Thomas L. Kane, 
brother of the Arctic explorer, who personally knew some of the 
INIormons, President Fillmore appointed Brigham Young gover- 
nor of the Territory.* 

1 Amer. Encyclop., XI. 738. Stephens, 549. Goodrich, (note) 438. 
2 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 550. ^ /6jd._ 551 



The Presidency of ya/nes Buchanan. y^i 

But such a people were not to be ruled without force. Two of 
the territorial judges were not Mormons. A breach soon occurred. 
The Federal judges were compelled by threats of violence to leave 
the Territory. The "Saints" only were to govern. President 
Buchanan removed Young from office, and appointed Arthur Gum- 
ming, of Georgia, governor. Colonel Steptoe, of the United 
States army, held the office for a time ; but as soon as he de- 
parted, Brigham Young preached a Mormon sermon, in which he 
said : " I am, and will be, governor, and no power can hinder it, 
until the Lord Almighty says, ' Brigham, you need not be gover- 
nor any longer.' " ^ 

The United States civil authorities in Utah were harassed and 
terrified. In February, 1856, under the influence of sermons from 
the heads of the church, a mob of armed Mormons broke their way 
into the court-room of the district judge and, Avith brandished 
bowie-knives, compelled Judge Drummond to adjourn his court 
sine die. Soon afterwards all territorial officers, except the In- 
dian agent, were compelled by threats of violence to leave Utah. 

President Buchanan sent to the Territory a military force of 
about one thousand seven hundred men, under command of Colo- 
nel Albert Sidney Johnston, who was breveted brigadier-general. 
Colonel Fitz John Porter accompanied the expedition and ren- 
dered valuable aid. Captain Van Vleit, with a few rangers, 
pushed I'apidly ahead, and froin Salt Lake City reported to Gen- 
eral Johnston that the Mormons were armed and organized, and 
that forcible resistance might be expected. This report was re- 
ceived by General Johnston on the 39th of September, 1857, while 
with his army on the south fork of the Platte river.^ 

He marched on, crossing the Platte river and making his way 
slowly over rocky mountains, arid plains where only sage and 
coarse grass could be found for his animals, and rugged roads be- 
set by hostile Mormons. To add to his trials, winter came on 
with unusual severity. The mercury was sometimes sixteen de- 
grees below zero. Draft horses and oxen died in numbers. 
Armed Mormon bands penetrated to the rear of Colonel Alexan- 
der's command and burned three wagon trains — seventy-five in 
all — loaded with provisions and supplies.' 

Undismayed by all these obstacles, General Johnston moved 
steadily on, sometimes marching on foot with his men and cheer- 
fully sharing all th'eir toils.* By the 5th of February, 1858, he 
had reached Fort Bridger, and was soon near to Salt Lake City 

1 Amer. Encyclop., XI. 739. 

2 Life of Gen. \. S. Johnston, by Wm. Preston Johnston, N. Y., 1878, pp. 210, 211. 
SLife of A. S. Johnston, 210, 211. 4'Col. Cooke's report, Life, 2ir). 



^52 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

with an army devoted to him and ready to crush the Mormon 
power. 

In his letter of January 30th, 185S, to his government, General 
Johnston advised that no concessions should be made to the Mor- 
mons, and that " they should be made to submit imconditionally 
to the constitutional and legal demands of the government." He 
declared that " an adjustment of existing differences on any other 
basis would be nugatory."* 

Experience has demonstrated the soundness of this advice ; but 
President Buchanan was, by temperament and education, a man 
not fitted for stern and decisive measures. He prepared a scheme 
of universal amnesty for all past offences. Colonel Thomas L. 
Kane came on as a sort of self-constituted peacemaker. He was 
strongly suspected of social and church sympathy with the Mor- 
mons. Pie was a man of talents, but of intriguing and erratic 
temper ; he lent himself to a scheme prepared as a trap for Gen- 
eral Johnston by the wily leader Brigham Young. 

This man, presuming on the scarcity in the American camp, to 
which the raids of his own lawless followers had contributed, 
offered, through Colonel Kane, to send two hundred head of cat- 
tle and twenty thousand pounds of flour to General Johnston's 
army, " to which they will be made perfectly welcome, or pay 
for, just as they choose."^ 

The American commander was too cautious and wise to fall 
into the snare. He replied, March it^th, 1S58, saying that Presi- 
dent Young had been misinformed ; that there was no deficiency. 
" We have abundance to last until the government can i^enew the 
supply. Whatever might be the need of the army imder my com- 
mand for food, we would neither ask nor receive from President 
Young and his confederates any supplies while they continue to 
be the enemies of the government."'^ 

Kane urged him to review and change his action, but he 
steadily refused. He knew that if he accepted these supplies 
and then operated by military force against the Mormons, Young 
would have produced the impression that he had saved from 
starvation the very army which was now smiting the hand that 
had fed it.* 

Arthur Cumming, the newly-appointed governor, was depend- 
ent on General Johnston and his army for support and protection ; 
yet he " exhibited a rankling irritation and jealousy that proved 
injurious to the public interests." ^ 

» Gen. Johnston's letter, Life, 220, 221. 2 Life of Gen. Johnston, 222. 

3 Johnston's letter, Life, 222. * Life of Gen. A. S. Jolinstou, 222, 223. 

5 Fitz John Porter's narrative. Life, 224, 225. 



The Presidency of James Buchanan. 753 

The Mormons did not dare to make open resistance. General 
Johnston marched with his army through the principal streets of 
Salt Lake City, and then established his camp in the north end 
of Cedar Valley, where he had all advantages of position, grass, 
water, wood and shelter, and whence he could promptly move to 
any point needing action. 

So complete was the control thus established that Brigham 
Young and his people contemplated another exodus — a removal 
to Sonora. The movement had commenced ; the people had con- 
gregated at Provo, when, under orders from their leaders, they 
changed their purpose, and returned to their homes. ^ 

President Buchanan's peace commissioners, Governor Powell 
and Colonel McCulloch, arrived at Salt Lake City June yth, 1848, 
and offered amnesty and pardon for all past offences, provided the 
Mormons would acknowledge and obey the United States author- 
ities. Of course, these terms were accepted. Governor Gum- 
ming assumed his chair of office ; and while the army remained 
there was peace, but no longer. 

This pestilent sect have remained in Utah. .Stringent legisla- 
tion has been enacted by Congress, under which prosecutions for 
bigamy have been instituted and sustained against nearly all the 
prominent officers of the church. They have been chased by 
United States marshals from the sight of decent people ; and yet 
the evil has not been stamped out. The '^ Saints " claim the 
power to govern themselves. The " inipcriiim in inipo'io^'' con- 
demned by all history, still exists. More than thirty years of ex- 
perience, from the time when General Johnston entered Salt Lake 
City with his army, have demonstrated that the course he then 
advised was the only one for safety and permanent peace. A 
tardy and sullen vote of submission to the law forbidding poly- 
gamy has been announced under the influence of President Wood- 
ruff, and fear of the strong arm of the United States government 
mav induce obedience.^ 

William Walker, a citizen of the United States, had become 
somewhat noted for an abortive attempt to seize a portion of the 
territory of Mexico. In the summer of 1S55, with a small band 
of adventurers from California, he invaded Nicaragua, then in a 
distracted political state. After some petty struggles and skir- 
mishes he seemed to be prevalent ; but the people of Costa Rica 
joined the Nicaraguans, and Walker and his small band of " fili- 
busters " were driven from the land. Nicaragua is a republic, 

1 Life of Gen. Johnston, 227. 

- Action of General Conference Mormon Church, October, 1S90. C. O., Oct. loth. 

48 



5?54 '^ Hisio)'y of the United States of America. 

with only about four hundred thousand inhabitants ; but its situ- 
ation, as a pathway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 
renders it important.^ 

Walker was not satisfied yet with his experience in "filibus- 
tering." He collected about four hundred men in the Southern 
States, and, eluding the authorities, embarked, November nth, 
1857, at Mobile. He landed at Puntas Arenas, Nicaragua ; but 
the United States naval ships were after him, and on the 8th of 
December he surrendered to Captain Paulding, of the steamer 
Wabash, and was brought, with his men, back to the United 
States.^ This ended his outrages on law. 

Paraguay, one of the South American States, showed herself 
unmindful of gratitude and comity, by firing on a United States 
surveying ship while peacefully engaged in triangulating the 
Paraguay river, and refused satisfaction when demanded. A 
strong naval force was sent, in 18 ^8, to her waters, by the United 
States government, accompanied, however, by a peace coinmis- 
sioner with full powers. Paraguay was wise, and kept the peace 
by agreeing to make reparation.^ 

In the summer of i860, Japan signified her apj^reciation of 
Commodore Perry's visit and treaty by sending to the United 
States a magnificent embassy of seventy-one persons. They 
were received with great interest and high honors, and were 
entertained as the guests of the nation. They delivered the 
ratified treaty from their government. After shrewdly examining 
the many inventions and improvements of a highly enlightened 
land, which they now saw for the first time, and receiving many 
presents of specimens of American ingenuity and industry, they 
returned to Japan.* 

Already Morse's wonderful invention of the magnetic tele- 
graph had been spread, in a net-work of almost instantaneous 
transmission of thought, over a large part of the United States 
and of Europe, and was extending into Asia. Bold scientific and 
practical minds v\^ere beginning to ponder the question whether 
the Atlantic Ocean itself might not be crossed by wire. Cyrus 
W. Field, of New York, was the inspiring and unconquerable 
hero of this enterprise. Surveys and soundings were made, which 
ascertained that from the southwestern point of Ireland, at Val- 
entia Bay, to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, a distance of only 
one thousand six hundred and forty miles intervened, and that a 
sea-bottom (which is really a continuous mountain ridge) existed 

1 Goodrich, 431, and note. 2 Goodrich's Pict. U. S., 431. 

3 Quackenbos' U. S., 459. » Ibid., 459. 



The Presidency of yaincs Buchanan. ^:^:^ 

along this line, compai"atively level and at no point deeper than 
about two and a half miles. In 18^6, by private capital raised 
by Ml". Field's exertions, a line was successfully run from New 
York to St. John's, Newfoundland, a distance of more than a 
thousand miles.^ A cable of manv strands of twisted wire was 
then made in England, but in attempting to lay it in August, 
1857, the cable parted in mid-ocean. In June, 18:58, another 
attempt failed. In July of the same year, the cable was actually 
laid ; the Agamemnon^ British war steamei", and the K'iagai-a, 
American war steamer, each having about half of the coiled wire 
cable covered with a cuticle of gutta-percha, met in mid-ocean, 
and, after uniting the ends, each steamed away, one for Valentia, 
the other for Newfoundland. The Agamemnon entered Valentia 
Bay on the i^Vh. of August, and on the same day the Niagara 
reached St. John's, in Trinity Bay. On the 13th of August, 
communication was actually made ; a message of devout con- 
gratulation from Qiieen Victoria to President Buchanan was 
received, and he replied in like spirit.^ 

Between August 13th and September ist, one hundred and 
twenty-nine messages went from Valentia to New York, and two 
hundred and seventy-one from New York to Valentia.* On the 
1st of September, 1858, a grand celebration in New York com- 
memorated the auspicious event ; but just at the same time subtle 
influences, supposed to be attributable to imperfect action in the 
eastern section of the cable, made its power of transmission 
weaker and weaker, until it ceased entirely. The last words 
were received at Valentia October 30th, and were unintelligible, 
until afterwards given: "Two hundred and forty trays and 
seventy-two liquid Daniells now in circuit." 

These words will convey to the uninitiated a lively idea of the 
obstacles yet to be encountered and mysteries of magnetism yet to 
be explored before this great \vork was successful. Under the 
deathless exertions of Cyrus W. Field, two more companies were 
raised and two capitals of three million dollars each were ex- 
pended. A new cable was made in July, 1865 ; the Great East- 
ern started with it, but it parted and sunk in mid-ocean. A 
third cable, better than all before, was made, and in June, 1866, 
the Great Eastern laid this successfully from Valentia to St. 
John's, and then, going back, picked up the sunken cable of 1865 
with grappling-irons, spliced it, and completed its laying.* No 

1 Barnes & Go's U. S., note, p. 28G. 

2 Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 28G. Goodrich, 443. 

3 Art. Telegraph, Amer. Encvclop., XV. 344. 
*Barnes & Co,'s U. S., note, p. 280. 



75^ A History of the United States of America. 

difficulties falling below the insuperable will stop the resolute 
and courageous soul. 

Three new States were received into the Union during Mr. 
Buchanan's presidency. Minnesota was admitted in 1858. The 
name means " turbid water." The State lies in the region of 
the many head-waters of the Mississippi, and abounds in lakes 
and rivers teeming with fish. Oregon was received in 181^9. It 
is a great region for furs, abounding in beavers, bears, badgers, 
foxes, lynxes, martens, minks, muskrats and other furred animals. 
It has also many tribes of Indians.^ Kansas was admitted in 1861, 
after the contests which we have noted. 

From scenes of international communion, scientific triumphs, 
and territorial development into new States, we are now com- 
pelled to turn our eyes to scenes of disorganization, bloodshed 
and inter-state war on the most gigantic scale, all flowing from 
the contests concerning African slavery. Tv\^o episodes in his- 
tory hurried on this war. On6 was the " Dred Scott " decision of 
the Supi-eme Court of the United States ; the other was the 
"John Brown" raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. 

The " Dred Scott " decision was made by the Suj^reme Court 
in the December term of 1856. The case has been elaborately 
j-eported and covers two hundred and forty printed pages.^ Chief- 
Justice Taney and his eight Associate Justices, IMcLean, Wayne, 
Catron, Daniel, Nelson, Grier, Curtis and Campbell, heard it 
twice argued and took part in the decision. The Chief-Justice de- 
livered the opinion of the court, and several other justices read 
carefully prepared opinions. All concurred substantially in the 
conclusions reached by the Chief-Justice, except McLean and Cur- 
tis, who definitely dissented. Evidently the judges desired to 
settle by an .authoritative decision the grave questions which 
wei-e disturbing the peace of the country. It is a sad proof of 
the limitation of human foresight and methods that their decision 
hiu'ried on the disruption. 

Dred Scott, his wife, Harriet, and his children, Eliza and Liz- 
zie, were all interested, and sought their freedom. They were all 
of African descent. Dred Scott \vas the sole plaintiff. He had 
been the negro slave of Dr. Emerson, a surgeon in the United 
States army, residing in Missoin-i. In 1834, Dr. Emerson took 
Scott with him to the military post at Rock Island, in Illinois, and 
held him there as his slave until 1836. He then carried him with 
him to Fort Snelling, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, in 
the territory known as Upper Louisiana, acquired from France, 
1 Goodrich, 444, 445. ^pred Scott vs. Sandford, Howard, Sup. Ct. Reports, XIX. 393-633. 



The Presidency of yamcs Buchanan. hch 

and situated north of latitude 36° 30', and north of ISIissouri. In 
1S38 Dr. Emerson carried Scott back to Missouri, and afterwards 
sold him, his wife and children, as slaves, to John F. A, Sandford, 
who laid hands on them to claim and control them as his pi'operty.^ 

Dred Scott brought suit in an action of trespass vi et amiis 
against Sandford in the Circuit Court of the United States for 
the District of Missouri. The defendant pleaded in abatement 
that the court had no jurisdiction, because Scott was not a citizen 
of the United States, he being a negro of African descent, whose 
ancestors were of pure African blood, and had been brought into 
this country and sold as slaves. On demurrer, this plea was de- 
cided to be not good. The defendant then pleacled that the 
plaintiff was his slave. On this plea the jury found for Sandford, 
and the court rendered judgment for him. The cause then went 
by v^^rit of error to the Supreme Court. 

For the purposes of history, we do not deal with legal techni- 
calities. No clear and competent mind can read the opinions of 
the majority of the justices ^vithout having the impression that 
their views of slavery and of the rights of slave-holders in the 
United States were founded on the narrow and distorting ideas 
which had prevailed in England and America prior to the decision 
of Lord Mansfield in the Somerset case in 1772, and prior to the 
Declaration of Independence.^ 

Those who prepared and adopted that paper declared : "• We 
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness." The more men reflected on slavery in all its forms, and 
especially on its origin and history as to the African race, the 
more clearly did they discover its inconsistency with this fun- 
damental declaration written by Thomas Jeft'erson and adopted 
by the Congress of 1776; and the constitution of the United 
States, adopted more than ten years thereafter, was the work of 
men v^^ho had already learned that slaves were not merely prop- 
erty and chattels, but " persons held to service or labor under the 
laws of any State.'" This was the exact stage of thought and 
feeling that a vast majority of the people had attained in 17S7, 
and was a great advance beyond the times of Sir John Hawkins.* 
And the fact that the foreign slave-trade had been forbidden in 
1808, and declared to be piracy soon afterwards, is proof that the 
eyes of all people were opening on the subject. 

1 Dred Scott vs. Saiidforrt, Howard, XIX. 398. 

2 Art. Slavery, Amer. Encyclop., XIV. 708, 700. 

3 Const. U. S., Art. IV., Sec. 2. ^prof. Johuston's U. S., 113. 



f^8 A History of the United States oy America. 

Nevertheless, Chief-Justice Taney announced as the iron-clad 
rule for the decision of the court the views taken by the very 
worst of the slave-dealers and importers of past ages. He held 
that, under the constitution, it was impossible that a person of 
African descent, whose ancestors had been brought to this coun- 
try as slaves, could become a citizen.^ He said of such : " They 
had, for more than a century before, been regarded as beings of 
an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white 
race, either in social or political relations ; and so far inferior that 
they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect ; 
and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery 
for his benefit. He was bought and sold, and treated as an ordi- 
nary article of inerchandise and traffic whenever a profit could be 
made by it." 

And after insisting that the broad declarations of the paper of 
1776 had no application to men of Africa, he imdertook to reveal 
the sentiments of the " great men, high in literary acquirements, 
high in their sense of honor, and incapable of asserting principles 
inconsistent wnth those on which they were acting," who had pre- 
pared and adopted that paper. He said : " They knew it would 
not, in any part of the civilized world, be supposed to embrace 
the negro race, which, by common consent, had been excluded 
from civilized governments and the family of nations and doomed 
to slavery."'' 

And Mi\ Justice Daniel was even more emphatic in adopting 
as the law of the cause the worst sentiments and opinions of past 
ages.^ He said : " Now the following are truths which a know- 
ledge of the history of the world, and particularly that of our own 
country, compels us to know" : that the African negro race never 
have been acknowledged as belonging to the family of nations ; 
that, as amongst them, there never has been known or recognized 
by the inhabitants of other countries anything partaking of the 
character of nationality or civil or political polity ; that this race 
has been by all the nations of Europe regarded as subjects of 
capture or purchase, as subjects of commerce or traffic ; and that 
the introduction of that race into every section of this country 
was not as members of civil or political society, but as slaves, as 
property in the strictest sense of the term." 

Had the Supreme Court of the United States in this cause 
shown itself capable of rising above the prejudices and errors of 

1 Chief-Justice Taney's opinion, Dred Scott Case, Howard, XIX. 407. 

2 Chief-Justice Taney's opinion, Dred Scott Case, Howard, XIX. 410. Art. Taney, Amer. 
Encyclop., XV. 284. 

2 Opinion, Dred Scott vs. Sandford, Howard, XIX. 475. 



'J he Presidency of y antes Buchanan. 759 

the past, and of admitting that the " spirit of laws," and espe- 
cially of the common law of England, which w^as the cherished her- 
itage of the people of our country, expands with the inci'easing 
light of learning, science and morals, so as to sweep away hoary 
cruelties and atrocities, however deeply seated in the minds of 
former ages, they might have given an opinion and made a deci- 
sion favorable to the progress of human freedom and to the fair 
compromises long established and acquiesced in by the people of 
all sections of the country ; but they did the reverse of all this. 

They decided that, though Virginia, in her deed of cession of 
her northwestern territory, expressly provided that slavery should 
not exist therein,' and though the ordinance of 1787 carried out 
this provision, and though this ordinance was re-adopted at the 
ratification of the constitution, and though Illinois was part of 
that territory, yet Dred Scott, when voluntarily carried by his 
former owner into Illinois and kept there for two years, did not 
thereby become free. They decided also that the " Missouri Com- 
promise " of 1S30 was inoperative and void so far as it forbade 
the existence of slavery north of the line of 36° 30', and, there- 
fore, that Dred Scott did not become free by being voluntarily 
carried by his former owner into a State made from the territory 
north of that line ; ^ that every citizen had a right to take into 
any Territory his property, and use and enjoy it as such ; that slaves 
were property imder the constitution, and that an act of Con- 
gress w^hich operates to forbid a citizen from taking with him his 
slaves when he removes into a Territory is an exercise of authority 
over private property which is not warranted by the constitu- 
tion.^ They also decided that a person of African descent, even 
if free, yet if descended from ancestors brought as slaves to Amer- 
ica, is not a "citizen" within the meaning of the constitution. 
They carried out logically their conclusion by reversing the de- 
cision of the United States Circuit Court for Missouri, and 
directing that the case should be dismissed for want of juris- 
diction.* 

This decision w^as practically inoperative for benefit to the 
slave States. Its effect was to rouse the anti-slavery element 
everywhere to new life and fury. It was soon followed by events 
w'hich were really the opening of war. 

We have already noted something of John Brown, and of the 
reasons why he was called " Osawatamie Brown." He conceived 

1 Mr. Justice Catron, Dred Scott case, Howard, XIX. 528. 

2 Dred Scott, Howard, XIX. 395, 463-405. 

3 Syllabus Dred Scott decision, Howard, XIX. 395, 396. 
< Opinion of the Court, Dred Scott, Howard, XIX. 454. 



760 A History of the United States of America. 

and sought to execute a dark plot against the peace and lives of 
the people of the slave States. It was afterv^^ards proved by suf- 
ficient evidence that his intentions vs^ere made known to such men 
as Gerrit Smith, F. B. Sanborn, Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, and 
Thaddeus Hyatt, of Ne\v York, and others considered equally 
reputable in their communities, and that they, at least, tacitly 
assented, thus incurring the guilt of accessories before the fact.' 
It was also proved that William H. Seward was informed in May, 
1858, of the proposed raid on Virginia, and that although he said 
he regretted hearing of it, and, under the circumstances, ought not 
to have been informed of it, yet he did not disclose it, nor give 
warning so as to prevent it.^ Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, 
and Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, were also informed of it. Even 
Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, a learned lawyer and statesman, after- 
wards Secretary of the Treasury and Chief-Justice of the United 
States, must bear some of the odium of John Brown's contact. 
He did, indeed, in the Peace Congress of February 4, 1861, openly 
declare that the anti-slave States would not execute, nor permit 
to be executed, within their bounds the Fugitive Slave Law, be- 
cause they were conscientiously opposed to it, and that, therefore, 
as that part of the national compact could not be executed, the 
doctrine of cy pres^ established by the English equity courts, ap- 
plied, and equity would be done as nearly as practicable by pa}-- 
ment in money to owners of the value of their fugitive slaves.^ 
This indicated at least a prevalent sense of justice in his mind ; 
yet he was informed of John Brow^n's intentions a year before his 
raid, and though he disapproved, he took no steps to stop the raid.* 
Thus this atrocious plot went forward. Having matured his 
plans, John Brown and his associates rented a small farm about 
eight miles from Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, where a United 
States armory and manufactory for muskets, rifles and swords had 
long been established. Here he collected two hundred Sharpe's 
rifles, two hundred pistols, large quantities of ammunition and 
clothing, and one thousand five hundred pikes, made expressly 
for Brown by Charles Blair, of Collinsville, Connecticut. These 
pikes were horrible weapons, having steel heads with sharp points 
and edges, and having handles longer than the ordinary musket. 
They were intended expressly for the slaves, and \vere to be used 
in butchering not only the men, but the women and children of 
Virginia. Brown's party consisted of himself, his three sons, 

1 Virginia Senate Journal, 1859-'60, Doc. 31, 5. N. Y. Herald, in Whig, Nov. 1, 1859. 
- Letter of Col. Hugli Forbes in N. Y. Herald. Whig, Nov. 1, 1859. S. L. Messenger, April, 
1862, p. 224. 

s Stephens' Comp. U. S., 590, 592. * Forbes' letter in N. Y. Herald. Whig, Nov. 1, 1859. 



The Presidency of yames Buchanan. >j6l 

thirteen white men from Maine, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, 
Indiana and Canada, and five negroes from Northern States. 

The plan was to seize the armory, to make captures of as many 
prominent men and their families as possible ; to rouse the slaves 
to insurrection ; to strike the \vhite people with consternation ; 
to call numbers of sympathizers from the North to their aid, and 
to begin a movement which would free all the slaves as it 
went on. 

On Sunday night, October i6th, 18^9, the conspirators actually 
seized the armory, and made captive William Williams, a watch- 
man on the railroad bridge. A part of the band, strongly armed 
and headed by John E. Cook, then went into the neighborhood, 
approached unprotected houses, with their sleeping and unarmed 
inmates, and carried ofl" all, including slaves, carriages, -wagons 
and horses, to Harper's Ferry. Col. Lew^is Washington and Mr. 
Allstadt were among the captives. In a short time the prisoners 
were not less than sixty in number.' 

The conspirators had expected to be immediately joined by 
large bodies of slaves. In this they were utterly disappointed. 
No slaves joined them except by compulsion, and those carried 
oft' took the first opportunity for returning to their masters ; and 
the first murder committed by John Brown and his assassins 
was on the person of a slave. ^ A faithful negro, named Heyward 
Sheppard, employed by the railroad company, ventured across 
the bridge to watch their movements, and, unfortimately, fell into 
their hands. The conspirators told him of their plans and urged 
him to join them ; he steadfastly refused. Eluding their grasp, 
he attempted to escape ; they deliberately fired on liim, and mur- 
dered him in cold blood. ^ 

Confused rumors of these events reached the people of the 
village and adjacent country. They armed themselves with such 
weapons as they could find, and surrounded the armory and en- 
gine house, in which the assassins v\^ere assembled. 

Col. Robert E. Lee, of the United States army, came down 
with a body of one hundred marines on the cars from Washington. 
By this time, repeated shots had been exchanged between the 
people outside and the beleaguered assassins, and several persons 
had been slain, among them Fontaine Beckham, Mayor of Harper's 
Ferry. This murder so enraged the people that they shot down 
Thompson, one of Brown's band, whom they had taken prisoner.* 

' Va. Senate Report, Doc. 31, 4. Baltimore Amer., Oct. 19. S. L. M., 221. 
- Letters of Hon. .Tames M. Mason, Enquirer. S. L. Mess., April, 1862, 222. 

3 Baltimore Amer., in Whig, Oct. 19, 21. Araer. Kncyclop., VIII. 735. 

4 Whig, Oct. 21, 1859. Va. Senate Rep. Amer. Eucyclop., VIII., 735. 



*j62 A History oj the United States of America. 

Colonel Lee arrived at night, and, having so disposed his force 
that escape of the conspirators w^as impossible, he considerately 
waited until the next morning. He then summoned Brown and his 
party to surrender. They refused, except on condition that they 
should be permitted to pass out unpursued, carrying their cap- 
tives with them to the second toll-gate on the turnpike towards 
Pennsylvania ; these terms were, of course, inadmissible. The 
marines advanced in two lines, under Colonel Harris and Lieu^ 
tenant Green. Sledge-hammers were tried first ; then twenty 
marines seized a heavy ladder, and, using it as a battering-ram, 
burst in the doors ; the soldiers rushed through the bi'each. A 
sharp firing was heard inside ; private Rupert, of the marines, 
fell mortally wounded ; but his comrades pressed on, and after a 
short struggle, the bandits were overcome. Brown fought with 
desperation, and fell severely wounded ; one of his sons was killed, 
and another mortally hurt. All resistance ceased, and the captive 
citizens escaped without a wound.' 

Of the twenty-two men engaged in this murderous raid, fifteen 
fell in the combats with the citizens and the final assault. Two — 
Cook and Hazlitt — escaped to Pennsylvania, but w^ere captured 
and sent back to Virginia ; and five — Brown, Stevens, Coppoc, 
Copeland and Green — were captured by Colonel Lee. They 
were turned over to the authorities of Virginia. 

The utmost fairness and liberality were shown in their favor 
and in the conduct of their trials. Henry A. Wise was the 
Governor of Virginia. He refused all suggestions of drum-head 
court-martial and summary justice, and designated Andrew Hun- 
ter, of Charlestown, Jefferson county, to conduct the prosecu- 
tion. Mr. Hunter was eminent not only as a learned and upright 
lawyer, but as a Christian gentleman. All the safeguards and 
protection of a fair trial were accorded to the prisoners. The 
charge, made nearly twenty years afterwards, by a German named 
Hermann Von Hoist, privy counselor and professor in the Uni- 
versity of Freiburg, that Brown and his associates did not have a 
fair and impartial trial, is unfounded and false in history.* 

The indictment against Brown found by the grand jury con- 
tained four counts, for ( i ) Treason; (3) Insurrection and inciting 
slaves to insurrection; (3) Murder; (4) Murder, with John 
Copeland as accessory. One indictment embraced all of Brown's 
confederates captured with him. During the trials, Charles J. 
Faulkner and Lawson Botts, of Virginia, and George H. Hoyt, of 

1 Baltimore American, Oct. 19, 1S59. S. Ij. Messenger. 

2 Trial of John Brown, with review, by Gen. Marcus J. Wright, So. Hist. Soc, Papers, 1889. 



The Prcsidcjicy of ya/nes Buchanan. 7^3 

Boston, acted as counsel for Brown. D. W. Voorhees, from Indi- 
ana (afterwards a Senator from that State), appeared as counsel 
for Cook, and made an argument splendid as an effort of oratory. 
The prisoners were all convicted as charged. The sentence of 
the law was pronounced, and in accordance therewith they were 
all capitally executed.^ The statements of an English writer, 
Thomas Hughes, author of "Tom Brown's School Days" and the 
"Manliness of Christ," that Brown was maltreated while in jail 
in Charlestown, were without foundation in truth, and were defi- 
nitely proved to be false by adequate evidence, which was for- 
warded to Hughes, but which he does not seem to have had per- 
sonal " manliness " enough to acknowledge as adequate.^ 

In (he interval between the arrest of John Brown and his ac- 
cessories in murder and their execution, a state of feeling was ex- 
hibited in many of the free States which contributed more than 
all other causes united to convince the moderate and wise men of 
the slave States that the continuance of the Union, under exist- 
ing conditions, was impossible. The Abolitionists openly avowed 
their approval of Brown's motives and conduct. Wendell Phil- 
lips delivered a discourse in Henry Ward Beecher's church on the 
1st of November, 1859, in which he said: "The rights of that 
one man (John Brown) are as sacred as those of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia. John Brown has twice as much right to 
hang Governor Wise as Governor Wise has to hang him. Is 
there anything new about this matter? Nothing at all ; it is the 
natural result of anti-slavery teaching. For one, I accept it ; I 
expected it. On the banks of the Potomac, history will visit that 
river more kindly because John Brown has gilded it with the 
eternal brightness of his glorious deed, than because the dust of 
Washingtoi rests upon one side of it; and if Virginia tyrants 
dare hang him, after this mockery of a trial, it will take two 
Washingtons at least to make the name. of the river anything but 
abominable to the ages that come after it."* The Boston Liber- 
ator spoke in terms of the Avarmest approval of a discourse deliv- 
ered at Dover, New Hampshire, on the 6th of November, 1859, 
by one Edwin M. Wheelock, a Unitarian preacher, in which he 
said : "The gallows from which John Brown ascends into heaven 
will be in our politics %vhat the cross is in our religion — the sign 
and symbol of supreme self-devotedness ; andyVow his sacrifcial 
blood the temporal salvation of four millions of our people shall 

1 Gen. Wright's re^-iew of trial, 3-8. Southern Lit. Mess., April, 1882, 223. 
- Letters of Rev. W. E. Griffiths and Rev. Dr. A. C. Hopkins, with affidavit of John Avis, 
April 25th, 1882. Va. Free Pre.'^s, Dec. 11th, 1884. 
a 'Whig, Richmond, Va., Nov. 11, 1859. 



764 A History of the United States of America. 

yet spring. On the second day of December he is to be strangled 
in a Southern prisonybr obeyitig the Sermon on the Mount. But to 
be hanged in Virginia is like beitig crncifed in fcrusalem ; it is 
the last tribute that sin pays to virtue."^ 

And during this same interval, Governor Wise received more 
than five hundred letters on the subject, chiefly from people in the 
Northern States. Some of these informed him of a determined 
purpose to rescue Brow^n. Against this he guarded by assem- 
l:)ling at Charlestown an ample body of citizen soldiery, v^^ho es- 
tablished a camp and kept ceaseless watch until the executions 
took place.^ 

Many of the letters to him from the North were full of brutal 
menaces, threatening death to the governor and members of his 
family if he did not pardon Brown. Other letters, professing to 
be from his political admirers, appealed to his clemency, his mag- 
nanimity, his hopes of future political promotion ; but the most 
significant of all the letters from the North were from men of 
national fame, well known in the country, and considered to be 
among the most conservative of their section ; yet they urged the 
pardon of Brown and his associates on grounds of public policv, 
declaring that they thoroughly knew the sentiment of the North- 
ern people, and it w^as so decided and so nearly nnanimons in 
favor of the pardon of Broivn that the governor ought to exer- 
cise his power of mercy to conciliate this popular feeling of the 
North ! ^ The newspapers of the North, with few exceptions, 
joined in this appeal for the pardon of these murderers for the 
sake of preserving the Union.* 

No spontaneous burst of surprise, indignation and abhon-ence 
had come from the North wlicn the brutal and hideous raid of 
John Brown against Virginia was fully made known there ; no 
overwhelming popular meetings had been held to denounce it. 
But when popular meetings became common throughout the 
South, at which resolutions were passed to buy no more shoes or 
cotton fabrics froin the North, then it was noted that a large 
meeting was held in Boston on the Sth December, 1859, at which 
resolutions were passed condemning Brown's conduct. Similar 
meetings, with like action, were held elsewhere, but generally in- 
spired and controlled by Northern merchants engaged in the 
Southern trade? 

But the Southern people could not shut their eyes to the facts 
that, on the evening of the 3d day of December — the day of the 

1 Boston Liberator. Whiq, Kov. 22, 1859. = Senate Report, 31, 6. So. Lit. Mess., 225. 

3 Report, Senate Journal of Va., Doe. 31, 6. S. L. M., April, 1862, p. 225. 
*Whig, Nov. 11, 18, 22, 25, 1859. ^ s. L. Mess., April, 1862, 225. 



The Presidency of yantes Buchanan. 'j6^ 

execution — Treniont Temple, in Boston, %vas crowded to excess, 
and one J. Q. A. Griffin, a member of the Massachusetts House 
of Delegates, said that " the heinous offence of Pontius Pilate 
in crucifying our Saviour whitened into virtue w'hen compared 
with that of Governor Wise in his conduct towards John Brown " ; 
that in New Vork city a large church was opened morning and 
night, and violent denunciations of Virginia came from preacher 
and people ; that in Albany one hundi-ed guns were hred in 
honor of the murderer ; that in Syracuse and many other towns 
bells were tolled, public meetings held, resolutions in his honor 
passed, and money raised for his family.' 

It was obvious to the calmest of observers that if slavery was 
to be continued, the union of the States was already gone. If 
that institution could so blind and warp the minds of the North- 
ern people as to lead them to sympathize with murderers, assas- 
sins and robbers, such as John Brown and his associates un- 
doubtedly were, then it could no longer be either rightful, 
expedient or desirable that the slave States should remain in 
government connection with them. No State holding slaves 
had any guaranty against a similar inroad of murderers, assassins 
and robbers from the Northern States, upheld and urged on by 
the countenance and sympathy of a large part of the people of 
those Northern States. 

Therefore, the success of the Republican partv and the election 
of Abraham Lincoln in iS6o were not the efficient cause of the 
disruption and terrible war that followed. That cause was older, 
deeper, broader. The world had reached a crisis at which human 
intei'ests, passions and events were to be overruled by Almighty 
God to the destruction, in four years, of an evil institution which 
had been in the world for three thousand eight hundred years at 
least, and which was so tenaciously upheld by the selfishness of 
the human heart that an earthquake of disorganization and blood- 
shed was needed to uproot it ; and so the earthquake came. 

The breaking up of the great Democratic party was not a 
cause, but a sign. They met in Charleston, South Carolina, on 
the 23d of April, i860. The convention numbered nearly six 
hundred members.^ They attemjoted to adopt a platform and to 
make nominations for President and Vice-President. They were 
not able to agree. A writer, well known in history as a states- 
man and member of Congress from the South, has stated that 
the "disastrous split" in the Democratic party "was founded 
upon no practically essential principle, and might easily have 

1 Whig Extra, Dec. 7, 1859. S. L. Messenger, 220. 2 w. H. Venable's U. S., 191. 



>^66 A Histojy of the United States of AmericUx 

been healed if considerations of public interests had prevailed 
over those of a personal character."^ 

But, in truth, there was a wide difference of view in this repre- 
sentative convention as to the platform of principles to be adopted. 
The Committee on Resolutions presented a report containing the 
statements of principle, that neither Congress nor territorial 
legislatures had the right and power to abolish slavery in the 
Territories, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor 
to destroy the right of property in slaves by legislation.^ 

The Democratic followers of Stephen A. Douglas refused to 
vote for this report, and it was defeated. The contests and efforts 
to unite were long and persevering, but vain. It is believed that 
more than fifty ballotings occurred, and that in these many North- 
ern Democi'ats sided with their Southern comrades. Among 
these, Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts — afterwards so much 
hated in the South because of his course during the war — was 
conspicuous for his steady adherence to the Democratic phase 
which then governed the country. 

But Douglas prevailed. A platform substantially approving 
the principle of " squatter sovereignty " was adopted by a thin 
vote of one hundred and sixty-five to one hundred and thirty- 
eight. Most of the Southern and some of the Northern members 
withdrew, and met again at Richmond, Virginia, in June. The 
convention, thus shattered, met again in Baltimore in June ; but 
even then they Avere divided in counsels. A large minority with- 
drew. The major remnant nominated Stephen A. Douglas for 
President and Herschcl V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

The minority remnant organized a convention, and nominated 
John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for President, and Gen. Jo- 
seph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President. The Richmond con- 
vention ratified and adopted these last-named nominations.* 

The conservatives, known as the " American party," put in 
nomination for President, John Bell, of Tennessee, and for Vice- 
President, Edward Everett, of INIassachusetts, with the somewhat 
vague platform : "The Union, the constitution, and the enforce- 
ment of the laws." 

The Republicans, or "Free-Soil part}'," met in convention at 
Chicago, Alay i6th, iS6o. Their platform was that the normal 
condition of the Territories is freedom ; that neither Congress 
nor the territorial legislatures have authority to give existence to 

1 A. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 554. 

- Resolutions in Venable's V . S., 191. 

3 Venable's U. S., 192. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 558. 



The Presidency of yanics Buchanan. 767 

slavery in the Territories ; and that traffic in slaves should be 
suppressed.' They nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for 
Pi'esident, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice-President. 

Thus it appears that just at the crisis when union and harmony 
among all the voters opposed to the anti-slavery faction were 
most essential, they were fatally split up into three separate 
parties, who refused to coalesce. Their union would have de- 
feated Abraham Lincoln's election. 

This clearly appears from the following facts : in the electoral 
college one hundred and eighty votes were cast for Lincoln and 
Hamlin, seventy-two for Breckinridge and Lane, thirty-nine for 
Bell and Everett, and twelve for Douglas and Johnson. Mr. Lin- 
coln, having received a majority of all the electoral votes, was 
constitutionally elected President ; ' but he had received only a 
minority of the votes of the people of the L^nited States. The 
majority were against him. 

The total popular vote was four million six hundred and sixty- 
two thousand one hundred and sixty-nine. Of these Lincoln re- 
ceived only one million eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand 
six hundred and ten ; Douglas received one million three hundred 
and sixty-five thousand nine hundred and seventy-six votes, and 
yet he carried only one State (Missouri) in the electoral college ; 
Breckinridge received eight hundred and forty-seven thousand 
nine hundred and fifty-two, and Bell five hundred and ninety 
thousand six hundred and thirty-one popular votes. These facts 
vividly indicate that the system of electoral votes may defeat the 
will of the people at the most momentous crisis, and ought, there- 
fore, to be reformed. Had all the people's votes which were hope- 
lessly divided between Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell been con- 
centrated on one man, he would have received a sufficient number 
of electoral votes to have chosen hini iia the college ; but an ovei"- 
ruling Providence directed otherwise. 

Abraham Lincoln was elected by a purely sectional vote ; only 
sixteen out of thirty-three States voted for him. He did not receive 
a single electoral vote from any State south of Mason and Dixon's 
line continued by projection of State boundaries from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacihc. Thus his election, though constitutional, came 
under the deprecatory prophecies of George Washington.'' 

Li that farewell address, the "Father of his Country " said : " In 
contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs 
as a matter of serious concern that any ground should have been 

• Venable's U. S., 192. Swinton, 240. Prof. Johnston, 20G. 

- Stephens' Comp. V. S., 659. 

3 Farewell address in 1796. Stephens, Append. F., 932-937. 



^G^ A History of the United States of America. 

furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrimina- 
tions — Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western — whence 
designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real 
difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients 
of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to mis- 
represent the opinions and aims of other districts." ^ 

And he added : " To the efficacy and permanency of your 
Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alli- 
ance, however strict between the parts, can be an adequate sub- 
stitute ; they must inevitably experience the infractions and inter- 
ruptions which all alliances, in all time, have experienced." ^ 

These solemn utterances were prophetic ; but slavery wrought 
the evil he feared. We need not wonder that George Washing- 
ton, although he owned many slaves, earnestly desired that slav- 
ery should cease to exist. 

Hardly had the electric wires flashed the tidings of the election 
of Lincoln throughout the country before the cotton slave States 
began to move for secession from the Union. We have seen 
enough to demonstrate that this movement did not originate 
merely in the fact of that election. Thirty years of war on 
slavery had brougiit it to pass. 

South Carolina moved first. Her convention was called by 
her legislature. It met, and by a unanimous vote, December 20th, 
i860, adopted an ordinance undoing the work done on the 33d of 
May, 1788, and declaring that the union subsisting between South 
Carolina and the other States, " under the name of the United 
States of America, is hereby dissolved."^ The legislature unani- 
mously ratified the ordinance. 

It was expressly based upon the acts of many Northern States 
in refusing and defeating the rendition of fugitive slaves, and 
upon the special acts of Iowa and Ohio in refusing to surrender 
fugitives fi'om justice charged with murder and with inciting ser- 
vile insurrection in the John Brown raid, and upon the danger to. 
be apprehended from the centralizing doctrines and principles of 
the party lately elected to power in the executive department.* 

This example was promptly followed. Mississippi seceded 
January 9th, 1861 ; Florida, January loth ; Alabama, January nth ; 
Georgia, January 19th ; Louisiana, January 36th, and Texas, Feb- 
ruary 1st, 1 86 1. 

The seceding States took possession of all the forts, arsenals 
and navy -yards within their bounds which they were in condition 

1 Farewell address. Stephens, 933. ^gjephens, Appeud. F., 934. 

^Ordinanee of Secession. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 560. 
< Stephens, 660. Derry, 255. 



The Presidency of yaiites Btichanan. 769 

to reduce into their possession. This has been often denounced 
as rebellion and robbery, but the charge is without justice ; for 
the soil of these forts had been granted originally with the con- 
dition expressed or implied that the vState should be in the Union. 
The condition failing, the soil reverted. And as the products of 
the South in cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco had for more than 
half a century borne the expenses of the whole country (being 
the exports which brought in the imports whence the duties were 
derived that paid those expenses), it could not be truthfully con- 
tended that the Southern States had not paid their full share of 
the cost of all the United States forts. Moreover, the seceding 
States promptly offered full and fair money settlements as to aH 
they claimed as their own. 

President Buchanan had probably never expected movements 
so grave during his term. He was inclined to compromise rather 
than to rigor ; to leniency rather than severity. He was also 
a Democrat of the strict construction school, and although he 
did not believe in secession as a right, neither did he believe 
in the right of the Federal government to coerce a State if she 
seceded.^ 

Moreover, the means at his disposal were hardly adequate to 
any such attempt. .Several members of his cabinet agreed in 
principle and feeling with the .South. John B. Floyd, Secretary 
of War, having found upon examination that a very small pro- 
portion of the Federal arms had been distributed among the 
Southern States, had, upon principles of equity, determined that 
they ought to have their full share, and had, some time previously, 
given orders under which about one hundred and fifteen thousand 
stand of arms (muskets and rifles) had been sent from Springfield 
armory and Watervliet arsenal to various points in the States of 
North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.'' 
The small United States army was scattered at various and dis- 
tant frontier points, and most of the naval ships wei-e on foreign 
stations. 

Virginia earnestly desired to save the Union. She proposed a 
" Peace Congress," which assembled in Washington on the 4th of 
February, 1861. Delegates were in attendance from many North- 
ern States, and from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. John Tyler, of Vir- 
ginia, was elected president. The conference adopted terms of 
proposed settlement, which were not acceptable either to \'ir- 

1 Holmes' U. S., 233. Prof. Johnston's U. S., 211. Eg^leston's Household XT. S., 308. 
- Richmond Examiner, May 10, 1861. So. Lit. Messenger, April, 1862, p. 227. 

49 ■• 



^yo A History of the Uttited States of Atncrica. 

ginia or North Cai-olina. It is unimportant to state them fully, as 
they were promptly rejected by the Fedei^al Congress, and came 
to naught.^ 

In advance of the secession of South Carolina, four of her rep- 
resentatives in the United States Congress — McQueen, Bonham, 
Boyce and Keitt — had obtained an intervievs^ with President Bu- 
chanan, and by his request had submitted a suggestion in writing 
to the effect that, when the State seceded, neither her constituted 
authorities nor anybody of her people would attack or molest the 
forts in the harbor of Charleston until an offer had been made to 
negotiate for an amicable settlement ; provided that no reinforce- 
ments should be sent into those forts and their relative military 
status should remain unchanged. The President objected to the 
word "provided," on the ground that he did not intend to make 
any agreement, and the four gentlemen also stated that they had 
no authority to make an agreement for their State. Mr. Buchanan 
then received the paper, with the promise that he would return it 
to some one of them before he ordered any reinforcements to the 
forts.^ 

The arrangement, though not a formal agreement, was under- 
stood to involve a pledge of honor on both sides. The State 
made no hostile movement ; but on the night of the 2,G\}i\ Decem- 
ber, i860. Major Robert Anderson, commanding a small garrison 
in Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, considering that his posi- 
tion would be more advantageous in Fort Sumter, a stronger Avork 
and nearer to Charleston, being built on an artificial island of 
sunken stone in the lower harbor, transferred his garrison, pov\^- 
der, provisions and small arms to Sumter, after having spiked the 
cannon of Moulti-ie, dismounted the mortars, and set fire to the 
gun carriages.^ 

Naturally enough, the authorities of South Carolina considered 
this move a change in " the relative military status." Secretary 
Floyd, of the War Department, earnestly asked that authority 
might be given him to order Major Anderson back to Moultrie, 
and his request being refused by the President, he tendered his 
resignation on December 29th, saying : " I can no longer hold my 
office under my convictions of patriotism, nor with honor, sub- 
jected as I am to the violation of solemn pledges and plighted 
faith." His resignation was accepted, and Mr. Holt, of the Post- 
office Department, was appointed in his place.^ 

1 So. Lit. Mess., June, 1862, p. 344. 

2 Letters of South Carolina Com'rs, Dispatch, Jan. S, 1861. 

3 Charleston Courier, Dec. 28. Letter from an officer of the Igarrison, Dispatch, Jan. 7, 
1861. So. Lit. Messena:cr, May, 1802, pp. 284, 285. 
*So. Lit. Mess., May, 1862, p. 285. 



The Presidency of yajncs Buchanan. ^*jl 

Military forces of »South Carolina took possession of the arsenal 
in Charleston, and of the forts and strongholds in the harbor 
other than Sumter. They began, under direction of General Beau- 
regard, to prepare batteries for the reduction of Sumter. 

After days of vacillation, 'Pi-esident Buchanan determined to 
send fresh troops and supplies to Sumter. The steamer Star of 
the West was chartered for the purpose, and left New York on 
the i;th of January, 1861, having on board two hundred and fifty 
soldiers and an ample supply of stores, provisions and munitions 
of war. On learning of this, Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the 
Interior, immediately resigned, on the ground that it was in vio- 
lation of an understanding in the cabinet December 31st, and had 
not been authorized at any cabinet meeting. 

The Star of the West tried to run in on the night of Janu- 
ary Sth. A shot was fired across her bow, to which she responded 
only by hoisting the United States flag and continuing her course. 
Several shots were fired from thirty-two-pounders in rapid suc- 
cession. One struck her bow near the water-line ; another heavy 
shot passed between the smoke-stack and the working-beams of 
her engine. The work grew warm. The captain and crew be- 
haved with spirit, but began to estimate the chances of being 
sunk or captured. The danger was too great ; the steamer put 
her helm a-port, turned and ran out to sea with all speed. She 
arrived in New York on the i3th of January, and the soldiers 
were landed at their former quarters on Governor's Island.' 

Soon after the meeting of Congress, President Buchanan had 
issued, in becoming terms, a proclamation appointing the 4th of 
lanuary, 1861, as a day of fasting and prayer, and calling on the 
people to humble themselves and pray for Divine deliverance from 
the woes that threatened the nation. The Republicans of New 
York treated this proclamation with open ribaldry and abuse. 
In the Board of Education, one Mr. Warren unsparingly ridiculed 
it, and a Air. Stafford poured out vials of vituperation upon the 
President. In other parts of the country, and especially in the 
border States, the day was reverently observed by immense 
crowds in the churches, and by decent people in their homes.^ 

Meanwhile, the seceded States took measures to perfect a 

vSouthern union. On the 4th of February, 1S61, delegates from 

each State met at Montgomery, in Alabama, and in a few days 

adopted a provisional constitution, to contiriue in foixe for a year. 

They also, by unanimous vote, adopted a permanent constitution 

IN. Y. [Express, in Dispatch, January 9, 1861. Post, January 15. McGowan's narrative. 
Journal of Commerce. S. L. M., 28S. 

-N. Y. Express. Richmond Dispatch, January 1, 1861. S. L, M. 



77^ A History of the United States of America. 

for "The Confederate States of Ainerica." It was modeled on 
the constitution of the United States. Its opening clause did 
what the old constitution did not — viz., solemnly invoked the 
favor and guidance of Almighty God. Some clauses guarded 
expressly the sovereignty of each of the States. One provision 
forbade the importation of negroes from any foreign country other 
than the slave- holding States and Territories of the United States, 
and the Confederate Congress w^as I'equired to pass such laws as 
should effectually prevent it,^ 

Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was, provisionally for a year, 
elected President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice- 
President of the new Confederacy. 

President Buchanan and General Winfield Scott, conceiving 
that efforts might be made forcibly to prevent the inauguration of 
Abraham Lincoln, caused a large military force to be assembled 
in Washington. At the close of his term, Mr. Buchanan retired 
to Wheatland, his country home, in Pennsylvania. He took no 
further part in public affairs. 

1 Section 9, clause 1, Constitutiou Confed. States. S. L. M., p. 347. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 
The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. — War. 

THE President-elect set out from his home in Springtield, Illi- 
nois, on the nth of February, 1861, to journey to the national 
capital. He was descended from Virginia ancestors on the side 
of both grandfather and mother. The name seeins originally to 
have been Linkhorn. His grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, with 
his wife and five children, had emigrated from Virginia to Ken- 
tucky in 1780, to share with Daniel Boone all the hardshijDs and 
dangers of the "Dark and Bloody Land." In 17S6, he was killed 
by a stealthy shot from " the brush," probably fired by an Indian.^ 

Abraham Lincoln was born near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on 
the I3th day of February, 1S09. His youth was irregular and 
roving, yet never polluted by intemperance and unmanly vice. He 
was, to a large extent, a self-educated man, especially in his 
chosen profession of the law. Such men have generally been 
leaders in their day. His character was rugged, but not morose. 
He was resolute in purpose when his judgment ^vas convinced. 
His disposition was genial and full of the quaintest humor, which 
showed itself in a ceaseless fiow of homely wit and anecdote. 

Some of his prevalent traits were exhibited on his journey to 
Washington. He made several characteristic addresses, which 
had more wit than logic.'^ At Northeast Station, New York, he 
said to an assembled crowd that he had received a letter from a 
young girl in that place kindly admonishing him to do certain 
things, and among others to let his tvhiskers groxv.- He had taken 
her advice, and now he would be glad to see her ; whereupon a 
young lady in the crowd was lifted up to the platform and made 
her way to Mr. Lincoln, who vigorously kissed her!* 

As he approached Washington city, he became more serious. 
He avoided the train on which he was expected to come, and, pass- 
ing through Baltimore at night, reached Washington on the morn- 
ing of February 23d, leaving JMrs. Lincoln and his family to come 
on in the next train. His inauguration was guarded by soldiers. 

1 Lincoln as Pioneer, Century Mag., Nov., 1886. pp. 6-14. 

2,\t Indianapolis, Columbns. Steubenville and Pittsburg. S. L. M., 350, 351. 

»Telegrapli from Buffalo, Feb. 16th. S. L. M., June, 1862, p. 361. 

[ 773 3 



y74 -^ History of the United States of America. 

Such an event had never before occurred in the United States. 
He took the oath before Chief-Justice Taney that he v^^ould faith- 
fully observe and support the constitution and lav^^s. His first 
cabinet officers were : William H. -Seward, of New York, of the 
Department of State ; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, of the Treasury ; 
Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, of War ; Gideon Welles, of 
Connecticut, of the Navy ; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, of the 
Interior ; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster-General ; 
Edward Bates, of IMissouri, Attorney-General.^ 

The senators and members of the House of Representatives 
from the seceded States had resigned and gone to their homes ; 
and this was continued as fast as other States seceded. The first 
duty was recognized as binding each officer to his own State. 
The exceptions were few and unimportant" ; indeed, some r.osigned 
from strong sympathy with the Southern cause, whose States 
never seceded. On this subject a keen and sagacious mind has 
noted the fact that " up to the last hours of Lincoln's first term 
of office Congress would always have contained a majority op- 
posed to him, but for the absence of the members from the seced- 
ing States."" 

Neither North nor South expected such a war and with such 
consequences as actually came. The North could not believe that 
a people of twelve millions — four millions of whom were Afri- 
can slaves — would i"isk the dire results of war on a large scale. 
The South, especially her more enthusiastic leaders, believed that 
" cotton is king," and that the necessities of Northern manufac- 
turers and of Great Britain and Europe would speedily enable the 
slave States to establish their independence.^ God was directing 
events for purposes not contemplated by man. 

Notwithstanding the withdra\val of Southern members, the 
remnant of the Congress had made no serious preparations for war 
up to the end of Buchanan's term. Even the Tribune^ of New 
York, under the editorship of Horace Greeley, had said : " When- 
ever any considerable section of our Union shall deliberately 
resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures to keep 
them in." * Other Northern statesmen, including one as eminent 
as William H. Seward, expressed opinions favorable to the policy 
of " letting the erring sisters depart in peace." They believed 
that a grand career, without slavery, was still open to the United 
States, and that in due time Canada would join them.^ A few, 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 607. - Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 207. 

:< Prof. Steele, in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note. 198, 199. 
•1 Tribune, in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, V. 9 
sprof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const, LiiO 



776 A History of the United States of America. 

like Chandler, believed there would be "blood-letting," but they 
had no prevalent influence. 

But for the fixed convictions and policy of Abraham Lincoln, 
and the support given him by the " w^ar-governors " — Washbui'n, 
of Maine ; Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Goodwin, of New Hamp- 
shire ; Andrew, of Massachusetts ; Sprague, of Rhode Island ; 
Buckingham, of Connecticut ; Morgan, of New York ; Olden, of 
New Jersey , Ciu'tin, of Pennsylvania ; Dennison, of Ohio ; 
IVIorton, of Indiana ; Yates, of Illinois ; Blair, of Michigan ; 
Randall, of Wisconsin ; Kirkwood, of Iowa, and Ramsey, of 
Minnesota — there might have been either no war or war on a 
small scale and soon ended in the final disruption of the United 
States. 

But President Lincoln regarded himself as constitutionally 
elected to rule as executive head of the whole country as it ex- 
isted at the time of his election. He did not trouble his brain 
with theories of either nullification or secession. In his inaugural 
address, he declared that the Union was unbroken, and that he 
would take care, as the constitution enjoined, that the laws of the 
Union should be faithfully executed in all the States. ' He 
said : " The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy 
and possess the property and places belonging to the government, 
and to collect the duties on imports." 

But on the 9th March, 1S61, the War Department in Wash- 
ington received from Major Anderson an official letter stating 
that he had not more than fifteen days' subsistence and fuel in 
Fort Sumter. A council of military men was held, and General 
Scott advised that the fort should be evacuated as " a military 
necessity," it being, in his opinion, impossible to reinforce and 
provision it without great expenditure of blood and treasure.^ 

As commissioners of the " Confederate .States," Messrs. For- 
syth, Crawford and Roman had come to Washington with full 
power to treat for the fair settlement of all questions between 
the two governments. Mr. Seward, of the State Department, 
declined to recognize them officially, but in an informal interview 
encouraged a hope for peace. As an intermediary of high dig- 
nity, Judge John A. Campbell, of Alabama, one of the justices 
of the Supreme Court, had an interview with Secretary Seward, 
and, as its result, stated his confident belief to Commissioner 
Crawford that " Fort Sumter will be evacuated in the next five 
days." The five days passed ; Sumter was not evacuated ; on the 

1 Inaugural of President Lincoln. S. L. Mess., June, 1862, p. 352. 
^Documents in Dispatch (Va.), March 2Sth. S. L. Mess., 462. 



The Presidency of Abraliain Lincoln. 777 

contrary, Major Anderson was busy strengthening it. Judge 
Campbell had another interview with Mr. Seward, who assured 
him the fort would be evacuated, and that " the government 
would not undertake to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice 
to Governor Pickens." ^ 

Mr. Justice Nelson was present at both these interviews. The 
last was on the ist of April. Meanwhile large naval and mili- 
tary preparations by the United States government were in pro- 
gress, evidently designed to reinforce and provision Fort Sumter. 
On the 7th of April, 1S61, Judge Campbell wrote a letter to Sec- 
retary Seward alluding to the anxiety and alarm excited by these 
preparations, and asking whether the peaceful assurances he had 
given were well or ill founded. Mr. Seward's reply was laconic : 
" Faith as to Sumter fully kept ; ivait and see.'" '^ 

But the authorities of the South could wait no longer. A 
squadron of seven ships, carrying two hundred and eighty-five 
guns and two thousand four hundred troops, had sailed under 
sealed orders from New York and Norfolk. This fleet was al- 
ready on its way to Charleston when, on the Sth of April, 1861, 
President Lincoln, with the knowledge of Mr. Seward, sent no- 
tice by Captain Talbott, as special messenger, to Governor Pick- 
ens that the United States government had changed its policy as 
to evacuating Fort Sumter and as to the assurances thereof pre- 
viously given. ^ 

The Confederate War Department, being informed of the facts 
by telegrams, ordered General Beauregard to demand the evacua- 
tion of Sumter, and if this was refused to proceed to reduce the 
fort. 

The demand was made at two o'clock on the nth of April. 
Major Anderson replied in writing that his sense of honor and of 
his obligation to his government prevented his compliance. He 
added a verbal message to Beauregard : " I will await the first 
shot, and if you do not batter us to pieces we will be starved out 
in a few days." 

At twenty-five minutes past four on the morning of Friday, 
the i3th of April, 1S61, the mortars of Fort Johnson opened 
fire on Sumter. This was quickly followed by the fire of 
Moultrie, Cummings Point and a floating battery. Major An- 
dei'son did not open his fire until half-past five. He and 
his men preserved their courage during a bombardment which 
lasted a day and a half with little intermission. By twelve 

1 President Davis' Message toConfed. Cong., May 8tla, 1861. Examiner, IGth. S. L. JIoss., 403. 
-So. Lit. Mess., 40:5. Pros. Davis' Message. Stephens, 608. 
3 Stepliens, OOS, 60:). S. L. Mess. 



'^'jS A History of the United States of America. 

o'clock of April 13th, the condition of Sumter had become des- 
perate ; the interior was in ruins ; the parapet so shattered that 
few guns remained mounted ; the garrison worn out with sleep- 
less toil. Major Anderson surrendered on honorable terms. He 
was allowed to fire a salute to his flag. Happily, neither he nor 
any one of his men had been killed or seriously wounded.^ One of 
his men was killed by the explosion of a caisson in firing the salute. 

The United States fleet were oft' the harbor, but had not ven- 
tured in. Beauregard's preparations were such that, had it at- 
tempted to come to the rescue of Sumter, it would have been 
defeated with sanguinary loss. 

Had President Lincoln and the "war-governors" deliberately 
planned events to rouse the people of the Nortli and West to a 
fury of emotion in favor of war, they could not have done it 
more eflfectually than in the events which had actually occurred. 
All party distinctions at the North seemed to melt away. All — 
Republicans, Whigs, Americans, Democrats, Free-Soilers — united 
in clamoring for war on the seceded States, and the wiping out, in 
blood, of the dishonor said to have been done to the country's flag 
by firing on Sumter.^ All of them united to restore the Union. 

President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers 
and drafted troops, and made requisitions on all the States. This 
brought about a prompt decision on the part of most of the bor- 
der slave States. Virginia had been so much opposed to seces- 
sion that, in her convention, a motion of Lewis E. Plarvie, of 
Amelia, that the Committee on Federal Relations should be in- 
structed to report an ordinance of secession, had been defeated 
on the 5th April, 1861, by a vote of forty-five ayes to ninety 
noes. Yet, when news of the preparations to send a fleet and 
military force to relieve and reinforce Sumter was authenticated, 
Virginia sent three commissioners — Wm. Ballard Preston, George 
W. Randolph and Alexander H. H. Stuart — to wait on President 
Lincoln, present resolutions of the convention, declaring that 
under the constitution no power was lodged in the Federal gov- 
ernment to subjugate a State, and ask what policy the Federal 
authorities intended to pursue towards the Confederate States. 
They left for Washington by the shortest route on the 9th April ; 
but rain-storms had washed away railroad bridges, and they were 
compelled to return to Richmond, and go by Norfolk and Balti- 
more. Before they reached Mr. Lincoln's presence, the storm of 
war had actually opened. Nevertheless, he received them on 

1 S. L. M., 410. Stephens, GIO. Barnes, 216, 217. Eggleston, 310. Goodrich, 450, 451. 
Quackenbos, \C\?,. 

- Scudder, 382. Stephens, 610. Eggleston, 310. 



The Pi'esidciicy of Ah r aha in Lincohi. 779 

Saturday, April 13th (about the time Sumter surrendered), and 
stated that he had heard they were coming and their purpose, 
and had prepared an answer in writing, which he handed to 
them. It repeated all his claims of power in the Federal gov- 
ernment and his coercive purposes. With this they returned to 
Richmond and reported to the convention.^ 

President Lincoln's requisition for two thousand three hundred 
and fortv troops from Virginia was promptly repudiated by her 
governor, John Letchei. On Wednesday, April 17th, 1861, her 
convention passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of one 
hundred and three a3^es to forty-six noes." Arkansas adopted a 
similar ordinance, and seceded May 6th ; North Carolina, May 
3oth, and Tennessee, June Sth. They all, with convenient speed, 
became members of the " Confederate States." Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, became the Confederate capital. Delaware, Maryland, 
Kentucky and Missouri, though slave States, never seceded ; but 
a large ninnber of their people manifested active and heroic svm- 
pathy with the Southern cause. 

The war that followed lasted four years, and was prominent in 
all the elements of large armies, extended movements, skillful 
generalship, bloody battles and persevering endurance which his- 
tory can record. To give a minute account of its events w^ould 
mar the plan of this woidc. In fact, no truthful account of the 
whole has yet been written, although books and magazine articles 
numbered by hundreds have been published about it. Its history 
in full yet remains to be written. In this work the student will 
be most safely guided by a brief outline of the whole, and some 
comments on events which exercised decisive influence. 

And first, we must keep steadily in our view that this war did 
not involve either rebellion or treason on the part of the South. 
The writers of books, pamphlets and newspaper articles who have 
called her movement "The Great Rebellion," and have spoken of 
her people as "traitors" or "rebels," have shown ignorance and 
prejudice united. The States that seceded exercised a right, inhe- 
rent in the very nature and constitution of the government com- 
pact to which they were parties. Some of them had expressly 
reserved this right when they became parties, and their reserva- 
tion had accrued to the benefit of all. As to all reserved powers, 
each State remained a sovereign. 

Their acts of secession were simply acts as sovereigns undoing 
w^hat they had previously done as sovereigns. The officers of the 
army and navy who had been trained in the IMilitary Academy 

iSo. Lit. Messenger. ^official from Journal. So. Lit. Mess., 414. 



ySo A History of the United States of America. 

at West Point, and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, exercised 
the most sacred of rights when they left the service of the United 
States on the secession of their own States, and entered the ser- 
vice of the States in which they were natives or residents. The 
South had contributed more than her full share of all the expense 
of these institutions, and had paid for these Southern officers more 
than the money cost of their military or naval education ; and 
had they remained with the North they would not only have been 
untrue to their real obligations of fealty, but they would have 
been fighting dii'ectly or indirectly against those dearest to them. 

Neither was this ^var a civil w^ar in the technical sense of that 
term. It was not such a war as was waged in England during 
the reign of Charles I., and -which residted in his overthro\v and 
execution. It was not a war of subjects against subjects ; it was 
a war of States against States. Its proper designation is " The 
War of the States." The States composing the United States 
waged war against the States composing the Confederate States, 
and finally subdued them by perseverance, numbers and material 
resources, and, above all, by the power of the ideas as to human 
liberty maintained bv the North and concurred in by all of civil- 
ized Europe. 

Notwithstanding the bitterness and severity of the war, yet, 
after it ended, no prosecutions for treason were ever maintained. 
The attempts at this course against some of the highest civic and 
military Confederate leaders were made by tenth-rate men of mean 
ability and character, and were promptly rejJudiated by the high- 
est jurists and statesmen of the North. 

But while all this is true in favor of the South, it is equally 
true that she adopted a grave error as to her position and rights 
in this controversy. The views of the extreme secession school 
were that each State, being sovereign as to her reserved rights, 
w^as the sole judge and arbiter of the causes justifying secession, 
and had a right to secede for causes deemed sufficient by herself, 
and that, when her sovereign power was thus exercised, no other 
State or States had the right to hold her responsible or call her to 
account for her judgment thus exercised. This is the conclusion 
which was reached by many Southern statesmen, and which has 
been upheld as just and righteous by such enlightened men as 
Admiral Raphael Semmes, of the Confederate Navy.^ 

It has no adequate basis of right ; for, admitting in full that 
each State was originally sovereign, and retained her sovereignty 

1 In his work, "Memoirs of Service .\float during tlie War," passim, iu introduction and 
argument. 



The p7'csidency of Abraham Lincoln. y8i 

as to reserved rights, still it is equally certain that those sovereigns 
had made a compact vs^ith each other vv^hen they entered into 
terms of imion. Each w^as bound by the terms of this compact. 
To permit any one (or more States less than all) to judge abso- 
lutely of an alleged breach of compact, and to withdraw merely 
upon her or their judgment, would involve a departure from the 
principles of international law. Sovereign nations can bind 
themselves by treaties with one or inore other nations ; and if 
any such nation, in the exercise of her sovereignty, commits acts 
which she judges to be consistent with the treaty, but which the 
other nation judges to be a breach of the treaty, she wnll be held 
responsible, even unto w'ar. 

Therefore, however strong were the convictions of the seceding 
States that the selfish protective-tariff' policy of the North, and 
the assaults on slavery and on the claims of slave-holders made 
by the other States, justified them in secession, yet those other 
States had the same right to exercise their judgment on the sub- 
ject ; and they had the right to carry out their judgment in the 
only method possible under the circumstances, all amicable 
inethods on both sides having been exhausted. The stern arbi- 
trament of war was finally in favor of the Northern view of the 
compact. God, in his overruling providence, destroyed slavery ; 
and, as slavery was the only efficient cause of secession, the 
Union was restored. 

In this colossal war the Confederate States never secured an 
ally among all the other nations of the earth. Slavery cut them 
off" from all the national sympathies of England, France and all 
other States of Europe. The heroic courage and magnificent 
strategy of their armies and officers enlisted warm admiration 
among the more generous people of the Old World, but no na- 
tional helping hand was ever stretched out to them. The only 
friendly words from a power claiming sovereignty were in a letter 
from the Pontiff" of the Roman church to Jefferson Davis, Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States ;' and his words were very little 
more than empty signs and sounds, when taken in connection 
with the fact that, at the time when he issued them, some hun- 
dreds of thousands of his religious adherents had already fought 
in the United States armies sent against the South, or were pre- 
paring to leave their homes in Europe to enlist in those armies. 

As to the battles of this war, a statement curiously untrue has 
been made in a work professing to be a history.^ It says : " During 

1 See Mrs. Varina Davis' Life of Jefferson Davis on this subject. 

2 " The Elements of General History," bj- Dr. John Pym Carter, 1871, p. 265. 



783 A Hisiory of the United States of America. 

the sanguinary contest which ensuea, one htindred and tive7ity- 
seven important battles are reported to have been fought, of 
which, it is stated, seventy-seve?i resulted favorably to the Federal 
government Q.nd forty-six to the Confederates ; whileyb//r are set 
down as having been indecisive." 

The total number is not exaggerated — rather under-estimated. 
A great number of infantry skirmishes and cavalry brushes 
occurred which were not "important" as to the result. And 
the expression, " seventy-seven resulted favorably to the Fed- 
eral government," is ambiguous and misleading. In a broad 
and vague sense, every battle fought resulted favorably to the 
Federal cause ; for every battle cost many Southern lives and 
weakened the South irreparably, as she had no source of supply 
for her armies save her own white inhabitants. But in the sense 
of " a Federal victory," the statement is unfounded. 

In 1861 the Federals gained, June 3d, the small aflair at Phil- 
ippi, in Western Virginia, and the more important successes of 
Rich Mountain, July nth, and Carrick's Ford, July 13th. By 
their strong fleets, they also captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet, 
August 29th, and Port Royal, November 7th. In the same year, 
though Missouri did not secede, her military movements, under 
Governor Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price, were all in the inter- 
ests of the Confederate cause. The Confederates, therefore, in 
1861, gained the battle of Big Bethel, Virginia, June loth ; gained 
a temporary success against greatly superior numbers at Boon- 
ville, Missouri, June 17th; gained the battle of Carthage, July 
c^th ; repulsed the Federal advance at Bull Run, July iSth ; 
gained the first great battle of Manassas, July 21st; gained the 
battle of Springfield, or Wilson's Creek, Missouri, August loth ;' 
repulsed the Federals at Scary Creek, Western Virginia, July 
17th ; repulsed them again at Carnifex Ferry, Gauley river, 
September loth ; captured, after a siege and sharp fighting, the 
town of Lexington, Missouri, September 3oth ; and gave the Fed- 
erals a terrible and bloody overthrow at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, 
October 21st. On the 7th November, Gen. Ulysses Grant, after 
gaining partial success, was decisively defeated by the Confederate 
forces under Gen. Leonidas Polk, at Belmont, Missouri. Thus the 
battles of this year (excluding vSumtcr) were sixteen in numbei-, 
of which the Federals gained five and the Confederates eleven. 

In 1862 the Federals, under Col. James A. Garfield, defeated 
and routed the Southern troops, under Col. Humphrey Marshall, 

1 This is the battle in which a writer, claimiug the name of historian, asserts that General 
Lyon and Colonel Sigel, with three thousand seven hundred men, defeated twenty-three 
thousand Southerners. C. B. Taylor's Centen. U. S., C94. 



TJic Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. ^83 

at Paintsville, near the Big Sandy river, Kentucky, January 9th ; 
defeated the Confederates, under General Zollicofler (who was 
killed), at Mill Springs, January 19th ; captured Fort Henry, Ten- 
nessee, February 6th ; captured Roanoke Island, North Carolina, 
February 8th ; drove back to their trenches, after a sanguinary 
contest, in which the Southern troops gained successes, the Con- 
federates defending Fort Donelson, February 15th ; captured Fort 
Donelson, with five thousand one hundred and seventy Confed- 
erates, who surrendered to General Grant, February i6th ; re- 
pulsed the Confederates at Elkhorn, or Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 
March yth and 8th ; captured Newbern, North Carolina, March 
14th ; gained a partial success with a very large force against a 
very small force under Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, at Kernstown, 
near Winchester," Virginia, March 23d (a battle fought by Jack- 
son for the purpose of detaining the enemy, and which accom- 
plished his purpose) ; gained the second day's battle of Shiloh, 
Tennessee, April 7th ; captured Island No. 10, in the Mississippi 
river, April 8th; captured Fort Pulaski, Georgia, April nth', 
defeated the Confederate rams and batteries, and captured New 
Orleans, April 3^th; captured Fort Macon and its dependency, 
Beaufort, South Carolina, April 26th ; cajDtured Corinth, Missis- 
sippi, May 30th ; captured Fort Pillow, Tennessee, June 5th ; cap- 
tured, after a naval battle, Memphis, Tennessee, June 6th ; de- 
feated the attack of the Confederates on Malvern Hill, Virginia- 
July 1st ; worsted the Confederates in the battle of Boonsboro, or 
South Mountain, Maryland, September 14th ; gained the battle of 
luka, Mississippi, against General Price, September 19th ; and re- 
pulsed, with bloody loss, the Confederates, under Van Dorn and 
Price at Corinth, October 4th. 

In this same year (1863) the Confederates repulsed decisively 
the naval attack of Commodore Foote on Fort Donelson, Feb- 
ruary 14th ; attacked, sunk and destroyed the frigates Cumber- 
land and Congress by the ram Virginia (once the ]\ferrimac), 
in two separate actions, March 8th ; defeated and drove back 
to Pittsburg Landing, with heavy loss. Grant's army in the first 
day's battle at vShiloh, April 6th ; repulsed McClellan's army in the 
two battles — one at Williamsburg, Alay i^th, and the other at West 
Point, May 7th ; defeated and drove back Milroy by troops under 
Gen. Stonewall Jackson, at McDowell, jSIay 8th ; crushed the left 
wing of Banks' army at Front Royal, May 23d ; fell upon Banks 
near Winchester, May 25th, and drove him out of Winchester and 
across the Potomac, capturing from him four thousand prisoners, 
many cannon and small arms, and a very large amount of military 



^84 A History of the United States of America. 

stores ; made a retrograde movement under Jackson, among the 
most skillful and successful known in modern history ; repulsed 
Fremont decisively at Cross Keys, June 8th ; defeated Shields at 
Port Republic, inflicting heavy loss on him and driving him ten 
miles from the battle-field, June 9th ; made a successful cavalry 
movement, under Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, around the entire i^ear of Mc- 
Clellan's army, fighting severely at Hanover Court-house and other 
places and capturing prisoners and destroying telegraphic lines and 
military pi'operty, June 13th ; defeated the Federal lleet at Drewa-y's 
Bluff', May 15th ; attacked and, after a sharp and bloody struggle, 
dislodged the Federals at Mechanicsville, June 26th ; fought and 
gained the sanguinar}- battle of Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor 
against a large part of McClellan's army, June 27th ; started that 
army on its disastrous retreat to Harrison's Landing ; gained par- 
tial success in the battle of Savage's Station, June 29th ; defeated 
the Federals and forced them to continue their retreat in the sep- 
arate battles of Frayser's Farm and White Oak Swamp, June 30th, 
capturing a large number of prisoners and immense stores and 
army property. 

In these seven days of battle, General Lee, with an army of not 
quite eighty thousand men, defeated McClellan's army, numbering 
one hundred and ten thousand effective troops, capturing from 
them fifty-two cannon, thirty thousand stand of small arms and 
more than ten thousand prisoners. The pretended histories which 
represent McClellan's movement as a " mere change of base " 
from the White House, on the Pamunkey river, to Harrison's 
Landing, on the James, are gross misrepresentations. The Fede- 
ral authorities knew that McClellan had been hopelessly defeated 
and his whole purpose frustrated. President Lincoln called for 
three hundred thousand more troops. 

Continuing the battles of 1S62, the Confederates, under Jack- 
son, gained Cedar Mountain against Pope's advance, August 9th ; 
the Confederates reunited defeated Pope disastrously in two sep- 
arate battles near and on Manassas Plains, August 29th and 30th ; 
defeated, with heavy loss, a. march out from Washington to Ma- 
nassas Junction of a division intended to reinforce Pope ; de- 
feated Pope again at Chantilly, or Ox Hill, September ist, compel- 
ling him to retreat with his shattered army behind the intrench- 
ments of Washington. In these defeats Pope's army lost thirty 
thousand men, including eight generals and nine thousand prison- 
ers, forty cannon and thirty thousand stand of small arms. Jack- 
son captured Harper's Ferry, September 15th, with eleven thousand 
prisoners and immense spoils of war. On the 20th of September 



llic Presidency of AbraJiani Lincoln. 785 

Gen. A. P. Hill defeated and drove back across the Potomac, with 
terrible loss, General Porter's coi-ps of fresh Federal troops. 

In the West, the Confederate General Morgan successively cap- 
tured Lebanon, Cynthiana and Clarksville, with very large stores 
and after sharjD fighting ; Forrest captured, in like manner, Mc- 
Minnville and Murfreesboro. Kirby Smith, with seven thousand 
Confederates, defeated ten thousand Federals, under Nelson and 
Manson, at Richmond, Kentucky, on the 30th of August, killing 
and wounding one thousand, and capturing five thousand pris- 
oners, nine cannon and ten thousand stand of small arms. Gen- 
eral Bragg, with the Confederate army, captured Mumfordsville, 
September 17th, with four thousand prisoners, and stores of pro- 
visions, cannon and small arms. On the 8th October, he defeated 
the Federals at Perryville, driving them two miles to the rear, 
with a loss to them of four thousand in killed, wounded and 
prisoners. He then continued his retreat, carrying oft', however, 
all his captured prisoners and stores. 

The Confederates, inider General Lee, gave to the Federal 
army, under General Burnside, a terrible defeat at Fredericks- 
burg, December 13th, inflicting on them a loss of fifteen thousand 
men in killed, wounded and missing. General Van Dorn captured 
Holly Springs, December 30th, with two thousand prisoners and 
a great depot of Federal supplies, thus compelling a retreat of 
General Grant. On December 29th, the Confederates, under Pem- 
berton, defeated the Federals, imder Sherman, at Chickasaw 
Bayou, inflicting a loss of two thovisand, while their own .loss 
was only two hundred and seven. On the last day of 1863 began 
the obstinate battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, between thirty- 
five thousand Confederates, under Bragg, and forty-seven thousand 
Federals, under Rosecrans. This day's fighting was favorable to 
the Confederates, who drove back the right wing of the enemy 
in confusion and captured four thousand prisoners and thirty-one 
cannon. This was the last battle of the year. 

On summing up, it appears that fifty-eight battles of import- 
ance and with immediate successes on one or the other sides were 
fought in 1863. Of these the Federals gained twenty and the 
Confederates thirty-five. Three drawn battles occurred, viz., 
that between the Confederate ram Vii'ginia and the Federal 
Monitor in Hampton Roads, below Norfolk, March 9th ; the 
battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, May 31st, in Henrico county 
below Richmond, where Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attacked, 
with great vigor and temporary success, the part of IVIcClellan's 
army which had ci'ossed the Chickahominy river : but, having 

."JO 



^86 A History of the United States of America. 

been severely wounded, Johnston was withdrawn from the field ; 
Gen. Robert E. Lee succeeded to the command, and a very 
large part of the Federal army being at hand and opposed to in- 
ferior Confederate numbers, the result was indecisive ; and the 
battle of Sharpsburg, or the Antietam, in Maryland, September 
17th, which was strictly a drawn battle. 

In the year 1863 the Federals, numbering thirty thousand, 
under Gen. John A. McClernand, and aided by Admiral Porter's 
fleet, attacked and captured, on the nth of January, after a des- 
perate battle of five hours, Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas river, 
with its garrison of five thousand men, under Gen. T. J. Churchill, 
seventeen cannon, three thousand stand of small arms and a great 
quantity of munitions and commissary stores. In April and May 
the Federal cavalry, under Colonel Grierson, made a bold and de- 
structive raid of eight hundred miles through the heart of Missis- 
sippi, leaving La Grange, Tennessee, April 17th, and reaching 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in safety, May 3d, having destroyed 
property valued at four million dollars and captured one thousand 
prisoners. On the 3Sth of February the Federal ironclad Alon- 
tattk, with three consorts, all under command of Captain Worden, 
destroyed the Confederate war-ship JVashville, which had run 
aground under the guns of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee 
river, Georgia. On the 17th of June the Federal monitor Wee- 
hazvkett, Captain John Rodgers, captured the Confederate ironclad 
ram Atlatzta., after an engagement of fifteen minutes, in Wassaw 
Sound, Georgia. On the 3d of May the Federals, under General 
Sedgwick, attacked the Confederates, under General Early, at 
Marye's Heights, near Fredericksburg, and by greatly superior 
numbers drove them from the heights, capturing a number of 
prisoners, among others the Washington Artillery, of New Orleans. 
On the 1 3th of May, General Grant, with the Federal army, which 
had successfully passed below and to the rear of Vicksburg, de- 
feated the Confederates, imder General Pemberton, at Raymond, 
Mississippi. On the i6th, Grant again defeated Pemberton, at 
Baker's Creek, or Champion Hill, and on the 17th he gave him a 
third defeat on the Big Black river. Pemberton then retreated 
with his army and again occupied Vicksburg. Grant closelv be- 
sieged him by land and water with forces aggregating not less 
than one hundred thousand men, and starved him into suiTender 
July 4th. 

On the 3d of July the Federal army, under General Meade, in 
their intrenchments above Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, defeated the 
advance of the Confederates, under General Lee, and compelled 



The Presidency of AhraL'ain Ai/:coI/i. 7^7 

them to retreat. On the 4th of July the Confederates, under Gen- 
eral Holmes, attacked Helena, Arkansas, but were repulsed with 
severe loss by General Prentiss. In September the Federal Gen- 
eral Steele defeated the Confederates Marmaduke and Price. On 
the 9th of July the Federals, under General Banks, received the 
surrender of Port Hudson, on the Mississippi. 

In July, General Morgan, with two thousand Confederate cav- 
alry, crossed the Ohio and made an extended raid through Indiana 
and Ohio, destroying much property and causing general conster- 
nation ; but his command was surrounded by superior numbers, and 
the greater part of it captured near New Lisbon, Ohio, July 36th. 
Morgan was made prisoner, but afterwards escaped. On the 9th 
of September, General Burnside drove a Confederate force from 
Cumberland Gap, seized it, and advanced and occupied Knox- 
ville, Tennessee. 

On the 34th of November the Federals, under General Hooker, 
carried the Confederate position on Lookout IMountain. On the 
35th General Grant gained the battle of Missionary Ridge. This 
was the most brilliant success, in actual battle, ever gained by 
Grant. The left wing of the Confederates were routed and 
driven from the field ; the right wing, imder General Hardee, 
stood firmly and fought gallantly, retiring in order, and thus sav- 
ing the Confederate army from destruction. In this disastrous 
battle the Confederates lost forty cannon and nine thousand men, 
six thousand of whom were taken prisoners ; the Federal loss 
was seven thousand. On the 39th of November the Federals, 
under General Burnside, at Knoxville, repulsed with heavy loss 
to the Confederates an assault on the intrenchments made with 
great courage and stubbornness by General Longstreet. On the 
6th of September, Fort Wagner, on Morris' Island, defending 
Charleston, after repulsing bloodily two assaults, was evacuated 
by the Confederates, and occupied by General Gillmore with Fed- 
eral troops. 

In this year, 1863, and on the ist of January, the Confederates, 
under General John B. Magruder, made a night attack on the 
Federal fleet and garrison at Galveston, Texas, recaptured the 
town, desti'oyed the armed ship IVcstJjcId, captured the Harriet 
Lane, drove oft' the rest of the fleet, and raised the blockade of 
that part of the southern coast. On the nth of January the Con- 
federate war-shij^ Alabavm, Capt. Raphael Semmes, after a brief 
action in the Gulf of Mexico, captured the Federal war-steamer 
Hattcras and her crew of one hundred and ten men. The Hat- 
teras sunk in lifteen minutes after she surrendered. On the 3ist 



^88 A History of the United States of America. 

of January, at Sabine Pass, on the coast of Texas, Maj. O. M. 
Watkins, with two Confederate gun-boats, chased out to sea and 
captured a Federal gun-boat and schooner with thirteen cannon, 
one hundred and twenty-nine prisoners, and stores worth a mil- 
lion of dollars. On the 31st of January the Confederate naval 
force in Charleston harbor, commanded by Capt. Duncan N. 
Ingraham (already known to fame by his conduct in saving 
Martin Koszta from the clutches of Austria), attacked the Fed- 
eral blockading fleet, and so strenuously beset them that for a 
time they were dispersed and driven entirely out of sight. On 
the 7th of April the Federal fleet, consisting of nine heavy iron- 
clads and five gun-boats, under Commodore Dupont, assailed 
Fort Sumter and were signally repulsed, losing one (the Keokuk)., 
which was sunk, and several severely damaged. 

On the 29th and 30th of April, Gen. Joseph Hooker, who had 
superseded Burnside in command of the Federal army in Virginia, 
moved with one hundred and thirty thousand men. Leaving 
Sedgwick to attack Alarye's Heights, he crossed the Rappahannock 
river \\\\\\ the bulk of his army at fords sixteen miles above Fred- 
ericksburg, indulging the expressed belief that General Lee, with 
the Confederate army, must either retreat or fight a battle in 
which he would be destroyed. The result was a marked rebuke 
to so vaunting a spirit. Lee had not more than fifty thousand 
men, as Longstreet had been sent, with the larger part of his 
corps, to the neighborhood of Suffolk and the Dismal Swamp. 
Nevertheless, instead of either retreating or awaiting attack, Lee 
resolved to make the attack. 

While he marched with several corps to confront Hooker at 
Chancellorsville when he emerged from the " Wilderness," Gen. 
Stonewall Jackson made a flank movement with his troops. May 
2d, gained the neighborhood of Howard's Federal corps, fell 
upon them impetuously about an hour before sunset, routed and 
drove them in utter chaos and destruction from their camp, chased 
them for miles, capturing thousands of prisoners, and struck panic 
into Hooker's whole force. By a deplorable mistake, Jackson 
was that night shot from his horse by a volley from some of his 
own soldiers. Had he not been disabled, the destruction or cap- 
ture of a large part of Hooker's army would have been at hand. 
As it was, the result was signally disastrous to the Federals. 
Lee, with his renowned lieutenants, A. P. Hill, Stuart, McLaws, 
Anderson and others, boldly attacked Hooker in his intrenched 
positions about Chancellorsville and drove him out, doubling up 
the Federal army between the two intense and unconquerable 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 7^9 

wings of his own inferior force, and inflicting disabling blows at 
every encounter. 

Hearing on the morning of May 3d of Sedgwick's successful at- 
tack on Marye's Heights, General Lee instantly returned towards 
Fredericksburg with part of his army, met and defeated Sedgwick, 
inflicted heavy loss upon him, and drove the remnant of his force 
across Banks' Ford in utter terror and rout. Then, coming back, 
Lee fell again on Hooker, who barely succeeded in withdrawing 
his beaten army across the fords at which they had passed three 
days before with full confidence of victory. 

The Federals lost in these battles seventeen thousand men in 
killed, wounded and prisoners, fourteen cannon and thirty thou- 
sand stand of small arms. This battle of Chancellorsville was 
among the most brilliant, for the successful army, in all modern 
history. 

After it, the Confederate authorities having decided to invade 
the North in order to create a diversion, gain supplies, relieve the 
war-worn and blood-stained soil of Virginia, and, if possible, 
conquer a peace. General Lee, by movements consummate in se- 
crecy and success, transferred his forces to the northern side of the 
Potomac. He had an enthusiastic army of about seventy thou- 
sand men of all arms. 

The Federal cavalry, under Generals Gregg and Buford, crossed 
the Rappahannock, and on the 9th of June, 1863, attacked Gene- 
ral Stuart, with his Confederate cavalry division, at Fleetwood, 
near Brandy Station, on the Virginia Midland Raihoad. The bat- 
tle was severe and hotly contested, but it resulted in the defeat 
of the Federals, who were driven back across the river with 
heavy loss. On the 14th day of June, the Confederates, under 
General Ewell, stormed and carried, by a resolute assault, the 
Federal works at Winchester ; and General Rodes, on the same 
day, captured Martinsburg. In these two victories the Confede- 
rates captured more than four thousand prisoners, twenty-nine 
cannon, two hundred and seventy wagons and ambulances, four 
hundred horses and a very large amount of military stores. 

The Southern troops invaded Pennsylvania, captured Cham- 
bersburg", York and Carlisle, and were prej^aring to advance on 
Harrisburg when orders from the commanding general caused 
them to move for concentration on Cashtown, near Gettysburg, 
upon which place the Federal General Meade was advancing with 
one hundred thousand men. 

On the 1st of July, the two Confederate advance corps under 
Ewell and Hill unexpectedly encountered the Federal advance, 



790 A History of the United States of America. 

under Generals Reynolds and Howard, and, after a spirited bat- 
tle, drove them through Gettysburg, inflicting on them a loss of 
five thousand killed and wounded, five thousand prisoners and 
a number of cannon. General Reynolds was among the slain. 
This decided advantage was not pushed as it ought to have been, 
and the whole Federal army came up before the morning of the 
2d of July and occupied sti'ong positions on the heights around 
Gettysbui"g. Nevertheless, on the 2d, Longstreet, with his corps 
on the right, after a bloody struggle, succeeded in piercing the 
Federal lines and maintaining his position, and Ewell, with his 
corps on the left, assailed and carried two strong points import- 
ant to the Federals. 

After the sanguinary repulse of July 3d, General Lee did not 
immediately retreat, but awaited an attack, which General Meade 
was too wise to attempt. The retreat of th^ Confederate army 
was, however, a necessity, as they could not. obtain supplies and 
were in danger of having their cominunications cut behind them. 

At Williamsport, on the 6th of July, the Federal cavalry at- 
tacked a Confederate wagon and ambulance train ; but General 
Imboden, by a prompt improvising and arming of drivers, com- 
missary men and others who hastened into his lines, met the hos- 
tile cavalry and inflicted a decisive repulse. Stuart, with part of 
his cavalry, came up in time to pursue them several miles. In the 
fall of 1863, after the Confederate army returned to Virginia, 
some severe cavalry encounters occurred, in which, especially in 
the one at Buckland's, the Confederates, under Stuart and his sub- 
ordinates, gained decided successes. 

During February and March, General Grant made five attempts 
to gain the rear of Vicksburg by movements from above it, and 
was defeated in each of these attempts, viz. : At Williams' Ca- 
nal, at Lake Providence, at Yazoo Pass, at Steele's Bayou, and at 
Milliken's Bend, or New Carthage Cut-off'; but the prominent 
trait of this military commander was stubborn perseverance. It 
was after these defeats that he conceived and carried out the 
great movement by which his land troops went on the w^est side 
of the Mississippi to Grand Gulf, and his ironclads and transports 
ran past the Vicksburg batteries with inconsiderable loss. ' Grant's 
ironclads were repulsed at Grand Gulf on April 29, but he crossed 
at Bruinsburg. After investing Pemberton's position on all sides, 
having some reason to believe that General Joseph E. Johnston 
would come upon him with a sufficient force to raise the siege, 
Grant inade two desperate attempts — one on the 19th and the 
other on the 22d of May^ — to carry the Vicksburg intrenchments 



Tlic Presidency of Abra/iani L'nieolii. yC)i 

by assault. Each of these assaults was defeated with a total loss 
to the Federals of four thousand men. 

General Banks, with fifteen thousand Federal troops, besieged 
Port Hudson, which was defended by a garrison of six thousand 
men, under General Gardner. On the 37th of May, Banks made an 
assault and was repulsed with a loss of two thousand men, while 
the defenders did not lose three hundred in all ; yet General 
Banks tried t^vo more assaults — one on the loth and the other on 
the 14th of June — in each of which he was sternly repulsed. On 
the 33d of June, Gen. Dick Taylor, seeking to make a diversion 
in favor of Fort Hudson, captured Brashear City, Louisiana, with 
one thousand prisoners, ten cannon, and supplies valued at six 
million dollars. 

On the 5th March, General Van Dorn, with his Confederate 
cavalry, attacked Colonel Coburn, at Spring Hill, in Middle Ten- 
nessee, and captured his whole force. 

On the 8th of May, Colonel Streight, who had been sent with 
two thousand Federal cavalry to destroy the Southern machine 
shops at Rome and Atlanta, was met near Rome, in Georgia, by 
General Forrest, with his Confederate dragoons, and after a brief 
encounter, Streight and his whole command surrendered. 

On the 19th of September, General Bragg, who had been re- 
inforced by Longstreet's corj^s, and had about fifty thousand men, 
joined battle at Chickamauga creek with the Federal General 
Rosecrans, who had fifty-five thousand troops. The battle lasted 
a part of two days, and resulted in the total defeat of the Federal 
arm}^ who lost, in killed, wounded and prisoners, twenty thou- 
sand men, besides fifty-one cannon and fifteen thousand stand of 
small arms. The shattered army retreated to Chattanooga, where 
Bragg besieged them. 

Longstreet was ordered to proceed against Burnside in East 
Tennessee. He defeated Colonel Wolford, at Philadelphia Sta- 
tion, on the 33d of October, and defeated the main army, under 
Burnside, at Campbell's Station, on the i6th of November, thus 
forcing the Union troops back to their fortifications at Knoxville, 
which he proceeded to invest. 

After the unfortunate battles of Lookout Mountain and Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Bragg's army retreated southward. General 
Hooker pursued them ; but at a gap in Taylor's Ridge, near the 
village of Ringgold, General Cleburne halted his Confederate 
division, turned upon Hooker and defeated him, inflicting a loss 
of nearly a thousand men, with a Confederate loss of less than 
tw^o hundred. 



792 A History of the United States of America. 

After Longstreet's unsuccessful assault on the trenches of 
Knoxville, he retired towards Virginia, defeating at Strawberry 
Plains a Federal force which attempted to pursue him. 

On the 8th September, at Sabine Pass, on the coast of Texas, a 
small Confederate fort, with a garrison of two hundred and fifty 
men, under Lieut. R. W. Dowling (Captain Odium being tempo- 
rarily absent), repulsed, with marked disaster to the assailants, a 
Federal force of four gun-boats and four thousand land troops. 
The Federals lost two gun-boats, fifteen heavy rifled cannon, fifty 
men killed and woimded, and two hundred prisoners. The Con- 
federates in this unique encounter did not lose a man. By reason 
of the incompetent strategy of the Federal commander, his land 
troops gave no assistance whatever to the gun-boats. 

Summing up these important battles in 1863, we find they num- 
bered fifty-three — of which the Federals gained nineteen and the 
Confederates thirty-three. The second day's battle of Murfrees- 
boro, fought on the 3d day of January of this year, was drawn or 
indecisive. Each army maintained its position, and, though Gen- 
eral Bragg continued his retreat, it was a part of his previous 
jilan, and he carried off' all his prisoners and spoils. 

The year 1864 was noted for the immense numerical disparity 
between the forces of the two belligerent powers in North Amer- 
ica, and yet ecpially noted for the comparative number of victo- 
ries won by the Confederates. 

The Federals won no success v^^orthy of a name in history until 
after Gen. Ulysses vS. Grant had been appointed lieutenant-gen- 
eral and put in command of all their forces in the United States. 
This was on the 4th of March, 1864. On the 14th of March the 
Federals, by land forces and gun-boats, captured Fort De Russy. 

Grant planned two grand campaigns — one against Richmond, 
Virginia, ^vhich he proposed to conduct himself; the other against 
Atlanta, Georgia, to be conducted by Gen. William Tecumseh 
Sherman. Both movements began on the same day. On the 4th 
of May, after the Army of the Potomac started to cross the Rap- 
idan. Grant, seated on a log by the side of the road, wrote a tele- 
gram to Sherman bidding him to move. 

Grant's plan against Richmond was so comprehensive and on 
so colossal a scale that defeat seemed impossible. Nevertheless, 
he was defeated. It was in this part of the war that the military 
genius of Gen. Robert E. Lee, aided by the skill and heroism of 
his officers and men, achieved its highest triumphs. 

Grant, with one hundred and forty thousand men, in an army 
perfectly equipped, advanced from Northern Virginia ; Generals 



The Presidency of Abra/ia/ii Lhicohi. y93 

Crook and vSigel, with twenty-five thousand, were to capture 
Staunton and Lynchburg, and come down the valley of the James 
river on the Confederate rear ; Gen. B. F. Butler, with thirty 
thousand, was to move up James river, capture Petersburg, and 
approach Richmond from the South. 

Lee, with an army of sixty-four thousand men, met Grant after 
he crossed the Rapidan, and fought him in a series of battles, in 
which he inflicted on him enormous losses in killed, wounded, 
prisoners and material of war, and maintained his inner lines of 
communication so completely that Grant was forced to move his 
army in an extended curve, running around from Mine Run to 
Cold Harbor, in Hanover, repulsed at every attempt to break the 
Confederate lines, and actually losing more men in killed and 
wounded than General Lee's immediate army numbered. 

Grant's only success was in a part of the battle of Spotsylvania 
Court-house, May I3th, at an angle incautiously left without 
adequate artillery support for a time, and at which General Han- 
cock made a successful attack on the division of Gen. Edward 
Johnson, capturing three thousand men and thirty cannon. The 
capture of this angle, with a part of its artillery and most of its 
defending force, made a temporally breach in the Confederate 
lines ; but Gen. John B. Gordon, with two brigades, rushed to the 
critical point and stopped the oncoming tide of Federal attack. 
The Confederates recovered t\velve of their cannon, but could 
not retake the angle. 

At the Yellow Tavern, on the nth of Ma}^, General Sheridan, 
with a large body of Federal cavalry, had a severe contest with 
the Confederate cavalry, under General Stuart. In the crisis of 
the fight, Stuart received a wound, which proved mortal. His 
fall discouraged his men, and they ^vithdrew, keeping, however, 
between Sheridan and Richmond ; and the Federal commander, 
not venturing to attack intrenched lines, recalled his troops. 

Sherman had under his command more than one hundred thou- 
sand men when he commenced his advance. Gen. Joseph E. 
Johnston was in command of the opposing Confederate forces, 
which niunbered not more than forty-three thousand. Sherman 
sought to bring on a general battle. Johnston, with true general- 
ship and perfect skill, avoided it, and fell back before the widely 
extended wings of his adversary, meeting him, however, when- 
ever a suitable position presented itself, with battle so stern and 
bloody that vSherman gained no advantages whatever, and was 
constantly going further and further from his base of supplies, 
and exposing himself more and moi'e to attacks on his rear and 



794 ^ History of the U/ilted States of uA.nierica. 

his railroad communications. His only successful action was a 
repulse of the Confederates under Bate, at Dallas. 

The result of all these movements was that when Johnston's 
army reached the neighborhood of Atlanta it was fifty -one thou- 
sand strong, reinfoi'cements having been received, and the whole 
condition of the force of all arms kept up to the highest point of 
efficiency. The cavalry and draft hoi"ses were in better plight 
than when the movements began. 

In truth, these movements and battles of General Johnston in 
manoeuvring in front of Sherman mark the Confederate com- 
mander as one of the great leaders in modern war ; but at the 
fatal moment, when it was specially a duty to sustain a general 
who had shown so much skill, judgment and resolution, President 
Davis and his War Department weakly yielded to the complaints 
of people (chiefly civilians) in Georgia, removed General John- 
ston from command, and turned over his army to General John B. 
Hood, a brave leader, but not equal to the terrible emergency then 
pressing the Confederate States. 

The result is well known in history. On the 30th of July, 
Hood attacked the Federals on Peach Tree creek and was repulsed 
with severe loss. Leaving a force to hold Atlanta, Hood marched 
his main army to Decatur, and on the 22d of July gave battle to 
the Federal left and rear with temporary success, driving the foe 
from their works and capturing twenty-two cannon, eighteen 
colors and fifteen hundred prisoners ; but Sherman, by his great 
superiority in numbers, was able to restore the battle, stop Hood's 
progress and recapture nine of his cannon. This battle was 
drawn. General Walker, of the Confederates, and General Mc- 
Pherson, of the Federals, two gallant officers, lost their lives at 
Decatur. 

On the 27th of July, Sherman began his movements to flank 
Atlanta on the left. On the zSth, General Hood made an attack 
on the Fedei'al right, but \vas repulsed with severe loss. On the 
25th of August, Sherman began a inovement which placed his 
army along the Macon road in rear of Atlanta. Hood sent Har- 
dee with two corps cf armee to attack him. The assault was 
made August 31st and failed. Hood was compelled to evacuate 
Atlanta. Hardee's single corps was attacked by six corps of the 
Federal army September ist. His line was pierced and some of 
his best troops and eight of his cannon were captured ; yet, by 
the inost stubborn fighting, he held his position until night closed 
the contest, when he retreated to Lovejoy Station. Sherman en- 
tered Atlanta without further opposition. 



The Prcsidc7tcy of Abraham Lincoln. 795 

Hood, with the approval of the Confedei^ate war po-wers at 
Richmond, projected a campaign into Tennessee, hoping to .com- 
pel Sherman to retire from Georgia ; but this hope was sorely 
disappointed. Sherman committed the defence of Tennessee to 
Gen. George II. Thomas, a native of Virginia, who, in the open- 
ing stages of the war, had shown strong sympathy for the South- 
ern cause,^ but, having remained in the Federal service, served it 
most efficiently. 

On October 5th, the Confederate General French attacked Alla- 
toona (where vast sup23lies for Sherman's army had been accumu- 
lated), defended by a comparatively small Federal force ; but the 
position was strongly intrenched, and the Confederate attack was 
repulsed with serious loss to them. Hood entered Tennessee on 
the 19th of November with an army of about forty-five thousand 
men. At Franklin, on the 30th of November, he attacked General 
Schofield who, with twenty-five thousand men, was thei^e in- 
trenched. After a desperate battle Hood penetrated the works, 
and Schofield retreated towards Nashville ; but Hood lost five 
thousand men, with many of his best officers, and the Federals 
only two thousand three hundred, of whom one thousand one 
hundred were prisoners. 

On the ic;th and i6th of December, the decisive battle of Nash- 
ville and of this campaign, so disastrous to the Southern cause, 
occurred. General Thomas, with sixty thousand men, attacked 
Hood, whose cavalry were nearly all absent, so that his w'hole 
force numbered veiy little more than thirty thousand men. The 
Confederate army was utterly routed and driven from the field, 
with a loss of twelve thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners, 
fifty-three cannon and a vast amount in small arms and military 
stores. The pursuit was keenly pressed, and Hood recrossed the 
Tennessee, having lost more than half his army. Such were the 
series of disasters following the fatal error of President Davis 
and his government. 

Meanwhile Sherman, having no force to encounter adequate to 
oppose him, after destroying by fire all railroad buildings and a 
large part of Atlanta, set out with his army on his " march to the 
sea " from the neighborhood of the desolated city to that of Sa- 
vannah, on the water a2:)proaches to the Atlantic Ocean. He lived 
chiefly by foraging on the country and taking all the supplies of 
oxen, cows, corn, sweet potatoes and other vegetables that he 
could seize. His line of march w^as marked by destruction, and 

1 Letter of Crcorse H. Thomas, Major U. S. A., to Gov. John Letcher, of Virginia, March 
12th, 1861, copied iu Richmond Dispatch, May 9th, 1890. 



79^ A History of the United States of America. 

he left behind him smoking ruins and gaunt chimneys of private 
dwellings burned to the ground. He destroyed (whether inten- 
tionally or by the negligence of his subordinates is a question of 
dispute) in February, 1865, a large part of the city of Columbia, in 
South Carolina. He appeared near Savannah on the loth of De- 
cember, 1864, with an army aggregating sixty-five thousand men. 
Fort McAllister had a garrison of only one hundred and fifty 
men, commanded by Major Anderson. Hazen's division of four 
thousand captured it on the 13th, after a stout resistance. The 
Confederates evacuated Savannah, and Sherman occupied it on 
the 3oth of December, sending a dispatch to President Lincoln 
on the 23d announcing the capture of the city as a gift for the 
Christmas season. To increase the value of his gift, he stated that 
it included about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. 

The Confederate war-steamer yi/ai^a/z/a, Capt. Raphael Semmes, 
after a life of great activity on the ocean, in which she captured 
sixty-five Northern merchant-ships and destroyed property worth 
ten millions of dollars, was sunk in the waters oft' the harbor 
of Cherbourg, France, on the 19th of June, by the Federal war- 
shijD Kearsarg-e, Captain John A. Winslow, after an action of 
one hour and a quarter. The Kcarsarge had received the name 
of the mountain in New England to which Whittier's " Bride of 
Pennacook " had given added fame. She was protected by spare 
anchor chains hung over all her inidship section and covered from 
sight by a light wooden casing ; the Alabama had no such pro- 
tection. On the 7th of October, in the neutral port of Bahia, 
Brazil, against international law, and when such an outrage was 
so little looked for by the officers and crew of the Confederate 
war-steamer Florida that many of them were on shore, she was 
attacked by the Federal war steam-sloop Wachusett., Captain N. 
Collins, and, as she was already in a damaged condition, she sur- 
rendered. The Florida was carried into Hampton Roads, below 
Norfolk. Difficult international questions immediately emerged 
concerning her, but they were all so opportunely ended by a steam 
transport which ran into her and sunk her, that the question 
whether it was an accident is unsolved. 

On the 28th of October the Federals succeeded in destroying, by 
a torpedo, the Albemarle, in the harbor of Plymouth. In August 
the powerful Federal fleet of twenty-eight ships, under Admiral 
Farragut, and land force, under General Granger, approached 
Mobile, captured the ironclad Tennessee on the 5th, and compelled 
the Confederate garrison of Fort Powell to abandon and blow it 
up. The Federals took possession of Fort Gaines on the 7th, and 



The Presidency of Ahraha))i J^incoln. ^()y 

on the 23d caj^tured Fort jMorgan, with its garrison of fourteen 
hundred men ; but Mobile was still held by the »Southerners, 
though no longer useful as a port. 

Grant having crossed the James and invested Petersburg with 
his lai'ge army, the Confederate authorities attempted to relieve 
the pressure by sending a force of about fifteen thousand men, 
under Gen. Jubal A. Early, to invade the North and threaten 
Washington. After gaining a victory at the Monocacy bridge, 
over the creek of that name, Early pushed rapidly on Washing- 
ton ; but he ^vas confronted by the manned intrenchments and by 
two army corps detached by Gi'ant. Finding the risk of assault 
too great, Early did not attempt it. Some of his troops con- 
tented themselves with burning the private residence of Mi\ 
Blair, who had been connected with the government ; and, after 
some sharp skirmishing. General Early retired across the Potomac 
and encamped near Winchester. The Federals sent a gun-boat up 
the Rappahannock and burned, in retaliation, the residence of 
Mr. John Seddon, at Snowden, in Stafford, probably under the 
impression that it was the property of his brother, James A. Sed- 
don, the Confederate .Secretary of War. After gaining a decided 
success at Kernstown, July 34th, Early was attacked by General 
Sheridan, with thirty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry, 
on the 19th of September, near Winchester, and though the small 
Confederate force inade a stubborn resistance, they were driven 
from the field with heavy loss. On the 33d of September, Sher- 
idan again encountered Early at Fisher's Hill and completely 
routed him, driving him entirely from the Shenandoah Valley. 

Thi-ough that beautiful and fertile valley, from Waynesboro 
outwardly, Sheridan then marched in every direction unopposed, 
and, by order of General Grant, desolated the country, destroying 
mills, houses, barns, fences, pastures — in short, everything that 
could feed man and beast. Such barbarity had been known in 
the days of Attila, of Genghis Khan and of Tamerlane, but 
never in modern warfare among Christian nations. 

By the middle of October, Early's losses had been repaired, as 
far as possible, from General Lee's army. He again advanced as 
far as Fisher's Hill, and formed a bold plan for surprising Sheri- 
dan's army in their camp at Cedar creek. This plan was for a 
time entirely successful. At dawn of October 19th, Gordon, with 
three divisions, fell on the Federal left, while Kershaw, with two 
divisions, rushed impetuously upon their right and front. The 
enemy were broken, and gave way in rout and panic, leaving 
many dead and wounded, and fifteen hundred prisoners and 



79^ A Histoi-\' of the United States of At7terica. 

twenty-four cannon in the hands of the assailants. But the vic- 
tory was not followed up by a strenuous pursuit. The Confed- 
erates halted, and began to plunder the captured camp. The Fed- 
erals rallied, and began to re-form their broken lines. Sheridan, 
who had been at Winchester, galloped up and cheered them by 
his presence and his cry : " Boys, we are going back ! " At three 
o'clock in the afternoon he attacked, with superior numbers, the 
Confederates, defeated and routed them, and captured fifteen hun- 
dred prisoners and twenty-three cannon, besides recapturing the 
twenty-four previously lost. 

In one month's campaign Sheridan had lost seventeen thousand 
men in killed, wounded and prisoners — more than the whole Con- 
federate force, rank and file, opposed to him ; but he had de- 
stroyed more than half of Early's army, had captured forty can- 
non, and had desolated one of the most prosperous and fertile 
regions of the South. The part of the Confederate force under 
General Gordon was, in the close of the fall, ordered back to Pe- 
tersburg. 

In Scj^tember and October, Gen. Sterling Price, with a small 
Confederate army, marched from Arkansas into Missouri, and 
penetrated far into the interior of the State ; but at the Big Blue 
river, he was attacked, on the 23d of October, by Genei'al Rose- 
crans v^^ith a force superior in numbers, was badly defeated, with 
severe loss in men and material, and was driven back into Ar- 
kansas. 

In this year, 1864, the Confederates, five thousand in number, 
under Generals Colquitt and Finegan, met an invading force of 
Federals, six thousand strong, under General Seymour, at Olustee, 
or Ocean Pond, in Florida, on the 20th of February, and totally 
defeated them, compelling them to abandon their invasion. 

In the same month General Sherman set out from Vicksburg, 
MississijDpi, to clear the State of Southern armed forces. He 
advanced as far as Meridian, and even threatened the rear of 
Mobile ; but the renowned Confederate cavahy general, Forrest, 
completely thwarted all of the Federal plans. On the 22d of 
February, at Okolona, he defeated the large cavalry force under 
General W. S. Smith, drove them in utter rout back to Memphis, 
capturing many prisoners and ten cannon. Sherman hastily re- 
treated back to Vicksburg. Forrest continued his operations with 
marked success. On the 12th of April he captured Fort Pillow 
by assault. It was chiefly defended by negro troops ; and a per- 
sistent effort has been made to blacken the fame of Forrest by 
the charge that he massacred these troops after they had surren- 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 799 

dered.' This charge is without foundation in truth, and has been 
overthrown by the testimony of an eye-witness of the highest 
honor and credit.^ 

After Sherman returned to Vicksburg a large part of his army 
was sent to General Banks, in Louisiana, thus swelling his com- 
mand to forty thousand men. General Steele had seven thousand 
Federal troops in Arkansas. A plan was arranged to drive the 
Confederate forces from Louisiana and Arkansas, and finally 
from Texas. Banks, with a large arnn, moved northward from 
New Orleans ; Steele, with his force, moved southward from 
Little Rock ; but Gen. Dick Taylor, with about twenty-five thou- 
sand men, attacked the Federal advance at Mansfield, or Sabine 
Cross-roads, on the 8th of April, and gained a decisive success. 
He gave battle again on the 9th at Pleasant Hill, and defeated 
Banks so disastroush' that the remains of the Federal army began 
an immediate retreat. When Steele heard of these Confederate 
successes he abandoned his march, turning the head of his column 
again towards Little Rock. The Federal gun-boats were caught 
by shallow water and obstacles in the Red river, above the falls at 
Alexandria, and were attacked day and night by outlying Con- 
federates. But for the engineering skill of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bailey, of the Nineteenth corps, who devised and constructed 
dams across the river, which so deepened the channel that the 
gun-boats passed over, they would all have been captured w^ith 
their crews. In all these operations the Federals lost fourteen 
thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners, besides thirty-five 
cannon, eleven hundred wagons, one gun-boat and three trans- 
ports. The whole Confederate loss was less than five thousand ; 
and, instead of losing Louisiana and Arkansas, they regained ter- 
ritory previously occupied by the enemy. 

On the North Carolina coast, on the 20th of April, General 
Hoke, with six thousand men, and with the aid of the iron-clad 
Albemarle, captured Plymouth, with its whole garrison, artillery 
and stores. 

In March a great cavalry raid was undertaken by the Federal 
leaders Kilpatrick and Dahlgren, with the purpose of surprising 
Richmond, capturing the city, releasing the Northern prisoners 
there confined, killing the Confederate President and his cabinet, 
and burning the city to the ground. This raid was totally de- 
feated ; Dahlgren and his cavalry were repulsed by troops com- 

1 The charge is made in D. B. Scott's U. S., 307. Quackenbos, 494. C. B. Taylor's Centen. 
U. S., 702. Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 265, bv Prof. Steele. 

- I.Iaj ir Charles W. Anderson, Nashville Round Table, March Sth. Baltimore Sun, March 
14th, lyyo. 



Soo A History of tJic United States of America. 

posed chiefly of clerks from the public departments in a fight 
about two hours after dark, and very near the city lines. He was 
pursued down the peninsula ; his troops were disj^ersed, and he 
was slain. On his person was found a memorandum-book giving 
the outlines of the plan of raid and assassination. 

On the 6th of May, in pursuance of his part of the combined 
attack. Gen. B. F. Butler, with thirty thousand men, advanced 
up the south line of the James ; but General Beauregard, under 
orders, had hastened up with troops from Charleston, South Car- 
olina. With fifteen thousand men he encountered Butler, near 
Drewiy's Bluft', in Chesterfield county, and in a sharp battle of 
three hours totally overthrew him, and drove him back to Bermuda 
Hundreds, on the river. Here he invested him so closely that, 
in the words of Genei-al Grant, Butler was " bottled up," and 
was of no further service to the Federal cause during this cain- 
paign. 

The movement under Crook and Sigel, who had joined their 
forces, -was met at New Market, in the Valley of Virginia, on 
the 15th of May, by General Breckinridge, whose army was 
greatly inferior in numbers to the enemy, but was composed of 
material of the highest spirit, embracing the corps of cadets from 
the Virginia Military Academy at Lexington. The Federals 
were signally routed, and fled towards every available exit. 

The scattered remains of this beaten army were afterwards 
gathered, and, with other troops, were put under the command of 
Major-General David Hunter, who superseded Sigel. This officer 
had relatives in Virginia, and other ties which ought to have 
inclined him to generosity and kindness ; but no Federal com- 
mander displayed more brutal cruelty than he. He wantonly 
burned the beautiful private residence of his cousin, Andrew 
Hunter, of Jefferson county, who had shown so much fairness in 
conducting the prosecution against John Brown and his co-mur- 
derers. General Hunter also barbarously used his military power 
in putting to death, by the gibbet, Mr. Creigh, a gentleman of 
Greenbrier cotinty, of the highest Christian character,- whose only 
oflfence was that, to defend his home and protect his family from 
criminal violence, he had killed a Federal soldier, who attempted 
to enter his house. So cruel and unjust was this act of Hunter 
that some of the victim's friends in the North afterwards refused 
to hold social intercourse with this Federal officer. 

His large force enabled him to penetrate the valley as far as 
Lexington, Virginia, where he burned the buildings of the Mili- 
tary Institute and destroyed the private residence of Governor 



The Presidency of Abraham I^incoln. Soi 

Letcher, and much other private property. He then marched 
by difficult roads across the Bhie Ridge towards Lynchburg; but 
before he leached the city he was met by Confederate troops, 
under Generals Early and Breckinridge, and driven back in a 
retreat noted for its disorder and ruinous disintegration of his 
army. He appeared no more in arms. 

Meanw^hile, General Grant was making his supreme effort to 
destroy Lee's army. The first great encounter was in the " Wil- 
derness," where, on the 5th and 6th of May, were fought two 
battles of stern and sanguinary contest, in which the light green 
forest and undergrowth were skillfully used by the Confederates, 
and every attempt to break their lines was bloodily repulsed. 
Each of these battles was a Confederate success, because the 
enemy wholly failed in his object. In the battle of the 6th, Gen- 
eral Longstreet received a severe wound, which, for some months, 
disabled him for service. 

Finding that he could not break Lee's lines. Grant drew off* his 
troops and made a flank movement to Spotsylvania Court-house ; 
but here he w^as again confronted by the Confederate army, who, 
under Lee's splendid strategy, had steadily moved on the inner 
lines of the curve ; and here, on the i3th of May, notwithstand- 
ing the partial success of Hancock's corps at the angle, yet 
Grant's army sustained a frightful defeat. He hurled his charg- 
ing columns again and again on the Confederate works, only to 
be torn to pieces by shot, shells, shrapnel and canister, or to be 
cut down in thousands by a ceaseless storm of minie bullets. He 
treated his men, not like human beings with souls, bodies, hearts, 
nerves, muscles, and who had left behind them homes with wives, 
children, parents, brothers and sisters, but like " dumb driven cat- 
tle," or rather like so many machines or automata^ to be mangled 
crushed and heaped up, and to be replaced by others until his ob- 
ject was accomplished. It is a definite proof that Grant was de- 
feated on the 1 3th, that he drew his shattered army out of the 
battle, and remained quiet for several days, burying his dead by 
flag of truce, sending oft' his wounded to Fredericksburg and 
Washington, and "jcaitingfor reivforcements . 

Again he moved, still on the outer curve ; and again, on the 
33d of May, he found Lee with his army at the North Anna 
river, where again a brief action occurred favorable to the Con- 
federates. On the 3d of June, finding the Southern army still 
confronting him. Grant made a desperate attempt to overwhelm 
them with numbers, at Cold Harbor, in Hanover county. Here, 
in an assault which lasted only twenty minutes, General Grant 

SI 



8o3 A History of the United States of America. 

lost seven thousand men in killed, wounded and missing;* yet, 
with the stubborn temper which was his eminent trait, he ordered 
another assault ! His men refused to obey the command. 

He abandoned the attempt to march to Richmond through Gen- 
eral Lee's army, marched by a flank movement down the penin- 
sula, and crossed the James river, seeking to seize Petersburg be- 
fore the Confedei'ate army could arrive ; but again he was foiled. 
His advance was met by local troops, consisting in large measure 
of residents of Petersburg, and they defended their position with 
so much of courage and skill that Grant's whole movement was 
checked. By the time his main army had come up. General Lee 
had reached Petersburg, with most of his army ; and in two as- 
saults, made, respectively, on the 17th and iSth of June, the Fed- 
erals were repulsed with a loss of ten thousand men in killed and 
wounded. The Confederate loss was small. 

In order to carry out his plan of subduing the Sovithern mili- 
tary force by exhaustion and starvation. Grant had ordered Gen- 
eral Sheridan to move with his large cavalry force on Goi'dons- 
ville and Charlottesville, destroy the railroads there, and unite 
with Hunter in a movement down the valley of the James. But 
Gen. Wade Hampton, who had succeeded Stuart in command of 
the Southern cavalry in Virginia, met Sheridan on the nth June 
at Trevilian's Station, in Louisa county, and defeated him de- 
cisively, driving him back with heavy loss. 

Grant then sent eight thousand cavalry under Generals Wilson 
and Kautz to destroy the Confederate railroad communications 
with the South and West ; but the Southern dragoons and in- 
fantry encountered this force and totally defeated them, kill- 
ing and wounding many, and capturing more than a thousand 
men, fifteen hundred horses, thirteen cannon and thirty wagons. 
After this, Grant invested Petersburg as closely as he could, and 
Lee strengthened his lines, and did all that his constantly dimin- 
ishing numbers enabled him to do to keep open his means of 
supply. 

We have seen that General Early had been sent to threaten 
Washington. His first encounter was with Hunter near Lynch- 
burg. Hunter hardly awaited a battle, and Early pi'essed him so 
keenly that his retreat became a disorderly flight. Early then 
marched down the valley, crossed the Potomac, and encountered 
the Federals at Monocacy bridge and creek on the 9th of July. 
Gordon, Rodes and Breckinridge led the attack and completely 
routed the Federals, under Gen. Lew Wallace. 

1 Badeau, in Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 261. 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 803 

After Early was compelled, b\' the presence of two coi'ps of 
Grant's army, to retreat from before Washington to the valley, 
he advanced from Winchester to Kernstown, and on the 24th of 
July attacked General Crook, defeated him, and drove him, with 
the remnant of his army, across the Potomac, having inflicted on 
him a loss of one thousand tw^o hundred men, including Col- 
onel Mulligan, who was killed. General Early then sent a cav- 
alry force, under General McCausland, to invade Pennsylvania 
and capture Chambersburg, with special instructions, which Mc- 
Causland carried out. On the 30th of July they routed a small 
defending force at Carlisle Barracks and entered Chambersburg. 
They made a requisition of five hundred thousand dollars on the 
town. The authorities were either unable or unwilling to pay it. 
McCausland then set fire to the town, and about two-thirds of it 
was burned to the ground. This was said to be in retaliation 
for the outrages of Hunter ; but it did no good and much harm 
to the Confederate cause. After this General Early never won a 
battle nor gained a real military success. He was disastrously 
defeated again and again, until at Cedar creek and Waynesboro 
his military career was ended. 

On the day that Chambersburg was burned (July 30th) the 
army of Grant met a horrible defeat and disaster at Petersburg. 
Hoping to make a breach in the Confederate lines, the Federal 
engineers had run a long and deep mine, with side passages, 
under one of the intrenched heights of the city held by the de- 
fending troops. Into this four tons of gunpowder were conveyed. 
The mine was exploded at twenty minutes before five on the 
morning of the 30th. A heavy trembling of the earth was fol- 
lowed by a sound like rolling thunder. The Confederate guns 
and cannoneers were blown into the air. The Federals in thou- 
sands rushed into "the Crater"; but before they could emerge 
and form, several Confederate brigades, with artillery, had has- 
tened to the scene, and began to pour upon the confused and 
crowded masses of the enemy a fire which, for destructiveness 
and carnage, has had few parallels in history. The Federals were 
defeated and driven back, with a loss to them of five thousand in 
killed and wounded. The whole Confederate loss was about three 
hundred. The enemy's dead lay in "the Crater" and outside of 
it for thirty -six hours, when they vv^ere removed under flag of truce. ^ 

Between the 13th and 20th of August, General Hancock made 
several attempts to break the Southern lines north of the James 
and reach Richmond, but was defeated. On the 19th and 20th, 

1 Narrative in An. Amer. Encyclop., 1864, 133, 134. Derr>''s U. S., 317. Quackenbos, 499. 



8o4 A History of the United States of America. 

on the Weldon Railroad, below Petersburg, General Mahone's 
division had stern lighting with the Federals, under Warren, 
inflicting severe loss and capturing two thousand five hundred 
prisoners, including General Hays. On the 35th of August, 
Gen. A, P. Hill defeated Hancock's corps at Reams' Station, with 
heavy loss to them, including many prisoners, nine cannon, and 
three thousand small arms. On the i6th of vSeptember a body 
of Confederate cavalry marched round the rear of General 
Meade's left, near Reams' Station, and captured the whole of the 
Thirteenth Pennsylvania regiment, with a herd of two thousand 
five hundred cattle. On the 27th of October the Federals at- 
tacked the Southern lines at Hatcher's Run, but, after a bloody 
engagement, they were beaten back with severe loss. 

Meanwhile the advance of Sherman and counter-movements of 
Johnston were in progress. Though the Confederate general was 
falling back all the time to avoid being flanked and surrounded 
by the vast numerical superiority of Sherman's army, yet he de- 
feated every direct attack. Johnston had decidedly the advan- 
tage in the battles near Dalton, on the Sth and 9th of May. He 
repulsed, with severe loss to the Federals, their attacks at Resaca, 
on the 14th and 15th of May. On the 24th May, General Wheeler, 
commanding the Southern cavalry, gained a brilliant success near 
Cassville. In the battle of New Hope Church, on the 25th May, 
Stewart's division of Flood's corps repulsed Plooker's Federal 
corps, inflicting a loss of two thousand and losing only about four 
hundred men. Near Pickett's Mill, on the 37th, Howard's corps 
attacked Cleburne's division of Hardee's Southern corps, and were 
repulsed, losing not less than two thousand in killed and wounded, 
with small loss to Cleburne. In one of the skirmishes on the 14th 
of June, Gen. Leonidas Polk was killed by a cannon shot. John- 
ston took a strong position on Kenesaw JSIountain, and here, on 
the 27th of June, Sherman made a general attack and was re- 
pulsed, with a loss of nearly five thousand men, while Johnston's 
whole loss Avas only five hundred and twenty-two. 

In short, all the known facts justify the belief that if Johnston 
had not been removed from the command, he might have given 
up Atlanta, but he would have so weakened and beset Sherman, 
in front, flank and rear, that a loss or retreat of the Fedei'al army 
would have been inevitable. But the serious errors of the Con- 
federate government were a part of God's plan for destroying 
slavery in four years. 

While these movements were going forward in Georgia, Gen- 
eral Forrest, in Mississippi, attacked the Federal General Sturgis. 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 805 

on the loth of June, at Tishamingo creek, near Guntown, and 
completely routed him. Out of twelve thousand men, Sturgis lost 
five thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners. He lost also 
all his artillery, numbering twenty piqces, and all his wagon train. 

Sherman sent out two cavalry columns — one five thousand 
strong, under General Stoneman, and the other four thousand 
strong, under General McCook — with instructions to meet at 
Lovejoy Station and destroy the Southern communications ; but 
the Confederate General Wheeler, with his cavalry, encountered 
jVIcCook, at Newnan, and defeated him, killing and wounding a 
thousand of his troops and capturing nine hundred and fifty j^ris- 
oners, two cannon and twelve hundred horses with equipments. 
Generals Cobb and Iverson met Stoneman at INIacon, and gave 
him an equally decisive defeat, inflicting heavy loss, taking five 
hundred prisoners, among whom was Stoneman himself, two can- 
non and many horses. 

Even on his " march to the sea," Sherman did not escape mili- 
tary disasters. General Hatch, with a detachment of his army, 
was met at Honey Hill, on the line of the Charleston and Savan- 
nah Railroad and defeated, with a loss of seven hundred and fifty 
men. 

On the 24th and 25th December a large land force, under Gen. 
B. F. Butler, and a fleet of about seventy vessels, under Commo- 
dore Porter, made a joint attack on Fort Fisher, at the entrance 
into Cape Fear river, in North Carolina, and were decisively re- 
pulsed. A part of Butler's plan of attack was to explode a huge 
powder-boat, with its full freight, near the fort. The explosion 
did no harm to the Confederates, but cost the United States a 
large sum, and brought on the projector ridicule from competent 
men. 

Thus we are enabled to sum up the important battles of the 
year 1S64. They were sixty-five in number, of which the Fed- 
erals gained twenty-one, the Confederates forty-three, and one was 
indecisive. 

The opening months of the year iS6=; brought the war to its 
close. Notwithstanding their numerous victories and heroic re- 
sistance, the Confederate military resources were exhausted and 
their territory available for the support of armies was occupied 
by the Federals. 

On the 13th of January a second attack was made on Fort 
Fisher. Admiral Porter commanded the fleet, and General Terry 
the land forces. On the 13th the troops disembarked. The fleet 
bombarded the fort and its outworks for three days, with destruc- 



8o6 A History of the United States oj^ America. 

tive effect. On the 15th Terry made a brave assault with num- 
bers which could not be resisted, and the fort was captured. On 
the 32d of February Wilmington was entered by the Federal army, 
the Southern troops having, withdi^awn. 

General Grant's whole policy was to subdue military opposi- 
tion by superior numbers and perseverance. He had written a 
letter to E. B. Washburne, a member of the United States Con- 
gress, dated August 16, 1864, which is so characteristic and so 
pregnant with the future that it deserves the close attention of the 
student of history. It was written from his headquarters, near 
City Point, Virginia, and is as follows : 

"Hon. E. B. Washburne: 

'■'■Dear Sir, — I state to all citizens who visit me, that all we want now 
to insure an early restoration of the Union is a determined unity of senti- 
ment North. The rebels have now in their ranks their last man. The little 
boys and old men are guarding prisoners, guarding railroad bridges, and 
forming a good part of their garrisons for intrenched positions. A man 
lost by them cannot be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and the 
grave equally to get their present force. Besides what they lose in frequent 
skirmishes and battles, they are now losing, from desertions and other causes, 
at least one regiment per day. 

" With this drain upon them the end is not far distant, if we will only be true 
to ourselves. Their only hope now is in a divided North. This might give 
them reinforcements from 'Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri, 
while it would weaken us. With the draft quickly enforced, the enemy 
would become despondent and would make but little resistance. I have no 
doubt but the enemy are exceedingly anxious to hold out until after the 
presidential election. They have many hopes from its effects. 

"They hope a counter-revolution; they hope the election of the Peace 
candidate. In fact, like 'Micawber' they hope for something to ' turn up.' 
Our Peace friends, if they expect peace from separation, are much mistaken. 
It would but be the beginning of war, with thousands of Northern men join- 
ing the South because of our disgrace in allowing separation. To have 
'peace on any terms' the South would demand the restoration of their 
slaves already freed ; they would demand indemnity for losses sustained, 
and they would demand a treaty which would make the North slave-hun- 
ters for the South. They would demand pay for the restoration of everv 
slave escaping to the North. Yours truly, 

"U.S. Grant." 

The policy indicated in this letter was, in substance, carried 
out. In the fall elections of 1864 the Republican candidates, 
Abraham Lincoln for President, and Andrew Johnson, of Ten- 
nessee, for Vice-President, were elected over the Democratic can- 
didates, George B. McClellan, of the Federal army, for President, 
and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President. Lincoln 
and Johnson received the electoral votes of all the United States 
except New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky ; and yet, in the 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 807 

popular vote, the Democratic candidates leceived one million 
eight hundred and two thousand two hundred and thirty-seven 
votes, against two million two hundred and thirteen thousand six 
hundred and sixty-five votes cast for the Republicans. This vote, 
though definitely favorable to the Republican policy, indicated a 
seriously divided Northern sentiment.^ 

In February, 1865, in consequence of informal overtures made by 
Francis P. Blair, Senior, who was generally recognized as " the 
master spirit — the real War'-j.nck of the party then in power in 
Washington"- — a conference was held in the waters of Hampton 
Roads, not far from Fortress Moni'oe, in the saloon of a steamer, 
between President Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State, on the Federal side, and Alexander H. Ste- 
phens, Vice-President of the Confederate States, Judge John A. 
Campbell, of Alabama, Assistant Secretary of War, and Robert 
M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, as commissioners appointed by the 
Confederate cabinet. The object of the conference was to ascer- 
tain, if possible, on what terms peace could be made without fur- 
ther effusion of blood. The conference could not agree on terms, 
and its deliberations came to naught, so far as the re-establish- 
ment of peace was concerned. This result was deeply deplored 
by the most thoughtful officers and men of the Southern armies, 
and by many of the best citizens of the Confederacy ; but on the 
return of the Southern commissioners to Richmond, large meet- 
ings of the people were held, and large congregations filled the 
churches, and eloquent addresses were made by President Davis 
and others, which roused a real enthusiasm, but an enthusiasm 
perfectly empty and vain, because it had no material power to 
give it efficacy. Fortunately for historic truth, all the important 
elements of this momentous conference in Hampton Roads have 
been preserved for our meditation by one of the ablest and purest 
of the statesmen who participated therein.^ 

In this same month of February, 1S65, Sherman, with an effi- 
cient army of sixty thousand men, commenced his march through 
the Carolinas. The part South Carolina had played in nullifica- 
tion and secession was ungenerously remembered against her, and 
though the words cannot be charged on Sherman himself, yet the 
spirit and action of his marauding army found true expression in 
their threat that " they would make South Carolina howl ! " 
Beauregard, with his small force, left Columbia, and on the 17th of 
February vSherman occupied it. History has nothing to add to the 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 82G. 2 Stephens, Append. R., 1002. 

3 Alex. H. Stephens' Comp. U. S., Append. R., 998-1017. 



8o8 A History of the United States of America. 

remai"ks already made concerning his destruction, by fire, of this 
beautiful city. General Hardee, to escape the error and the fate 
of Pemberton at Vicksburg, evacuated Charleston and marched to 
join Beauregard. The end was coming, but the fighting energies 
of the South showed themselves to the last. Orders were given 
under which all the scattered troops of Beauregard, Hardee and 
Bragg were drawn together and put under the command of Gen. 
Joseph E. Johnston. When it was too late the Confederate gov- 
ernment thus rendered tardy justice to this consummate soldier. 

On the 2d of IMarch, Sheridan, pressing through the Shenandoah 
Valley with a large force of infantry, cavalry and light artillery, 
gave Early a final overthrow at Waynesboro, and captured about 
one thousand six hundred prisoners ; then, continuing his march 
with varied fortune, he united with Grant, On the extended lines 
around Petersburg, Gordon, with his unconquered Confederates, 
attacked Fort Steadman on the 25th of March, and captured the 
works, with many prisoners and guns ; but there being no troops 
to support him, he was, in turn, assaulted by overpowering num- 
bers and driven out of the works with very heavy loss. 

General Lee, with his thin intrenched lines, extending thirty- 
five miles, was doing all that the ablest military leader could do 
to maintain them. On the ist of April, Sheridan, with numbers 
not to be resisted, defeated Pickett's division at Five Forks, and 
captured four thousand prisoners. The next day Grant made the 
decisive move, broke the Confederate lines, and drove them in 
upon Fort Gregg. Here they rallied, and sustained with courage 
unto death three successive assaults of Gibbon's Federal division ; 
and when at last the fort was carried, out of its two hundred and 
fifty defenders all except thirty were killed or wounded, and five 
hundred Federals were prostrate on the ground. 

This was Sunday, April 3d. General Lee telegraphed to the 
Confederate authorities in Richmond that his lines were broken 
and he must retreat. Most of the people were in the churches 
when these tidings reached them. The city was filled with con- 
fusion and distress. 

Of course, the Confederate President and his cabinet and staff 
officers hastened to retreat while they could. The Southern troops 
around the city followed as soon as practicable; but, by an un- 
happy violation of all rights of private property, whether in 
peace or in war, the Confederate War Department gave orders 
under which not only were all armories, armed vessels, arsenals, 
and powder and percussion-cap factories blown up, but the exten- 
sive Shockoe and other warehouses, containing some thousands 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. S69 

of hogsheads of leaf tobacco (nearly all of which was private 
piopcrty) were set on fire. No adequate means for checking and 
limiting the flames existed. They soon spread to the adjoining 
railroad buildings and bridge, and to rows of private houses. The 
conflagration was terrible, involving warehouses, stores, private 
residences and churches. 

Fortunately, the Federal troops, almost unopposed, entered the 
city while the fire was still raging. They immediately estab- 
lished .rigid military discipline and order, and by steady exer- 
tions, aided by private residents, and blowing up of houses, ar- 
rested the fire, but not before it had destroyed property worth 
millions of dollars. 

General Lee retreated, hoping to be able to join Johnston in 
North Carolina ; but his army was no longer the compact and 
powerful engine of intelligence and force with which, from the 
summer of 1863, he had performed such prodigies. Near Dea- 
tonsville a severe conflict took place on April 6th, with Southern 
loss. With thinned columns and lines, Lee was followed, beset, 
surrounded by two hundred thousand men of all arms. 

At Appomattox Court-house, on the 9th of April, 186c;, i\e 
surrendered his army to General Grant. The terms accorded by 
that wise and foreseeing Federal commander were in the highest 
degree liberal and considerate. Grant knew that the war was 
ended. After stacking their arms and colors, and giving their 
parole not to serve again until exchanged, the Southern officers 
and men were permitted to return to their homes and peaceful 
employments, safe from any molestation by the Federal authori- 
ties, the ofiicers being allowed to retain their side-arms, and ofli- 
cers and men to retain such horses as were their private prop- 
erty.^ The last clause was emphasized by General Grant in words 
of true, yet simple, magnanimity, "because they would need their 
horses for spring ploughing and farm work." 

And this generous treaty was steadily upheld by General Grant. 
When, afterwards, private malignity sought to arrest and prose- 
cute Robert E. Lee upon the unfounded charge of treason, and 
when efibrts were made to treat the Confederate partisan Mosby 
as an outlaw. General Grant interposed, and, by his prevalent 
position and power, shielded them and all others similarly situ- 
ated from all such persecutions. 

Not more than eight thousand men were in his army when Lee 
surrendered ; but the terms included all the ofiicers and men of 
the Army of Northern Virginia, whei'ever they might be. 

1 Derry's U. S., 327. Stephens, 829-831. Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 241, 242. 



8io A History of the United States of Afuerica. 

On the i3th of April the city of Mobile yielded to a combined 
naval and military approach, and was surrondered to the Federals. 

Yet, in all the closing conflicts of this gigantic war, the Con- 
federates won successes whenever they were not fatally outnum- 
bered. On the 6th of February, General Grant attempted to 
turn the right of the Soiuhern army at Hatcher's Run, and re- 
ceived a repulse so bloody and decisive that his troops were with- 
drawn. On his march through South Carolina, Sherman sent a 
large cavalry force under Kilpatrick to capture Augusta ; btit at 
Aiken General Wheeler, with his dragoons, encountered Kilpat- 
rick, and defeated him, thus saving Augusta. On the 8th of 
March, at Kinston, North Carolina, General Bragg gained a dis- 
tinct success over a part of Sherman's army. On the i6th of 
March, General Hardee fought at Averysboro a bloody, but inde- 
cisive, battle with the advance corps of Sherman's force. On the 
19th and 20th of March the Confederate army, under General 
Johnston, met and fought Sherman at Bentonville, and gained 
important successes ; but their numbers were too small to resist 
the flanking process to which Sherman was again obliged to 
resort in order to dislodge and drive back his skillful foe. Sher- 
man took possession of Goldsboro, where he was joined by the 
troops from the coast under Generals Schofield and Terry. Gen- 
eral Johnston, with his army, which was now nearly forty thou- 
sand strong, took a strong position at Greensboro, near the site 
of old Guilford Court-house. 

On the night of the 14th of April, 1S65, in Ford's theatre, in 
Washington city, as President Lincoln sat in a private box, he 
was stealthily approached behind by a play-actor named John 
Wilkes Booth, a son of Junius Brutus Booth, the great English 
tragedian. Booth professed violent sympathy for the Southern 
cause, but was never in her armies nor in her service in any form. 
He was one of a band of assassins. He shot President Lincoln 
through the head ; then, crying out, " Sic semper tyrannis! " he 
leaped to the stage, and, notwithstanding a severe injury received 
in his desperate movement, he made his w^ay out of the theatre 
by the rear passages, mounted a horse, and escaped into Virginia 
with a co-conspirator named Harrold. 

They crossed the Rappahannock river from Port Conway, and ob- 
tained temporary refuge in the house of Richard Henry Garrett, in 
Caroline county, on the river, about two miles north of Port Royal. 
Booth was on crutches, but his conversation was so full of vivacity 
« that he made a pleasant impression on the family. They knew 
him only as Mr. Boyd. By this name he was introduced to them by 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 8ii 

Lieutenant Ruggles and Mr. William Jett, who represented him 
as having been wounded at Petersburg. When ISIr. Garrett heard 
the next day of the assassination of President Lincoln, he ex- 
pressed deep regret, saying : " I hope it is not so. I believe it 
would be one of the greatest calamities that could befall us." 
Booth said, excitedly, "Do you think that?" Mr. Garrett an- 
swered, " I do." Booth said, " I cannot think so. I rather be- 
lieve, if it is so, that good will come of it to the South." He was 
heavily armed with pistols. By his request Mr. Garrett permit- 
ted him and Ilarrold to spend the night in a tobacco barn at some 
distance from the house. The suspicions of the family were nat- 
urally excited, and the sons of Mr. Garrett kept watch on their 
stable. 

Harrold had imprudently disclosed some of the truth in the 
presence of Jett. A reward of twenty-five thousand dollars had 
been offered for the arrest of the assassin. A small party of Fed- 
eral soldiers, under Lieutenant Dougherty, were on Booth's track. 
They came to Mr. Garrett's at one o'clock at night. They broke 
in the door, and arrested the family. One of the sons told them 
that if they were in search of the two men who had been there, 
they were in the tobacco barn, which he pointed out. They sur- 
rounded the barn. Harrold came out and surrendered himself. 
Booth declared he would never give himself up alive. They 
threatened to burn the barn. He begged them not to do so, as it 
would do injury to the innocent owner. He asked that they 
would give him a chance for his life by giving him ten steps start 
when he came out — they refused ; five steps — they refused. 

One of the soldiers then set fire to a bundle of hay and threw it 
into the loft. It kindled quickly, and by its light a soldier, named 
Boston Corbett, saw Booth through a crevice in the barn, took 
aim and fired, sending his bullet through his head, passing in 
under the left ear and coming out on the right side of the head. 
He fell mortally wounded. One of the sons of Mr. Garrett was 
sent in, and, though badly burned, succeeded in bringing out the 
body still living. Booth died on the plank floor of the porch of 
Mr. Garrett's house. His last words, to a lady — a teacher in the 
family — who moistened his lips with her handkerchief dipped in 
water, were : "Tell my mother I died for my country, and what 
I thought was best for it." ' 

But whether sincere or not. Booth was an assassin, and the 
curse of heaven followed his deed. President Lincoln was mcdi- 

1 Narrative of Dr. G. G. Roy, in Riclimond Dispatcli, May 30th, 1886, taken from Miss H., 
the teacher. 



8i2 A History of the United States of America. 

tating and preparing a plan of pacification which would in due 
time have restored the Union without the dismal period of recon- 
struction, injustice and outrage which followed his death. Slav- 
ery was already gone, never to return ; and the heart of Lincoln 
was not set on bitterness and revenge. The theories of Andrew 
Johnson, who became President when Lincoln died, Avere full of 
false premises and unsound logic, and did great harm to the se- 
ceded States ; and they were, unhappily, seconded by the hatred 
of civilians and the bitter feelings toward prominent Southern 
men kindled by the assassination of President Lincoln.^ 

The President died at twenty-two minutes after seven o'clock 
on the morning of April 15th. On the same night in which he 
was assassinated an attempt was made on the life of William H. 
Seward, Secretary of State, at his home. Mr. Seward and his 
son were both wounded. No doubt could reasonably exist that a 
conspii'acy had been formed for the piu'pose of destroying the 
Federal rulers. Severe measures followed. Efforts were sedu- 
lously made by the more virulent of the South-haters to produce 
the impression that the chief Confederate rulers were accessories 
to Booth's guilt. 

A reward of one hundred thousand dollars was offered for the 
arrest of Jefferson Davis. He was captured by a squad of Wil- 
son's cavalry, near Irwinville, Georgia, on the loth of May. He 
was put in irons and confined in Fortress IVIonroe. At nearly the 
same time Alexander H. Stephens, Mr. Reagan, ex-Governor Lub- 
bock, of Texas, and many other prominent statesmen of the South 
were arrested and put in confinement ; but not a shadow of evi- 
dence of complicity in Booth's crime ever appeared against them, 
and they were successively released. An indictment for treason 
was found against Mr. Davis. He had been subjected to harsh 
and cruel imprisonment in Fortress Monroe ; but he was bailed on 
the 13th day of May, 1867. Horace Greeley and other eminent 
Northern men became his sureties. He was released, and the 
prosecution for treason was abandoned about a year afterwards.^ 

As President Davis and his flying cabinet officers passed through 
Greensboro they had an interview with General Johnston and au- 
thorized him to make the best terms he could for restoration of 
peace. Accordingly, Sherman and Johnston met near Durham 
Station and concluded what will always be known in history as 
the " Sherman-Johnston Convention," signed by both on the 18th 
of May. 

1 Stephens, 831-836. Deny, 328, 329. Quackenbos, 504, 505. Eggleston, 350, 351. 
2 Stephens, 843, 844. 



The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. 813 

It consisted of seven articles : ( i ) That the armies in the field 
should maintain their status quo until after forty -eight hours' no- 
tice ; (2) The Confedex^ate armies to be disbanded and to deposit 
their arms in the "State" arsenals, and each officer and man to 
sign an agreement to cease from war and abide the action of both 
State and Federal authorities ; (3) The United States Executive to 
recognize the several State governments on their officers and legis- 
latures taking the oath prescribed by the Federal constitution ; in 
case of conflicting State governments the Supreme Court to decide ; 

(4) The re-establishment of the Federal courts in each State ; 

(5) The people of each State to be guaranteed, as far as execu- 
tive power could do so, their rights, political and civil, under the 
constitution and laws ; (6) The executive not to disturb any peo- 
ple by reason of the late war so long as they lived peaceably and 
obeyed existing laws ; (7) The war to cease, general amnesty, so 
far as the executive could command, and return to peaceful pur- 
suits. Not being fully empowered in the premises, full powers 
to be sought and, if possible, obtained for carrying out the terms 
agreed on.^ 

General vSherman, in consenting to this convention, considered 
himself as carrying out the wishes and policy of President Lin- 
coln ; and it was undoubtedly in accord with the resolution of 
the United States House of Representatives, offered by Andrew 
Johnson, of Tennessee, and sustained by John J. Crittenden, of 
Kentucky, on the 33d day of July, 1S61, and adopted by a vote of 
one hundred and seventeen ayes to two noes, which declared 
that " Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resent- 
ment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country ; that this 
war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for 
any purpose of conquest or subjugation or purpose of overthrow- 
ing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of 
those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the 
constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, 
equality and rights of the several States unimpaired ; and that, as 
soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease."* 

But a deplorable change had come, under the influence of par- 
tisan rancor, and of the public rage following the assassination of 
President Lincoln. President Johnson and his cabinet refused to 
ratify the " Sherman-Johnston Convention " ; thereupon General 
Johnston surrendered his army on the same terms as those granted 
to General Lee. 

I The memorandum of convention is given in fnll in Stephens' Comp. U. S., 833, 834. 
-Amer. Encyclop., 1861, p. 224. 



8i4 ^ History of the United States of America. 

This was soon followed by the surrender of all the Confederate 
armies on nearly the same terms. The last surrender was made 
by Gen. E. Kirby Smith, in Texas, on the 26th of May. 

The last actual collision of the hostile forces was at Palmetto 
Ranche, on the Rio Grande, in Texas. Here, on the 13th of 
May, a Federal cavalry force, under Colonel Barrett, was defeated 
by Confederate cavalry, under Gen. J. E. Slaughter, and vigor- 
ously pressed in a chase of fifteen miles. 

Thus the important battles of 1865 were fifteen in number, of 
which the Federals gained nine, the Confederates five, and one 
was indecisive. 

This enables us to sum up for the whole period of the war as 
follows : The whole number of important battles was two hun- 
dred and seven, of which the Confederates gained one hundred 
and twenty-seven ; the Federals seventy-four, and six were drawn 
or indecisive. 

During President Lincoln's administration two new States 
were added to the Union — viz.. West Virginia, in 1863, and Ne- 
vada, on the 31st of October, 1864. But the act of erecting that 
part of Virginia called West Virginia into a State is open to very 
serious questions of constitutional and legal challenge. The con- 
stitution of the United States expressly forbids that any new 
State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any 
other State without the consent of the legislature of the State 
concerned, as well as of the Congress.' The assumption that the 
legislature of Virginia ever gave consent to the erection of this 
new State within her jurisdiction depends for its support upon a 
series of fictions too thin and illusory ever to gain the credence 
of common sense. The only ground on which the new State 
could have any sound standing is the ground that war made her, 
and maintained her so long that what has been done cannot be 
undone. But time does not bar the claim of a sovereign. In 
the words of Henry A. Wise, West Virginia was brought into 
being by the "Caesarian operation"; and yet both mother and 
child are alive and strong. 

On the 4th of March, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated 
as President for his second term. On the 15th of April, his life 
went out in blood. Five hundred thousand lives, from North 
and South, had gone out in blood during his term of service; 
and yet it would have been well, for North and South, that he 
had lived. 

1 U. S. Constitution, Art. IV., sec. 3, clause first. 



CHAPTER LIX. 
The War, axd Andrew Joiixsons Presidency. 

IN order to the intelligent study of the phenomena attending 
the life of the United States during the presidency of Andrew 
Johnson, and the period that followed it, we must briefly review 
the facts which gave to the war its character and its results. 

It lasted four years — a longer period than any European war 
has lasted since the overthrow of the empire under the first Na- 
poleon. Neither section, when the war commenced, had any 
deliberate thought that the conflict of arms would be so pro- 
longed. It was drawn out in length by influences, human, indeed, 
in their inception and progress, but Divine in their purpose and 
providential issue. The destruction of slavery was that purpose 
and issue. 

We have seen enough in the facts to prove that the South was 
not overcome by the superior warlike qualities of the Northern 
people. Admitting, as we may, equality ofnative courage in the 
individuals of the two sections, yet it is certain that the Southern 
people had been made superior in j^^7^////^ qualities by all the cir- 
cumstances of their origin, birth, education and habits of thought 
and action. The Northern people were more settled in their pur- 
suits of peace and material success. And this difterence, though 
modified and diminished, continued throughout the war. 

Neither was the result brought about by the mere fact that 
the North, in population, greatly outnumbered the South. Great 
Britain, in the Revolutionary W^ar, outnumbered the colonies in 
much larger proportion ; and yet that war was won by the colo- 
nies. 

Had the war been brief, the South would have won her cause 
and her independence. God, in his overruling providence, caused 
the war to be prolonged. We can only look with human limi- 
tations upon the causes, for which men may be held liable as 
authors, and which made the war a long one. 

On the side of the South it brought to the front a man who dis- 
played the very highest genius for war — a genius not inferior to 
that of Napoleon I. himself, and yet not warped or stimulated 

[ 815 ] 



8i6 A History of the United States of America. 

by his unscrupulous ambition. This man was Thomas Jonathan 
Jackson, generally known as " Stonewall Jackson," because of 
words applied to his brigade at the first battle of Manassas, where 
it stood "like a stone wall." 

Prior to the war, although he had done well all that duty called 
for, his genius for war had not made itself conspicuous ; but as 
the struggle went on, he became constantly more and moi'e noted 
for strategic power. His cainpaign in the Valley of Virginia in 
the early part of 1862 was definitely superior to the Italian cam- 
paign of Napoleon in 1796 — superior in the -results won by being 
strongest in a critical encounter, in the rapidity of the movements, 
the lightning-like shock of the onset, the combination of concur- 
ring marches, the using of smaller numbers so as absolutely to 
bewilder and rout larger numbers, and the controlling genius 
which governed all and infused itself as a conquering force into 
all the minds of his army. 

And this genius for war shovi^ed itself more and more up to the 
hour when he was shot from his horse by his own men. He was 
grand in the campaign against JMcClellan, in the decisive and 
crushing movements against Pope, in the concentrating marches 
to capture Harper's Ferrv, in the opportune arrival on the field of 
Sharpsburg, in the desolating defeat of Burnside, and especially 
in the silent and magnificent flank march by which he gained the 
weak side of Hooker's army, routed Howard's corps, and filled 
the Federal host ^vith the conviction that their defeat was inevi- 
table. 

He never left a post to be surrounded, to be starved into sub- 
mission and captured with its garrison of thousands. He never 
made a rash attack on superior numbers behind intrenchments, to 
the destruction of his army. He retreated when it was need- 
ful, but even in retreat struck terrible blows upon his ene- 
mies. He proved himself equal to the efficient command of any 
numbers. 

He was devout and God-fearing, and though he believed in the 
absolute sovereignty of God, believed also in the free-agency of 
man, the energetic use of human means, the contingency of sec- 
ond causes, and the efficacy of prayer. Even in the supreme mo- 
ments when, on horseback, he was about to direct the forces of 
his army upon his chosen points of attack, his lips were often seen 
to move in silent prayer. 

This gi'eat military genius believed in making the war "short, 
sharp and decisive" — in making it intensely aggressive on the part 
of the South, His views as to taking no prisoners and making 



Tlie War, and Amh-ezu yohnsoji\'^ Presidency. 817 

war in practice what it is in theory, viz., the destruction, by the 
most efficient means possible, of the fighting powdr of the en- 
mny, were theoretical and speculative, rather than controlling;^ 
for no commander ever was more humane to prisoners than he 
\vas. And all the light we have tends to produce the belief that, 
if the fighting elements of the Southern States had been rapidly 
organized and had been, early in the war, precipitated on the 
North in an aggressive campaign, the war would have been 
shorter in duration and different in result. 

The South produced another great militaiy genius, equal in all 
important respects to Jackson, but ditTering from him in some 
traits and tendencies. This ^vas Robert Edward Lee, who was 
commander-in-chief of the Army of Northern Virginia from about 
the 30th of Mav, 1863, and finally commander-in-chief of all 
Southern forces. He, too, was profoundly devout and Christian 
in character. He Avas calm and self-possessed in all emergencies. 
He was capable of controlling and combining any numbers in- 
trusted to him. His campaigns, and especially that of 1864, have 
placed him high among the highest in military fame. He was 
deep!}' revered and beloved by officers and men. He labored, 
during a large part of the war, under the disadvantage of com- 
manding armies in which the men were frequently unsupplied 
with clothing, blankets, shoes and sufficient food, and of repre- 
senting these facts again and again to the Confederate War De- ' 
partment without obtaining them, because of insuperable difficul- 
ties.^ Yet he never lost the affection of his men, and it was 
never more pathetically exhibited than at the time of his surren- 
der at Appomattox. 

But General Lee had one trait of soul and character well 
known to those who knew him best, high and noble in itself, and 
yet exceedingly dangerous if impulsively exercised by a com- 
mander-in-chief. It was the quality of personal daring which 
was willing to face, and by impetus to overcome, military force 
opposing him. He was, at any time, readv to take upon himself 
personally any risk of wounding or death to which he required 
his men to subject themselves. In several of his most critical 
battles he declared his purpose to lead a charge of imminent peril, 
and nothing but the remonstrances of his officers and men, and 
their declarations that they would not move until he left the front, 
prevented these personal exposures, some one of which would, 
doubtless, have resulted in his death. 

1 Letter of Rev. Dr. R. L. Dabney, Professor of Pliilosophy, I'niv. of Texas, and formerly 
ou General Jackson's staff. Balto. Siin. copied in Richmond Dispatch, June 28th, 1889. 
-Letters of General Lee, Dispatch, Richmond, Va., May 30th, 1890. 



8l8 A History of the United States of Avicricct. 

This readiness for the most perilous conflicts exhibited itself in 
the daring attacks he made upon the bristling lines of McClellan's 
army, when they held the intrenched brow of Malvern Hill. 
Notwithstanding the persistent artillery fire of the Confederates 
before they charged, their charges, though repeated again and 
again with desperate courage, were bloodily repulsed. 

But the most momentous exercise of this trait in the charac- 
ter of this great cominanding officer was at Gettysburg. This 
battle and the causes of the Confederate defeat therein have 
been a subject of labored discussion. North and South and in Eu- 
rope, ever since it occurred. Several volumes and many hundi-ed 
pages have been printed concerning it, and, unhappily, the dis- 
cussions and statements have been, to a considerable extent, dis- 
torted and turned aside from the direct search for truth by mili- 
tary jealousies and partisan bitterness. It is the duty of the stu- 
dent to eliminate, as far as possible, these disturbing causes from 
his researches and, with a single eye, to look at ascertained facts 
and the fair inferences deducible from them. 

When General Lee passed with his army into Pennsylvania it 
had not been his intention to deliver a general battle unless at- 
tacked;^ especially an offensive battle, so far from his base of 
supplies and support, had not been contemplated by him ;^ but 
his cavahy, under General Stuart and his able subordinates, had 
been intrusted with a wide discretion, had fought several severe 
battles, had captured trains, and had become so scattered that no 
part of it was available at Gettysburg. Consequently, the opin- 
ion of an officer high in rank and reputation in the Southern 
army has been given in the following words : " The failure to 
crush the Federal army in Pennsylvania in 1863, in the opinion 
of almost all the officers of the Army of Northern Virginia, can 
be expressed in five words — the absence of our cavalry.'''' ^ 

Their absence might not have had an eff'ect so grave as he as- 
cribes to it ; t)ut it certainly operated to keep General Lee ignorant 
of the position and movements of the Federal army. The colli- 
sion of the advanced corps of the two armies at Gettysburg was 
as nearly accidental as such an event could be. On the 3d of 
July, General Lee found his infantiy and artillery force face to 
face with the whole Federal army, under General Meade. 

That army was assuredly not less than ninety thousand in 
effective strength. On the 27th of June, General Hooker, still 
in command, had estimated his number of enlisted men at one 

1 General Lee's Report of Gettysburg Campai.arn, So Hist. Soc. Papers, July, 1876, page 41. 
^General Longstreet's Report, and Paper So. Hist. Soc, June, 1878, page 258. 
8 General Henry Heth, ibid., IV. 155. 



Tlic JVar, a f/i/ Andrew yo/insoiis Presidency- B19 

hundred and five thousand. At least five thousand officers would 
be i-equired for such a host ; and recruits and additions had been 
made after Meade was put in command. Therefore, deducting 
all his heavy losses in killed, wounded and prisoners, in the two 
battles of July ist and 3d, a very reasonable estimate of his 
efficient forces of all arms on the 3d of July would give him 
ninety thousand men. He probabl}' had more.^ 

This army was all in strong position, occupying the ridge 
known as Cemetery Hill, and other heights near Gettysburg. 
They had all worked diligently from the time of their arrival, 
and were, thoroughly intrenched.^ 

To oppose them General Lee had, on the 3d of July, barely 
fifty-five thousand men, in infantry and artillery.' He had no 
cavalry ; but the heroic achievements of his army in the battle 
of Chancellorsville, and their manifest siiccesses in the severe 
battles of July ist and 2d, had excited in the mind of their 
commander a strong impression that the Federals could not 
successfully oppose them, and would be driven before them if a 
resolute attack was made. This impression, and the daring trait 
in his own character, determined him to deliver offensive battle. 

On the morning of July 3d an informal military conference 
was held between General Lee and his lieutenants, Longstreet, 
Hill and Ewell. General Lee was in favor of an attack, after a 
heavy artillery fire, which, he hoped, would silence the enemy's 
guns and make breaches in their lines. Longstreet earnestly op- 
posed a direct infantry attack, which, he thought, would be 
bloodily repulsed. He v^as in favor of a flank movement around 
Meade's position, which would compel him to leave that position 
and become the assailant himself. The result of the conference 
was that General Lee adhered to his purpose of attack, and gave 
orders therefor. 

General Pickett's division of Longstreet's corps did not arrive 
and get into position for advance until twelve o'clock.* Then the 
artillery fire from every part of the Confederate lines opened. One 
hundred and twenty guns poured out a ceaseless torrent of shot and 
shells aimed at the hostile positions. The Federal guns, in equal 
number, replied, and for hours a cannonade was kept up seldom 
equaled in modern warfare. 

Longstreet anxiously watched its effects. He was well known 
as one of the most stubborn and effective fighting generals of the 

1 Compare General Hooker's Rep., June 27th, with General Early's estimates. So. Hist., 
IV. 242-250. 

2 Gen. Fitz Lee's letter. So. HLst, IV. 71-73. 
^General Early's estimates. So. Hist.. I\'. 244, 245. 
<Gen. E. P. Alexander's letter. So. Hist, IV. 103, 104. 



830 A History of the United States of AiJierica. 

Southern army. Two of his divisions, numbering about thir- 
teen thousand, had, on the 2d of July, swept all before them, 
pierced the enemy's lines, and captured a part of the " Round 
Top," but, not being adequately supported, had resumed their 
lines. 

But now he felt deep concern as to the residt of a direct assault 
by his infantry. He sent a note to his chief of artillery to the 
eftect that, if the cannon fire did not drive ofl' the enemy (;r 
greatly demoralize him, so as to make the infantry attack eftectual, 
Pickett should be advised not to make the charge. He was man- 
ifestly reluctant to order it.^ 

But at about twenty minutes before two o'clock, the Federal can- 
non fire slackened. It has since been ascertained that this was 
not by reason of injuries or for want of ammunition, but to let 
their guns cool.^ Yet, naturally enough, the Southern artillerists 
were elated ; and Pickett had been impatiently waiting for the 
order to advance. He rather inferred it than received it from 
General Longstreet, who, in answer to his question as to advance, 
turned round in his saddle in silence.^ General Pickett waited no 
longer, but galloped oft' to lead his Virginians to the assault. 
Never was an advance more gallantly made. General Pettigrew's 
division aided in it, and the statements so frequently made that 
they faltered and gave way are untrue. Pettigrew, Fry and their 
men did all that men could do. Their right brigade was the di- 
recting one during the assault. Their colors reached the enemy's 
lines, and men and officers, from all their brigades, fell, killed or 
wounded, after passing within.* 

As to this renowned assault, history has only to repeat what 
the world has long known, that it was one of the most resolute 
and undaunted ever made ; that it was desperate from the begin- 
ning ; that the Federal artillery reopened with frightful eftect and 
rent the lines of the assailants as they advanced, but did not stop 
them ; that when they came within musketry range the destruc- 
tion grew larger ; that Generals Armistead and Garnett were 
killed, and Generals Kemper, Trimble and Pettigrew severely 
wounded ; that the intrenchments of the Federals were actually 
reached and captured, but that the continuous fire from cannon, 
muskets and rifles withered away this mart3-red band of assailants 
and compelled them to retreat down the hill. The Southern ar- 
tillery, having nearly exhausted their ammunition, stopped their 
fire, so as to have some reserved in case the Federals should ad- 

iGen. Alexander's letter, 104-106. = An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 107. 

3 Gen. Alexander, So. Hist., IV. 107. 

* Letters of Gen. D. H. Maury and Gen. B. D. Fry, So. Hist., \T:I. 91-93. 



The U^ar, and Andrexv Johnson s Presidency. 821 

vance ; but, content with having repulsed such an assault, they 
did not advance. 

A few days after this battle, General Lee, with a sincere mag- 
nanimity which never was absent from his soul, authorized a brief 
statement which appeared in the newspapers of Richmond, tak- 
ing upon himself any blame which might be visited on the con- 
duct of this battle. 

The attempt has since been made to vindicate his plan by in- 
sisting that delays and want of co-operative movements caused 
its failure ; but these attempts are vain. He never intended that 
the assaulting movements should be commenced until the artil- 
lery fire was thought to have prepared the way ; and they com- 
menced immediately thereafter. And if a shmiltaneous assault- 
ing movement had been made by all his infantry divisions, the 
result would, according to all human probability, have been even 
more disastrous. Fifty thousand infantry could not expect to de- 
feat eighty thousand, defending their own soil, in strong intrench- 
ments, and \vith most effective artillery and abundance of ammu- 
nition. 

The error at Gettysburg was a repetition, on a large scale, of 
the error of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga, of Lincoln and D'Es- 
taing at Savannah, of Sir Edward Packenham at New Orleans, 
and of Burnside at Fredericksburg. 

Though he did not lose his self-possession and courage. General 
Lee was deeply moved by the disaster of Gettysburg. He said 
to General Wilcox, when he came up with his bleeding and shat- 
tered division : " All this has been mv fault ; it is I who have 
lost this battle." ' He said to his brother, .Sidney Smith Lee, of 
the navy,'' that he had been controlled too far by the great confi- 
dence felt in the splendid fighting qualities of his soldiers, who 
begged simply '■ to be turned loose," and by the assurances of 
most of his higher officers, who believed the position in his front 
could be carried. He wrote a letter to General Longstreet in 
January, 1864, in which he said : "Had I taken your advice at 
Gettysburg, instead of pursuing the course I did, how different 
all things might have been."' 

And after his reti'eat from Pennsylvania liack to his lines in 
Orange, Virginia, General Lee was so much moved by his medi- 
tations on this Gettysburg failure, and what he supposed was its 
effect on public opinion in the Southern States and in his army, 
that he wrote a letter to President Davis, dated August 8th, 1863, 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 777. "- Letter of Gen. Fitz Lee. So. Hist., IV. 73. 

3 Letter of General Longstreet. New Orleans Rcpub., 27th February, 1876. Review by 
General Early. So. Hist., V. 272, 273. 



822 A History of the United States of America. 

proposing to him the propriety of selecting another commander 
for the army.^ His letter is noble, and simply pathetic in its deep 
tone of sadness. He says : " The general remedy for the want of 
success in a military commander is his removal. This is natural, 
and, in many instances, proper ; for, no matter what may be the 
ability of the officer, if he loses the confidence of his troops dis- 
aster inust sooner or later ensue." He says also : " I have no 
complaints to make of any one but myself. I have received no- 
thing but kindness from those above me, and the most considerate 
attention from my comrades and companions in arms." 

To this letter President Davis replied on the nth of August, 
gently and courteously encouraging his friend and companion in 
service to take a brighter view, and very appropriately asking 
how he could possibly name an adequate successor, if General 
Lee's suggestion should be complied with. This question was 
insoluble. No such officer could have been found. Genei'al Lee 
retained the command, and every campaign, battle and movement 
of his army thereafter confirmed and increased his reputation. 
The statement, made since the war ended, that General Lee's or- 
ders at Gettysburg, and their result, led to permanent estrangement 
of the chivalrous Pickett against General Lee, is untrue.'' 

On the day succeeding the battle of Gettysburg — viz., the 4th 
day of July, 1863 — another crushing misfortune came to. the Con- 
federates, caused, in large measure, by the error of the Southern 
authorities. This was the necessary surrender of Vicksburg, by 
Gen. J. C. Pemberton, to G^n. U. S. Grant, with thirty-seven 
thousand prisoners of war, and arms and munitions of \var suf- 
ficient for sixty thousand men.' Tlie prisoners were, indeed, 
paroled, but were lost to the Southern cause. The surrender of 
Port Hudson followed on the 9th of July, with seven thousand 
prisoners, fifty-one pieces of artilleiy, two steamers, five thousand 
small arms, and one hundred and fifty thousand rounds of ammu- 
nition.* 

All these men, and a large part of the military stores, might 
have been saved to the South by orders to Pemberton and Gard- 
ner to evacuate Vicksburg and Port Hudson in time. They re- 
pelled all assaults, but were starved into submission. 

Ulysses S. Grant was the finally successful soldier of this gigan- 
tic and long-enduring war. His genius was that of determined, 
unyielding, indomitable perseverance against all obstacles and all 

1 General Lee's letter, Scribner's Monthly. C. C. Jones, Jr., So. Hist., II. 53, 54. 

2 Compare statement of Col. Robert Stribliag with article in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 
Dispatch, Richmond, Va., June 5th, 1891. 

^General Grant's official statement, An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 65. 
■•xVu. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 75. 



The War, and Andrevj Johnsoti s Pj-esidcncy. S23 

defeats. He would not have Deen a success under any conditions 
lower than an unlimited supply of men, money and munitions. 

The disparity of numbers of the contending sides is a very im- 
pressive element in the contest, especially in its effects upon the 
prolongation of the w^ar and its final result. We have already 
seen something of this inequality in the actual battles, in which, 
in many cases, nothing less than the higher strategy of their gen- 
erals and the superior fighting of their men could have brought 
the successes which attended the Southern arms. 

At the beginning of the war the Federals had a population of 
twenty-two million upon which to draw for soldiers ; the Con- 
federates had less than ten million, and of these nearly four 
million were slaves, and were, of course, unavailable as soldiers.' 
The war records of the North show that, from first to last, she 
had not less than two million six hundred thousand men in mili- 
tary service ; the South never had over six hundred thousand in 
all. The North availed herself freely of all practicable means 
of raising men — at first by calling on volunteers, who came read- 
ily and in great numbers in the early stages of the war ; afterwards 
by the draft, and finally by secretly engaging great numbers of 
foreigners in Europe, who wei"e attracted by high bounties and 
promises of public lands and pensions. 

The draft was not borne by the Northern people without im- 
patience, and, at last, bloody resistance. During General Lee's 
invasion of Pennsylvania, and immediately afterwards, the oppo- 
sition reached its climax. Hardly any troops were left in New^ 
York city, and on the 13th of July, the wheel having been set in 
motion two days previously, and numbers of poor working-men 
drawn, they and their comrades organized resistance, and collected 
in threatening numbers in the neighborhood of the draft ofiice, at 
the corner of Third avenue and Forty-sixth street. Presently 
a huge paving-stone crashed through the window, quickly fol- 
lowed by others. The drafting officers retired to the upper rooms ; 
the mob seized the building, dashed the furniture to pieces, and 
wreaked special fury on the ballot-boxes used in the draft. ^ 

The mob boldly assaulted the marshal and his attendants. Lieu- 
tenant Vanderpoel was badly beaten, and was carried home insen- 
sible. The assailants poured camphene over the lower floors and 
wood work and set tire to the buildings. The families above, 
with difficulty, escaped. That part of the city was soon in 
flames. The fire department came, but, for a time, the mob pre- 
vented them from spreading their hose and obtaining water. 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 837. 

-Art. Riots in New York, etc., An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, pp. 811-815. 



824 ^4 History of the United States of America. 

Meanwhile the resistants of the draft continually increased in 
numbers. They used violence on all who opposed them. While 
the up-town rioters were delighting themselves with the destruc- 
tion of a brownstone block in Lexington avenue, a body of about 
•fifty marines, from the navy-yard, came upon them with muskets 
loaded with blank cartridges. They fired a volley, which was, of 
course, harmless. Instantly the men of the mob, sober and quiet, 
but malignant and fearful in their aspect, and the women, singing, 
shouting, dancing, and cheering on their husbands, brothers and 
friends, made a furious charge through the smoke, broke the slen- 
der line of the marines, hurled them down, seized their muskets, 
beat them wnth sticks, stabbed at them with short pieces of tele- 
graph wire, killed several and routed all.^ 

From this time the mob, not content with resistance, made open 
war. Their attacks were chiefly on the negroes dwelling in the 
city. They attacked the " Colored Half Orphan Asylum," on 
Fifth avenue between Forty-third and Forty-fourth streets, and 
kicked, beat and threw into the streets the hundreds of helpless 
colored children there. They then "looted" the building and set 
it on fire. In all these destructive riots the white working peo- 
ple, poor people, natives, Germans, Irish, foreigners and their 
wives, showed special and malignant hatred to the negroes of all 
hues, because they regarded the African race as the cause of the 
war. These facts furnished a sad commentary on the fanatic 
movements of the extreme abolitionists.^ 

For three days the city was under the power of mobs. The 
Roman church tried her influence on her adherents through an 
address of Archbishop Hughes ; but that which wrought most 
effect was the suspension of the draft by the Federal authorities 
and the passing of a city oi'dinance to pay the commutation of 
three hundred dollars in the case of poor laboring men, so as to 
exempt them from military service. Quiet was gradually restored, 
but not until a thousand persons had been killed or wounded and 
property valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars had 
been destroyed.^ 

Notwithstanding these and other ominous movements in Bos- 
ton, Portsmouth, and Holmes county, Ohio, President Lincoln con- 
tinued to call for troops. The enormous losses of 1863 caused 
him to send forth four calls in 1864, viz. : February ist, for two 
hundred thousand more men ; March 14th, for two hundred thou- 

1 An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 812. 

2 An. Amer. Eucyclop., 1863, pp. 813-815. Barnes, 252, note. Prof. Johnston, 236. Quack- 
enbos, 487. 

3 Gov. Seymour's estimate, An. Amer. Eiieyclop., 1863, p. 816. 



The liaf% and Andrexv yoh?iso>i\s Presidency. 825 

sand ; July iStb, for five hundred thousand, and December 20th, for 
three hundred thousand. Without the stubborn resoUition of 
Lincoha and Grant the South could not have been subdued. Thus 
was the war prolonged for the destruction of slavery. 

The questions as to " prisoners of war " were among the most 
disti"essing and torturing of this unhappy contest. In all wars of 
modern times such questions have been specially gloomy, but in 
none more so than in this war between the States of North 
America. 

Unfortunately, the Federal authorities, early in the war, at- 
tempted to stand on the untenable basis that the Confederates 
were not "belligerents," and, therefore, not entitled to the laws 
of nations as to the treatment of prisoners ; but England and 
France, though never willing to recognize the Confederate vStates 
as an independent nation and to intervene for the stoppage of 
the war, were prompt to recognize them as "belligerents," and 
all the civilized nations of the Old World adopted this view. 
And the Federal generals, McClellan and others, were liberal 
and humane in treating and exchanging prisoners ; but it was not 
until after the "seven-days' battles" around Richmond, when the 
number of prisoners held by the Confederates greatly exceeded 
that held by the Federals, that a regular " cartel " for the exchange 
of prisoners was agreed on.^ 

For some time this was fairly acted on, and made the war less 
cruel ; but gradually causes arose which interrupted these regular 
exchanges. The result was that many thousands of prisoners 
who ought to have been exchanged or paroled under the generous 
terms of the cartel were detained in prison camps on each side, 
and suffered with all the discomforts, maladies and privations in- 
cident to such places of confinement. 

To detail all these causes of interruption would i^equire a vol- 
ume ; but some of them must be mentioned, as they call for thought 
and study in their action and reaction on the conduct of the bel- 
ligerents. The subject of slavery alwavs held close relation to 
them. 

The first cause of interruption came from an order issued by 
Edwin INI. Stanton, the Federal Secretary of War, whose course 
during the whole contest and after its close was conspicuous in 
harshness and partisanship. On the very day the cartel was 
signed, July 23d, 1S62, he issued a general order authorizing Fed- 
eral commanding officers in Virginia and elsewhere to seize and 

1 It was signed July 22d, 18C2, by Major-Generals John A. Dix, of the Federal, and D. H. 
Hill, of the Confederate army. See Cartel in full in An. Amer. Encyelop., 1802, pp. 713, 714. 



826 A History of the United States of America. 

use private property, real or personal, for military purposes, and 
to employ, at reasonable wages, persons of African descent when 
needed, keeping accounts, however, " as a basis upon which com- 
pensation can be made in proper cases." ^ 

The Federal General Pope was prompt to avail himself of this 
order, and to pervert and go beyond it. His condvict of the war 
was so cruel and oppressive that the Confederate government is- 
sued an order directing that Pope, Steinwehr, his brigadier, and 
all commissioned officers serving under their commands should be 
excluded from the benefit of the cartel, and should not be enti- 
tled to parole or exchange, and that severe- retaliation should fol- 
low any of their threatened outrages.^ 

Fortunately for honorable war. Pope and his army were so soon 
met, defeated and driven out of Virginia that little occasion arose 
for these stern measures. 

But numbers of negro slaves were received into the United 
States armies and were employed as teamsters, -svood-cutters, and 
in other occupations not in regular military line. No serious 
question of parole or exchange arose as to them until after the 
noted proclamations of President Lincoln as to slavery.' 

In all his public expressions early in the war he had declared 
that the Federal government had no constitutional power or in- 
tention to destroy slavery, nor to impair the rights of slave- 
owners in the States in which the institution existed. 

But the defeat of McClellan, the signal overthrow of Pope, the 
advance of Lee's army into Marjdand, and the capture of Har- 
per's Ferry by Jackson had greatly excited and alarmed President 
Lincoln. He had for some time contemplated the necessity for a 
contingent proclamation of freedom to the slaves of the South, 
dependent on her submitting and returning to the Union. He 
wrote this proclamation in July, 1863, in the midst of Federal 
military reverses. Disaster followed disaster, until the battle of 
Sharpsburg, or the Antietam, was pending. President Lincoln's 
w^ords were : "I made a solemn vow before God, that if General 
Lee was driven back from ]\Iaryland I would crown the result by 
the declai'ation of freedom to the slaves."^ 

But some time prior to this event the strange, rough wisdom, 
foresight and just intentions of this remarkable man had shown 
themselves in his policy as to slavery. So far as we can judge, 
if his policy could have been carried out, the fate of the whole 

1 An. Amer. Eneyclop., 18G3, p. 715. 

- Coufed. Gen. Order 54, Aug. 1, 1862. An. Amer. Eneyclop., p. 716. 
SAn. Amer. Eneyclop., 1863, pp. 7C0, 761. 

*Prof. Steele, Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note from Carpenter, 242, 243. Eggleston's House- 
hold U. S., 325. 



The War^ and Andrew Johnson'' s Prcsideiicy. 827 

country, including the South, would have been brighter and hap- 
pier than it has been. 

As early as March 6th, 1863, he addressed a message to the 
Federal Congress advising the adoption of a joint resolution as 
follows:' ''■Resolved, That the United States, in order to co- 
operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolition of 
slavery, give to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such 
State, in its discretion, to compensate it for the inconvenience, 
public and private, produced by such change of system." 

He did not expect the extreme Southern States to be at once 
influenced by this overture ; but he hoped that the border slave 
States would be, and that, by adopting a system of gradual eman- 
cipation, they woidd deprive the cotton and sugar States of all 
hope of final separation from the Union. In the same message 
he said : " In my judgment, gradual and not sudden emancipation 
is better for all."^ 

The Congi-ess adopted, in substance, his proposed joint resolu- 
tion by large majorities in both Houses. He manifested his cau- 
tion and moderation by issuing a proclamation, dated 19th of 
May, 1862, signed by himself and countersigned by William H. 
Seward, vSecretary of State, annulling and declaring void an ar- 
rogant and unauthorized order (under the style of General Order 
No. II, May 9th, 1862), sent out from Hilton Head, South Caro- 
lina, by Major-General David Hunter, of the Federal Southern 
Military Department, whereby that vain and malignant officer 
declared all the slaves in Georgia, Florida and .South Carolina 
to be forever free.^ 

President Lincoln requested the members of Congress from 
Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia (being all the 
border region holding slaves still represented in Congress, to 
confer with him, and earnestly urged on them his policy of grad- 
ual emancipation, with money comj^ensation, as w^ise, and as 
the best means of putting an end to the war and restoring the 
Union ; but they respectfully submitted to him a long communi- 
cation, declining to concur with him, urging the immense monev 
value of the slaves, and saying to the President : " Confine your- 
self to your constitutional authority ; confine your subordinates 
within the same limits ; conduct this war solely for the purpose 
of restoring the constitution to its legitimate authority ; concede 
to each State and its 103'al citizens their just rights, and we are 
wedded to you by indissoluble ties." * 

1 Message in An. Amer. Encyclop., 1862, p. 720. 2 Jhid., 1862, p. 720. 

3 Order of Hunter and President's Proc. An. Amer. Encyclop., p. 720. 
* Reply of Representatives, July 14, 1862. Amer. Encyclop., pp. 722-724. 



828 A History of the United States of America. 

Thus even the congressmen who adhered to the Federal side 
failed to see the inevitable tendency of the war, if prolonged, to 
destroy slavery, and failed to lead in the wise measures suggested 
by President Lincoln. He was left to his own convictions of 
duty. 

He believed that, as a war measure — a means of strengthening 
the military power of the United States and weakening that of 
the Confedei'ate States — the executive department of the gov- 
ernment had power and authority to free the slaves in the region 
controlled by their armies and make soldiers of them ; but he 
proceeded provisionally and with deliberation to this important 
step. 

When the tidings reached him at the " Soldiers' Home," near 
Washington, that McClellan had held his gi'ound, and that Lee 
was retiring across the Potomac, he brought into the city the 
completed draft of his proclamation, and submitted it to his cab- 
inet. It was approved and issued. It bore date September 23d, 
1863.^ 

After stating his purpose again to urge at the next meeting of 
Congress his policy of gradual emancipation and compensation, 
and stating the continuance of the war, he proclaimed that, on the 
1st of Januaiy, 1S63, all persons held as slaves within any State 
or designated part of a vState continuing in open war against the 
United States, should be thenceforward and forever free ; and 
that the executive government, including the military and naval 
authorities, would recognize their freedom, and do no act to re- 
press such persons or any of them in any efforts they might make 
for their actual freedom. Another proclamation would be made 
ist January, 1863, designating such .States and parts of States, if 
any, as might then be "in rebellion" against the United States. 

The second proclamation followed accordingly on January ist, 
1863, designating Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Vir- 
ginia, excepting, however, all of the forty-eight counties desig- 
nated as West Virginia, and excepting designated parts of Vir- 
ginia and parishes in Louisiana.^ 

The first proclamation made very little impression on the .South- 
ern peoj)le, as it seemed to most of them merely an empty menace 
to do what the executive department of the Federal government 
had no rightful authority to do under the constitution. But it 
would have been wise in them to have borne in mind that war — 
and especially such a war — had enlarged the powers and authority 

1 Proclamatiou of Pres. Liucolu. An. Aiiier. Encyc, 1862, pp. 725, 720. -Ibid., pp. 736, 737. 



The War, and A?zdrezu yohnsoti' s Presideticy. 829 

of the executive to an extent never defined, because the circum- 
stances were unprecedented. 

That the Southern people had treated their skives kindly and 
humanely, so as to produce among the families of whites and 
slaves a genial love and confidence, is absolutely demonstrated by 
the fact that, though nearly all the white males able to bear arms 
went into the war, the slaves remained quietly on the farms and 
plantations that were unvisited by the armies, worked faithfully, 
made their crops and served the white women and children with 
their accustomed aftection.^ No attempt at bloody insurrection 
among them was ever known. 

But they were slaves, and, therefore, when the opportunity to 
acquire the doubtful blessing of freedom came, most of them were 
ready to take advantage of it. Nothing else could have been ex- 
pected ; and the failui'c of the people of the South to avail them- 
selves of the overtures for gradual emancipation, accompanied 
by pecuniary compensation, made by President Lincoln, must be 
reckoned as one of the gravest errors of judgment committed by 
them and their leaders. 

When the proclamation of January ist, 1S63, came, declaring 
actual freedom to the slaves, it was soon felt in the vSouth that it 
was not merely brututnjuhnc7i, empty and harmless thunder. It 
was a potent war measure. Tens of thousands of slaves in the 
regions of the South occupied by the Federal armies fled from the 
farms and plantations. All the males, suited to garrison or field 
service, were speedily enlisted in the Federal armies. 

Then President Davis and his cabinet and the Confederate Con- 
gress, for the first time, seemed to awake to the subject. They 
had had time enough to consider the matter in all its aspects ; 
and yet their action concerning it was the weakest and least 
tenable, in the light of international law, that could have been 
taken. 

The laws of nations make no discriminations against men because 
of their color or lineal descent ; neither do those laws foster or 
even recognize slavery, which is purely the result of local usage 
and law, and has no foundation in natural right, and, therefore, 
none in international law.'^ 

When the, Confederate States took their stand as an independ- 
ent political power, they had grave cause to believe that war was 
inevitable, and they prepared for it. They ought to have remem- 
bered that in their population were at least half a million of men 

> See the able address of Isaiah T. Montgomerv, a colored member of the Mississippi State 
Convention of 1890. Richmond Dispatch, October 10, 1890. 

- Vattel's Laws of Kations, LV., LVI. 356. An. Amer. Eucyclop., 1863, p. 762. 



830 A History of the United States of America. 

who would aid the enemy if the opportunity presented itself. 
Such was the inherent weakness of slavery. 

In his message to the Confederate Congress of January 14th, 
1863, President Davis, after commenting on Lincoln's emancipa- 
tion proclamation of January ist, 1863, and its effect and ten- 
dency, said : " So far as regards the action of the government on 
such criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to 
informing you that I shall, unless in your wisdom you deem some 
other course more expedient, deliver to the several State authori- 
ties all commissioned officers of the United States that may here- 
after be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in 
the proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with 
the laws of those States providing for the punishment of crimi- 
nals engaged in exciting servile insurrection." ' 

When this part of the message came up for consideration in the 
Confederate Congress, it w^as soon apparent that unanimity of 
opinion and sentiment did not prevail. William Lowndes Yan- 
cey, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, but a resident of and 
senator from Alabama, had been well known as a warm advo- 
cate of secession and of Southern independence ; but early in the 
struggle he had been sent by the Confederate States as commis- 
sioner to seek recognition of their independence from the sover- 
eignties of Europe. He went in March, 1861, and returned in 
February, 1862, by way of Nassau and Tampa Bay, cautiously 
evading the Federal blockade. He had been wholly unsuccess- 
ful in the object of his mission ; but he had learned something of 
the view of slavery taken by international law and by the most 
enlightened modern nations. He had already delivered a speech 
in New Orleans and one in Montgomery, discouraging any hope 
of recognition, and saying that "the nations of Europe were rad- 
ically hostile to slavery."^ 

And when President Davis' message of January 14th, 1863, 
came ixp for consideration in the Senate, Mr. Yancey uttered 
some truths, which, however unpalatable to perverted tastes, 
might at least have saved the Southern authorities from adopting 
injurious errors. 

* He showed, by unanswerable argument, that neither commis- 
sioned officers nor soldiers of the United States army could be 
held liable for their acts as such under State laws. They were 
public enemies, and liable only according to international law 
applicable to war. He showed also that the United States were 

^Pres. Davis' Message, est., An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 760. 
2 Art. Yancey, Amer. Encyclop., XVI. 596. 



832 A History of the United States of America. 

not violating the law of nations in setting the slaves free and add- 
ing them to their armies.^ If war be a recognized right and 
power of nations, then it is the right of one belligerent to free 
any class of men in the enemy's country not enjoying freedom, 
and to add them to their armies. "A public enemy may stir up 
insurrection or do any similar act to weaken the power of his foe, 
without violating the law of nations or military law."^ 

The Confederate Congress were somewhat moved by his argu- 
ments. They refused to adopt President Davis' policy ; but they 
passed resolutions inaugurating a policy even more objectionable, 
more adverse to the spirit of the laws of nations, and more in- 
jurious to the Southern cause in its etTects. They declared that 
the proclamation of President Lincoln and measures under it 
tending to emancipate slaves in the South and to incite them to 
insurrection or employ them in war, might properly and lawfully 
be repressed by retaliation ; that every white person being a 
commissioned officer, or acting as such, who, during the war, 
should command negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confed- 
erate States, or who should arm, train, organize, or prepare ne- 
groes or mulattoes for military service against those states, or 
should voluntarily aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enter- 
prise, attack, or conflict in such service, or should excite, or attempt 
to excite, servile insurrection, should, if captured, be tried by court- 
martial and put to death, or otherwise punished, at the discretion 
of the court. They gave the President full powers of commuta- 
tion arfid retaliation.^ Negroes or mulattoes captured were to be 
turned over to the State authorities. 

The policy thus inaugui-ated was not to lie dormant. In July, 
1863, an assault on Fort Wagner, in the harbor of Charleston, 
was bloodily repulsed by the Confederates, and a considei*able 
number of negroes of the Fifty-fourth Alassachusetts (colored) 
regiment were captured. 

The Northern War Department adopted General Order No. 
100. It says : 

" 57. So soon as a man is armed by a sovereign govei'nment, and 
takes the soldier's oath of fidelity, he is a belligerent ; his killing, 
wounding or other warlike acts are not individual crimes or 
oflences. No belligerent has a right to declare that enemies of a 
certain class, color or condition, when properly organized as sol- 
diers, will not be treated by him as public enemies. 

" 58. The law of nations knows no distinction of color, and if an 

enemy of the United States should enslave or sell any captured 

1 Debate. An. Amer. Encvclop., 18G.S, pp. 22C, 227. - Ibid ., p. 227 . Mr. Yancey's argument, 
s Joint Resolutions Confed. Cong. An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863, p. 227. 



The IVar, and Andfczv yohnso7z's Presidency. 8 



J.) 

persons of their army, it would be a case for the severest retalia- 
tion, if not redressed upon complaint. The United States can- 
not retaliate by enslavement ; therefore, death must be the retali- 
ation for this crime against the law of nations."^ 

President Lincoln softened the menace of this order by signing 
an order froin the Federal War Department, July 30th, providing 
that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of 
the laws of war, a "rebel" soldier should be executed, and for 
every soldier enslaved by the enemy, or sold into slavery, a 
"rebel" soldier should be placed at hard labor on the public 
works, and continued at such labor until the other should be re- 
leased and receive the treatment due a prisoner of war.' 

Meanwhile, a deplorable result came to the unhappy prisonei's 
of war on both sides. The Confederate authorities refused to 
recognize either the white oHicers. leading negroes, or colored 
troops of the enemy, as entitled to the terms of the " cartel." 
Exchanges stopped, except \a very special cases! The prison- 
camps on both sides became more and more crowded. Sadness, 
suffering, disease and broken hearts multiplied daily. But, as the 
cartel expressly provided that no misunderstanding should inter- 
rupt the release of prisoners, the Confederates were at all times 
ready and willing to continue such release in cases free from 
doubt. 

Other causes of interruption succeeded. After Gettysburg, 
when General Lee was preparing to retire across the Potomac, he 
held several thousand Federal prisoners. He did not desire to 
send them to the Southern prison-camps, which ^vere already 
crowded, and were pressed by want of provisions and a scant 
supply of medicines. He could not make special agreement with 
the Federal commander, as contemplated by the "cartel." He 
therefore paroled these prisoners and released them. 

Lnmediately, General ISIeade, upon the somewhat flimsy and 
narrow technicality that these prisoners had not been sent either 
to Aiken's Landing, on James nver, or to Vicksburg (points 
named in the cartel), and upon the false pretence that General 
Lee had not " reduced to possession " these prisoners, and was 
not able to carry them with him, refused to recognize their pa- 
roles, and ordered them to duty in his army.'^ 

This course was made an instant subject of protest and com- 
plaint by the Confederate authorities. In just compensation. 
Col. Robert Ould, the Southern Commissioner of Exchange, de- 

1 Extracts from General Order Ko. 100. An. Amor. Encyclop., 1SC3, p. 7G2. 
- Order, July 30th. An. Amer. Encyclop., p. TOi'. 
8 Annual Amer. Encyclop., 1863, pp. 761, 762. 

S3 



834 -^ History of the United States of America. 

clared the men surrendered at Port Hudson and sent to Mobile 
under parole to be released from their paroles and liable to duty.' 

Many sharp letters and military communications passed between 
the respective exchange officers on this and similar subjects, in 
which Colonel Ould sustained his views with signal ability ; but 
all this did not either promote or hasten general exchanges under 
the cartel. 

In 1864 and 1865 the cause which, beyond all other causes, pre- 
vented exchanges, was the policy of General Grant, who, des- 
pairing of direct victory, adopted the plan of wearing out the 
Confederate strength by constant attrition and abrasion by su- 
perior numbers. He did not intend that a single man able to 
bear arms should be returned to the Confederate ranks by ex- 
change. He knew he could constantly supply his own losses of 
men, enormous as they were, and knew the Southern armies had 
no further source of supply. 

As early as April, 1864, Grant forbade Gen. B. F. Butler " to 
deliver to the rebels a single able-bodied man." ^ So anxious were 
the Southern authorities to make exchange of prisoners that in 
August, 1864, Colonel Ould, the commissioner, consented to a 
proposition which had been repeatedly made, to exchange officer 
for officer and man for man, leaving the surplus in captivity. 
This was a departure from the liberal spirit and terms of the car- 
tel, but, rather than have no exchanges, the Confederate commis- 
sioner consented to it ; but when Colonel Ould made known his 
consent to General Butler, as that officer afterwards definitely ac- 
knowledged, he wrote a reply " not diplomatically, but obtrusively 
and demonstratively, 7tot for tJic purpose of ftirthcriug exchange 
of prisoners, but for the purpose of preventing and stopping the 
exchange, and furnishing a ground on which we could fairly 
stand." ^ And on the i8th of August, 1864, Grant wrote to But- 
ler a letter objecting, in strong terms, to any exchange of prison- 
ers.* 

This whole subject of treatment of "prisoners of war " has been 
exhaustively examined and discussed since the termination of the 
conflict. The result has been the complete vindication of the 
South from every charge of cruelty, ill usage and neglect. The 
burden of all the sufferings, groans and deaths in the prison- 
camps, North and South, rests upon the conduct of the war by 
the Federal government, which treated even medicines and surgi- 

1 Annual Amer. Encyclop., p. 762. 

2 Words of Gen. Benj. F. Butler, quoted in Eep. on Treatment of Prisoners of War to Con- 
fed. Cong., So. Hist., I. 147. 

3 Report, So. Hist., 1. 147. * Letter, Aug. 18, 18G4, in Richmond Dispatch, June 6, 1890 



The War, and Andrew yohnson'' s Presidency. 835 

cal instruments as contraband of war, and refused to let them pass 
the lines ; which refused to act on the liberal provisions of the 
cartel, and finally stopped all exchanges, for the purpose of ex- 
hausting the South. 

The South is further vindicated by ascertained facts. During 
the war the Confederates captured, in round numbers, two hun- 
dred and seventy thousand Federal prisoners. The Federals cap- 
tured two hundred and twenty thousand Confederates. Of the 
two hundred and seventy thousand Federal prisoners, twenty-two 
thousand five hundred and seventy-six died in the hands of the 
Confederates. Of the two hundred and twenty thousand Confed- 
erate prisoners, not less than twenty-six thousand four hundred and 
thirty-six died in the hands of the Federals.^ Thus the numbers 
exhibit a large percentage of evidence in favor of greater hu- 
manity and greater exercise of surgical and medical skill on the 
Southern side. 

But the people of the North had been wrought up to artificial 
excitement and passion on this subject by many agencies, chiefly 
the sensational reports and photographs of so-called sanitary com- 
mittees. They clamored for a victim ; and after the surrenders of 
the Southern armies one was found. He was Major Henry Wirz, 
of Swiss descent, who had been the commandant of the prison- 
camp at Andersonville, South Carolina. 

After the assassination of Lincoln, Major Wirz was brought to 
trial before a court-martial in Washington city. The trial lasted 
three months. More than one hundred and sixty witnesses were 
introduced before the military commission ; but there was one wit- 
ness who was not introduced. This was Col. Robert Ould, the 
Southern Commissioner of Exchange. He was a material witness 
for Wirz, and by request of the accused was regularly summoned 
to appear and testify. He attended accordingly. His testimony, 
if heard and weighed, would have been very important to the 
accused ; but, without request or consent of Wirz or his coun- 
sel, the Judge- Advocate revoked the subpoena by which Colonel 
Ould had been summoned, and dismissed him from attendance ! ^ 
Thus the prosecuting powers deliberately suppressed material tes- 
timony for a man tried for his life ! No valid precedent for this 
can be found. 

The Federal prosecutors strove earnestly in this trial to find 
some evidence which would involve President Davis in a charge 
of complicity in the cruelties said to have been perpetrated at 

1 Reports of Surgeon-Gen. U. S. A. and of Edwin M. Stanton, U. S. Sec. of War. Stephens' 
Com p. U. S., S.^,7. 

2 Col. Quid's statement, So. Hist. Papers, 1. 212, 213. 



83<J A History of the United States of America. 

Andersonville ; but in vain. Not a shadow of suspicion was 
shown against him. 

Wirz was condemned to die. On the night before his execu- 
tion persons, whose names have not been divulged, came to his 
confessor. Rev. Father Boyle, and to his counsel, Air. Schade, and 
informed each of them that a high cabinet officer wished to assure 
Wirz that his sentence would be commuted if he would impli- 
cate Jefferson Davis. The next morning Father Boyle and Mr. 
Schade saw Wirz, and he was told of this communication. He 
simply and quietly replied: "Mr. Schade, you know that I have 
always told you that I do not know anything about Jefferson 
Davis. He had no connection with me as to what was done at 
Andersonville. I would not become a traitor against him or 
anybody else, even to save my life."^ 

Thus, with truth and firmness, Henry Wirz met his fate. All 
the known facts justify the belief that his execution was a murder, 
committed under the forms of a military trial, in a period of great 
excitement, and as an offering to appease intense and morbid 
popular feeling. Such cases have not been unknown in history. 
That of the British Admiral Byng, though entirely unlike in the 
charge and the facts, was similar in the spirit prompting it ; but, 
in Admiral Byng's case, no witness important to the defence was 
dismissed by the prosecution without being heard ! 

A military commission was also constituted to try the alleged 
accomplices of Booth. Their investigations were prompt, and, 
according to their sentence, Harrold, Payne, Atzerott and Mrs. 
Surratt were hanged ; Arnold, Mudd and O'Laughlin were im- 
prisoned for life, and Spangler was sentenced for six years. ^ 
One of the Surratt family, supposed to be guilty as accessor}', 
escaped in time to a foreign country, and, though heard of, was 
never arrested and brought to trial. 

Before the death of President Lincoln he considered the war 
as so effectually ended that preparations to disband the armies 
were in progress. The armies of Grant and Sherman, two hun- 
dred thousand strong, passed in review before Lincoln and his 
cabinet. For twelve hours this grand procession of soldiers of 
all arms, thirty miles long, and with the infantr}- massed in solid 
column twenty men deep, poured through Pennsylvania avenue in 
Washington city. The violent death of the President did not 
interrupt the preparations for disbandment, and in less than six 
months a million of men had returned their arms to public ar- 

1 Hon. Ben Hill's statement, So. Hist. Papers, I. 219, Dr. Winder's paper, 220, 221. 
- Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 276. Thalheimer, 314. Goodrich, 469. 



The War, and Andrew yohnsoji'' s Presidency. 837 

senals, and quietly retired to the pursuits of private life.' Had 
the civilians of the country exhibited like spirit, peace and pros- 
perity would have sooner come. 

The proclamation of President Lincoln of January ist, 1S63, had 
wrought an important result ; but it had not destroyed slavery, 
even in his own opinion. It is worthy of note that in the 
" Hampton Roads Conference," of which we have already spoken, 
the subject of emancipating those who still remained slaves was 
freely discussed, and both President Lincoln and Secretary Se- 
ward expressed a willingness to use all their executive power and 
influence, and all their persuasive power over the Federal Con- 
gress, to effect a closing of the war on the terms that the seceded 
States should return to the Union, and that the slaves should be 
freed and paid for out of the public treasury, at least to the 
amount of four hundred millions of dollars, which sum was con- 
sidered as about the extra expense needed to force a termination 
by arms ;^ but no terms were agreed on. 

Early in 1S65 the United States Congress, by a vote of more 
than two-thirds of both Houses, proposed an amendment to the 
constitution, to the eflect that neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party 
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. This was assented 
to by more than three-fourths of the States then in the Union, and 
is now Article XHL of the amendments to the constitution. It 
has been since assented to by all the reconstructed States, and is 
a jDart of the supreme law of the land. 

President Andrew Johnson's view of the constitution and of 
the American system led him to adopt the opinion that the se- 
ceded States had never been constitutionally, nor actually, legally 
out of the Union. He considered that in each State, notwith- 
standing the general prevalence of rebellion (as he held it to be) 
among the people, there had always been a scintilla or remnant of 
loyalty to the United States constitution and Union, and that this 
had been enough to keep the State alive as a member of the Union. 

As a logical consequence, he put forth a proclamation of am- 
nesty on the 29th of May, 1S65, pardoning all the so-called 
"rebels" except certain designated classes, who were to make 
special prayer and have pardon accordingly if he deemed it ex- 
pedient to grant it. It is a curious illustration of the incoherency 
of his theories that among the excepted classes were to be all 

1 Prof. Steele, Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 281, 2S2. Goodrich, 469. 

8 Hampton Koads Conference, App. K, Stephens' Comp. U. S-, 1008, 1011, 



838 A History of the United States of America. 

persons in the South who were worth as much as twenty thousand 
dollars. Why they should be deemed worse rebels than those who 
were worth only two thousand or two hundred dollars he never 
explained ; but the exception brought quite a harvest of gain to 
a class of men who were already in the South, or flocking from 
the North to the South, and who were afterwards deservedly in- 
famous under the titles of " scalawags " and " carpet-baggers." 
At first they professed to be only " pardon-brokers " and peace- 
makers. They abounded most during the four years of Johnson's 
presidency, but were afterwards gradually sloughed off as morbid 
impurities by the return of health and strength to the recon- 
structed system. 

Carrying out his ideas, President Johnson, as commander-in- 
chief of the armies, appointed a provisional governor for North 
Carolina, and provided for calling a convention in that State, the 
members of which were to be chosen by voters qualified as re- 
quired before the war began. They were to adopt a new con- 
stitution, to repeal the Act of Secession, to assent to Article XIII. 
(destroying slavery), and to repudiate all obligations to pay 
Confederate bonds and notes. On her doing all this. North Car- 
olina was to be considered as in the Union, and entitled to all its 
privileges.* 

He also pursued the same course towards the States of Virginia, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louis- 
iana, Arkansas and Texas. 

Each one of these States acted according to the course indi- 
cated, and each seemed to be thus quietly restored to the Union. At 
the instance of the President, General Grant made a tour through 
the Southern States, setting out on the 27th of November, 1865, 
aud passing through Raleigh, Charleston, Atlanta, Augusta, Sa- 
vannah and other Southern cities. On his return he made a re- 
port, in which he said : " I am satisfied that the mass of think- 
ing people of the South accept the present situation of affairs in 
good faith. The questions which have hitherto divided the sen- 
timents of the people of the two sections — slavery and State- 
rights, or the right of a State to secede from the Union — they re- 
gard as having been settled forever by the highest tribunal — arms 
— that men can resort to.^ 

President Johnson was so well satisfied with the results of his 
policy that on Christmas day, the 25th of December, 1868, he is- 
sued a proclamation of universal amnesty — a pardon to all.' 

> Stephens' Comp. U. S., 840. = Ext. from Gen. Grant's report. Stephens' Comp. U. S., SIO- 

3 Prof. Steele, Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 282. 



The IVar, and Andrezu yohnso/i's Pi'esideJicy. 839 

But the mutterings of the storm of opposition began even in 
the congressional session of 1865— '66. It was not to be expected 
that the Southern States could come safely into the Union on a 
theory which made the great mass of their people "rebels "and 
" traitors." They were neither rebels nor traitors. To the theo- 
ries of Andrew Johnson and their temporary results might be 
aptly applied the words of the inspired prophet : " For they have 
healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly^ saying, 
Peace, peace ; when there is no peace." ^ 

The Congress of 1865— '66 contained men of ability, but men 
also of bitter prejudices against the lately slave-holding States. 
They soon manifested a purpose not only to repudiate President 
Johnson's theories of the government, but to undo his work and 
to force the lately seceded States to reconstruction upon princi- 
ples entirely at variance from those adopted by him. 

By a curious perversity, the only Southern State which he had 
not deemed it needful to include definitely in his system was his 
own State — Tennessee ; and this was the only State which the 
Congress admitted to the Union by admitting to Congress her 
senators and representatives.'' 

The Republican party had a controlling majority in both 
Houses, and they became more and more hostile to President 
Johnson. They were led by Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, 
and Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland. Their policy soon man- 
ifested itself, and was so revolutionary and so little in accord with 
the safest views of constitution and law that they obtained the title 
of " Radicals," which long clung to them.* 

They were the more dangerous because they held a part of the 
truth. They held that the seceded States, by their own action, by 
passing ordinances of secession, by arresting all Federal powers 
within them, by levying war and maintaining a long military 
contest with the States remaining in the Union, had really ceased 
to be vStates of that Union. They held that the States remaining 
in the Union had successfully maintained the war, and had sub- 
dued all armed opposition in the seceded States. Therefore, each 
of those States, though still a State, was out of the Union. If 
any one of them desired to be restored to the Union, it must come 
in on terms satisfactory to the United States Congress, which 
was the only department of the government having power to 
admit States into the Union.* 

So far their views were sound, and completely vindicated the 

1 Jeremiah viii. 11. - Prof. Johnston's U. S. Hist, and Const., 246. 

3 Berry's U. S., 330, 331. Blackburn & McDonald. 4S3. 
* Constitution of U. S., Art. IV., sec. 3, 1, 2, sec. 4. 



840 A History of the United States of America. 

people, officers and soldiers of the seceded States from all charge 
of being either " rebels " or " traitors." 

But the central error of the radical party was this : that they 
acted upon the theory that the Congress had unlimited authority 
over the subdued States, and might not only hold them in chains 
of military jDower after peace was restored and officially declared, 
but might impose upon them any terms they thought proper, 
however unjust, unreasonable, unwise, and oppressive, as condi- 
tions precedent to their re-admission to the Union. 
. This was a palpable error. The seceded States had, it is true, 
left the former Union, thrown off the Federal constitution, and 
renounced its benefits ; but the United States Congress remained 
bound by its wise spirit and provisions, and were bound to apply 
them in settling the terms on which a subdued State should be 
re-admitted. Though the facts were unprecedented, the principles 
applicable to them were familiar and of long standing. 

But, in truth, the radicals in the Congress were startled and 
alarmed at the consequences of their own action. The Thirteenth 
Amendment had destroyed slavery, and had, therefore, made all 
the negroes and mulattoes of the (former) slave States elements 
to be counted in full in estimating the I'epresentatives to which 
those States would be entitled in the Congress. This would 
greatly increase the number of their representatives ; and if these 
representatives were to be chosen by the white voters only, accord- 
ing to the constitutions in force before the war, they would be a 
formidable power in Congress. 

These fears, and the fixed purpose to keep their own party in 
power, were the controlling motives which inflamed the hostility 
of the radicals against President Johnson, and induced them to 
adopt a S3'stem of reconstruction for the seceded States, so unwise, 
cruel and oppressive, and so subversive of the true jDrinciples of 
the Federal Union and constitution, that its evils have continued 
ever since, and are more and more threatening as the years of the 
nation pass. 

The first step of the radicals was to pass, by a vote of two- 
thirds of Congress, and submit to the States, the Fourteenth 
iVmendment. This \vas partly aimed against the " Dred Scott" 
decision, upon which we have already commented ; but was in- 
tended, also, for the purposes of the reconstruction already con- 
templated by the radical leaders. The senators and representatives 
froin Tennessee voted on it, but those from the "ten" States re- 
constructed under President Johnson's plan were not permitted to 
vote.^ 

1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 8il. 



The War, and Andrezv Johnson s Presidency. 841 

This Amendment XIV. made all persons born in the United 
States citizens. Section second provided that representation 
should be apportioned according to total population, excluding 
only Indians not taxed ; but it further provided that when, in any- 
State, the right to vote should be denied to any of the male inhab- 
itants of such State being twenty -one years old and citizens of the 
United States, the basis of representation therein should be reduced 
in according proportion. Section third imposed disability upon any 
person who had ever taken an oath officially to support the con- 
stitution of the United States and afterwards engaged in insur- 
rection or rebellion ; but the Congress might, by a vote of two- 
thirds of each House, remove such disability.^ 

The " ten " States all voted against this amendment ; but their 
votes were rejected. It is a noteworthy fact that if they were in 
the Union the Fourteenth Amendment was never adopted, for 
without those " ten " States three-fourths of the States did not 
vote for the amendment ; but the radicals in Congress did not 
trouble themselves with this question. Rejecting entirely these 
"ten" States, and admitting only Tennessee, who voted for the 
amendment, they declared it adopted. 

At the next session of Congress the radical majority passed an 
act unprecedented in all the past history of republics. They de- 
clared the " ten " States to be still in rebellion, although they 
were perfectly quiet; they divided them up into five military 
departments and placed a military chief and subordinate officers 
and soldiers over each, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 
all, removed all State officers, and put the power of appointment 
in the military hand. They then provided that this state of sub- 
jection to martial law should continue in each State until it should 
adopt a new constitution, the effect of which v.ould be to admit 
the former slaves over twenty-one years of age to full right 
of suffrage, and make them voters on the same footing with the 
whites.^ 

Thus the deepest principles of the constitution were uprooted. 
That instrument had been founded on the fixed canon that each 
State should settle, by its own constitution, the qualifications of 
its voters, and that these voters should choose representatives and 
electors for the Federal system.' To permit the United States 
Congress to dictate beforehand what qualifications should be re- 
quired for a voter in a State was to overthrow the equilibrium of 
the Federal system. 

' Amendment XIV. Holmes, 331. Goodrich, 520. 
2 Stephens, 841-843. Barnes, 283. Derrv, 331. 
8 Constitution, Art. I., sec. 2. Art. II. i, 2, 3. 



842 A History of the United States of America. 

In several of the Northern States the right to vote had been 
constitutionally denied to negroes ; and interference by the Con- 
gress would have been resented as an outrage. Of the primitive 
" thirteen," Connecticut had confined the right to vote to white 
males over twenty-one years old who could read and write ; ^ and 
Ohio, formed out of the Northwestern territory to which the 
great ordinance of 1787 applied, had confined the right to vote to 
white citizens of full age.^ 

The policy of the radicals in compelling the " ten " States of 
the South to admit the recently freed negroes to the right of vot- 
ing on all the matters of repi-esentation and of legislation affect- 
ing life, health, society, business, virtue, education, crime and pun- 
ishment, was not merely a blunder — a grievous political error — 
but a sin against the laws of God. 

As to the providential events which gave to the negroes their 
freedom and destroyed slavery, the peojjle of the South promptly 
recognized in them a guiding and Divine Power, in whose decision 
they humbly acquiesced ; but the right to vote stood on a totally 
different footing. 

Had the compulsion exercised by the Congress been that the 
" ten " States should adopt constitutions giving the right and 
power to vote to all male children twelve years of age, the world 
would have stood amazed at such a spectacle of folly, imbecility 
and wrong ; but it would have been far better to have done this 
than to require the right and power to vote to be given to all 
male negroes over twenty-one years of age. They had all the ig- 
norance, weakness and unfitness of children, added to matured de- 
pravity, prejudice and partisanship. In fact, it was the belief 
that they would all vote for radical representatives and radical 
measures which led the radicals of the Congress to pass this act 
for reconstruction — the most unwise, unstatcsmanlike, cruel and 
injurious ever adopted in the history of the United States. 

President Johnson promptly vetoed the bill and returned it with 
his objections ; but it was as promptly passed over his veto by a 
vote of tw^o-thirds of each Ilouse.^ The estrangement between 
the executive and the legislative departments had already assumed 
the sharpness of war. In 1S66 the Congress had passed a bill 
erecting a " Freedmen's Bureau," intended specially to sustain 
the negroes of the South in political power. The President ve- 
toed it and it was passed over his veto. The same events took 
place as to the bill admitting Nebraska as a State, in 1S67, with 

^Art. Connecticut, Amer. Eiicyclop. - Art. Ohio, Amer. Encyclop. 

^ Prof. Johnston's U. S., 217. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 843. 



The War^ and Andreiv Johnson'' s Presidency. 843 

equal suffrage for blacks and whites, and as to the " Civil Rights 
Bill " in the same year, which was a futile attempt to compel rail- 
road and steamboat lines, hotels and theatres, to force ttie com- 
mingling of black and white people.' 

Finally, in order as far as possible to weaken the President 
during the vacation. Congress passed the " Tenure of Office Bill," 
making the consent of the Senate necessary in order to the re- 
moval by the President of any person from civil office.^ This was 
a direct attack on the independence of a co-ordinate department 
of the Federal government. The President vetoed the bill. It 
was passed over his veto. Soon afterwards the Congress ad- 
journed. 

The President, not approving of the temper and policy of Sec- 
retary Stanton, removed him from office. Stanton refused to 
leave, but the President was firm. When the Congress re-assem- 
bled, articles of impeachment were presented against the Presi- 
dent on the 33d of February, 186S, by the House of Representa- 
tives, for removing Mr. Stanton and other alleged acts of malfeas- 
ance. The trial was by the Senate. 

Chief-Justice Taney had died on the i3th of October, 1864. 
He was in his eighty-eighth year, and had presided in the court 
with eminent dignity and ability for twenty-eight years. Presi- 
dent Lincoln appointed his Secretary of the Treasurv, Salmon 
P. Chase, to be Chief-Justice. He was confirmed by the Senate, 
and discharged his difficult duties with noted strength and suc- 
cess, having solved by his decisions some of the most intricate 
questions arising from the war and relating to contracts founded 
on Confederate treasury notes. 

Chief-Justice Chase presided in the Senate on the impeachment 
trial of President Johnson. It resulted in an acquittal on the 
26th of May, 1868, by a failure, by one vote only, to secure the 
needed number.^ 

The rule of " carpet-baggers " and " scalawags " in the South 
being intolerable, and the military rule doing nothing to relieve it, 
the " ten " States began to look anxiously for an}- door of exit 
therefrom. Unjust and unwise as the compulsion of negro suffrage 
was, they preferred to encounter its perils rather than remain 
under martial law. Constitutions were adopted accordingly, and 
Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina 
and South Carolina were admitted to the LTnion and to represen- 
tation in Congress on the 34th of June, 1868. Georgia was after- 

' Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 283, and note. - Barnes, 283. Johnston, 247, 

* Stephens' Comp. U. S., 813. Barnes, 2*1. Johnston, 217. 



844 -^ History of the United States of America. 

wards excluded because she refused to vote for the Fifteenth 
Amendment ; but in 1S70 she was restored, and Mississippi, Texas 
and Virginia were all admitted.^ 

The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed late in President John- 
son's term, and adopted. It provided that the right of citizens to 
vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servifude. 

The acts of the European powers, so far as they affected North 
America at all, had tended to prolong the war. In the fall of 
1861, the Confederate States authorities sent James M. Mason, of 
Virginia, as embassador to England, and John Slidell, of Louis- 
iana (a native of New York, but thoroughly Southern in opinions 
and sympathies), as embassador to France. Mr. Mason was 
accompanied by his secretary, Mr. Macfarland, and Mr. Slidell by 
his wife and his two daughters, Mathilde and Rosine, and his sec- 
retary, Mr. Eustis, with his wife, who was a daughter of Mr. Cor- 
coran, an enlightened and wealthy banker of the city of Washing- 
ton, then confined in Fort Lafayette because of his Southern affilia- 
tions and sympathies. 

Messrs. Mason and Slidell, with their party, successfully eluded 
the blockade, landed in Havana, Cuba, and on the 7th of Novem- 
ber, 1861, took passage for England on the British mail-steamer 
Trent^ Commander Williams, an officer of the British navy. She 
carried the mails for England. 

Capt. Charles Wilkes, commanding the Federal war-steamer 
San yacitito, was in those seas. He had general instructions to 
arrest the Confederate officials if possible, but no special instruc- 
tions to seize them in a neuti^al ship.^ But by a superficial read- 
ing of a law book aboard his ship, he had satisfied himself of his 
authority to take forcibly from a neutral vessel the persons of 
these embassadors. He acted accordingly. He brought the Trent 
to a stand, November Sth, by firing a round shot across her bows, 
to which she paid no attention, and then firing a shell, which ex- 
ploded so near her bow that her further progress would have been 
reckless imprudence. Wilkes then sent Lieutenant Fairfax (a 
Virginian related to Mr. Mason) with armed marines aboard the 
Trent^ and by a show of force, and against the protest of Captain 
Williams, removed Messrs. Mason, Slidell, Macfarland and Eustis 
to the San facinto. No written dispatches were found on their 
persons. The Trent, with the ladies of their families, was al- 
lowed to proceed.^ 

iDerr>-'s U. S., 332-334. 2 wilkes' official report. So. Lit. Mess., 1803, p. 043. 

3 New York Herald, Nov. 18. Correspondence between Earl Russell, Lord Lyons and Mr. 
Seward. 



7^he War, and Andrcxv yohnsons Presidency. 84:; 

When she reached England her news wrought the English peo- 
ple to high excitement. The government promptly made prepa- 
rations for war, and demanded from the United States release of 
the arrested parties and a suitable apolog}' for the aggression. 

In the South fervid hopes were aroused that these events would 
lead to a war between Great Britain and the United States, which 
could hardly fail to secure the recognition and independence of 
the Confederate States ; but all such hopes were speedily blasted. 
Secretary Seward's reply to the complaint and demand of Eng- 
land soon appeared. It was one of the most elaborate and astute 
of his State papers. 

He sought to maintain four propositions : first, that the per- 
sons of Mason, Slidell, IVIacfarland and Eustis (and their supposed 
dispatches) were contraband of war ; second, that Captain Wilkes 
lawfully stopped and searched the Trent for them ; third, that he 
exercised this right in a lawful and proper manner ; fourth, that, 
having found the contraband persons on board, and in presumed 
possession of the contraband dispatches, he had a right to capture 
the persons.' But Mr. Seward thus reached a fifth question, 
which was : Did Captain Wilkes exercise the right of capture in 
the manner allowed and recognized by the law of nations? Upon 
this question, Mr. Seward said : "It is just here that the difficulty 
of the case begins." 

His conclusion was that such a question must be so decided as 
to bring the rights of the captured to judicial decision ; that the 
captor could not be allowed to decide it on the neutral vessel's 
deck ; that the persons or property seized might not be contraband 
of war at all, and that the proper mode of securing such judicial 
decision was by taking possession of the Trent with the persons 
and papers, if any, and bringing them to the United .States for ad- 
judication in the admiralty courts. As this had not been done, 
Mr. Seward considered the mode of capture illegal, and directed 
•' the four persons in question " to be released from Fort Warren 
and delivered as Lord Lyons might indicate. 

They were conveyed to England, but without triumph, and 
without benefit to the Southern cause. Thev were coldly received, 
and never diplomatically recognized ; and thus was the war pro- 
longed. 

The unscrupulous adventurer Louis Napoleon had risen to the 

head of the great empire of France by a series of strange events, 

which were set in motion chiefly by his name, his bold coups d'etat 

and his ambition. Early in the war between the States of Amer- 

' Seward's letter to Lord Lyons, Dec. 26, 1861, 



846 A History of the United States of America. 

ica he had, in general, concurred with Great Britain in his policy 
towards the belligerents ; but as the struggle continued he adopted 
measures indicating his strong sympathies with the cause of abso- 
lutism in Europe and his desire to extend it to America. 

Mexico, with all her vast natural wealth, had never long main- 
tained a stable and wise government competent to rule the people 
for their good. After the revolution which overthrew the Spanish 
dominion, she established a republic modeled on that of the United 
States. But her heterogeneous population, made up of a few old 
Spaniards and pure Spanish families and a multitude of mixed 
races in which the blood of Indians, negroes and degenerate whites 
mingled itself, was not well fitted for the safest exercise of self- 
government. Revolution had followed on the heels of revolution. 
Santa Anna had overthrown the confederated State system and 
established a centralized despotism bearing the name, but not the 
spirit, of a republic, and with himself as dictator. He had been 
driven out in 18^3. 

But he was soon followed by another revolution, in which Al- 
monte came to the front — a man who governed like an outlaw, 
and made the people outlaws, given to robbery and outrage, pub- 
lic and private. 

With difficulty he was displaced and banished. The govern- 
ment of President Juarez gave evidence of stability and of sound 
republican principles. He was at the head of the " Liberals " ; 
and the " Church party " was the only one who really disturbed 
his government. Their corruptions, immense wealth, obtained 
under the influence of superstition, and their fears of the free 
principles of Juarez' government, inclined them to seek a mon- 
archy for the country in the person of a member of some European 
dynasty.^ 

England, France, Spain and the United States all had claims 
against Mexico, founded, to some extent, on loans, but to a much 
larger extent on losses and injuries, public and private, arising from 
the lawless courses of the Mexican people. The English claim was 
almost entirely in Alexican bonds, and amounted to more than 
sixty million dollars ; the Spanish claims, and those of English 
people who had suffered from Mexican outrages, had been esti- 
mated by convention at about seven million dollars and five mil- 
lion dollars respectively. The French claim was only for inju- 
ries, and had been estimated at only two hundred and sixty-three 
thousand four hundred and ninety dollars. The United States 
claims amounted to at least ten million dollars.^ 

1 An. Amer. Encyc, 18<33, pp. 631, 633. 2 Statement in An. Amer. Eucyc, 1861, p. 465. 



The War, and Andrew yohnsoii's Presidency. 847 

Not being able to obtain payment othei-wise, on the 31st of Oc- 
tober, 1861, Spain, England and France entered into a convention 
to send a force, naval and military, to the waters of Mexico. It 
was expressly declared that they had no intention of " wasting 
powder and shot b}' waging territorial war upon Mexico."^ The 
plan was to take possession of Vera Ci'uz and all other import- 
ant sea-ports of Mexico, and collect customs and similar taxes, to 
be applied to the liquidation of their claims, after allowing to 
Mexico enough to support moderately her government. They 
even made provision for inviting the United States to accede to 
and share the benefits of their plan.^ 

The Spanish forces, naval and land, amounted to eleven thou- 
sand two hundred and fifty men ; the English to ten thousand 
four hundred and twenty-three sailors and marines, and the 
French to seven thousand and fifty -eight. On the 8th of Decem- 
ber, 1861, the Spanish fleet and transports arrived oft' Vera Cruz. 
The others soon followed. Of course, Mexico had no force ade- 
quate to resist. Under instructions from President Juarez, Vera 
Cruz was evacuated. The other ports were soon occupied, and 
the plan was set in motion and kept in operation for some time. 
Large sums were thus collected. 

But in 1862 the artful ulterior purposes of Louis Napoleon 
began to appear. It became obvious that the payment of the 
small money claims of France was not what he really sought. 
Differences and alienations among the commanding officers of the 
three forces arose and waxed wider and wider, until, after several 
angry interviews, on the 8th of April, 1S62, the Spanish and 
English commanders-in-chief left Orizaba, returned to Vera Cruz 
with their forces, embarked on their ships and transports, and left 
the French alone in Mexico. Their governments at Madrid and 
London approved their course.' 

jSIcanwhile the outlaw Almonte had been permitted by the 
allies to return to Mexico, against the earnest protest of President 
Juarez. He remained quiet for awhile, but soon began again, 
with the aid of malcontents, a system of robbery, outrage and 
cruelty, which gave the French ample pretext for marching into 
the interior. Their troops had suftered heavy losses on the coast 
from malaria and yellow fever. Early in October, 1863, General 
Forey arrived w^ith thirty -five thousand fresh troops — part of them 
negro soldiers from Egypt, lent to the Emperor Louis Napoleon 
by Said Pasha.* 

1 Convention and statement, An. Amer. Encyclop., 1861, pp. 466, 467. 

2 Art. 4th, Convention. 3 An. Amer. Eacyclop., 1862, p. 584. 
« An. Amer. Encyclop., 1862, p. 684. 



848 -A History of the United States of America, 

Their arrival, however, and speedy march for conquest worked 
a happy change in the Mexicans, and united nearly all parties in 
opposition to the purposes of the French. Santa Anna had ven- 
tured over from Havana and had been permitted to land by Mar- 
shal Bazaine upon his express agreement that he \vould abstain 
from politics, and act and speak merely as a private citizen ; but 
Santa Anna could not keep quiet, and, as his views did not accord 
with the French plan. Marshal Bazaine courteously, but definitely, 
ordered him to leave. He returned to Havana.' 

The purpose of Louis Napoleon to establish a monarchy in 
Mexico under some member of the European royal families and 
of the "Latin race" — the race least favorable to constitutional 
freedom — was shown earh' in 1863. In his letter to General 
Forey, of July 3d, 1862, he said : "It is not at all to our interest 
that she (meaning the United States) should grasp the whole 
Gulf of Mexico, rule thence the Antilles as well as South Amer- 
ica, and be the sole dispenser of the products of the New World. 
If, on the contraiy, Mexico preserve its independence and main- 
tain the integrity of its territory, if a stable government be there 
established with the aid of France, Ave shall have restored to the 
Latin race on the other side of the ocean its force and its pres- 
tige ; we shall have guaranteed the safety of our own and the 
Spanish colonies in the Antilles ; we shall have established our be- 
nign influence in the centre of America ; and this influence, while 
creating immense outlets for our commerce, will procure the raw 
material, which is indispensable to our industry. Mexico, thus 
regenerated, will always be favorable to us, not only from grati- 
tude, but also because her interests will be identical with our 
OAvn, and because she will find support in the good-will of Euro- 
pean powers."^ 

The disciplined PVench armies speedily gained decisive suc- 
cesses over the Mexican levies, who, however, fought bravely and 
successfully at several points. Juarez, with his cabinet, retired to 
San Luis Potosi, in western Mexico ; but he retained his author- 
ity, and the vast proportion of the people were with him. 

Meanwhile a small body of Mexicans, whom Juarez properly 
described as " traitors," representing the "Church party " and the 
immediate creatures of the French power, went over to Europe, 
and, under the advice and inspiration of Louis Napoleon, and 
with the interested assent of a band of two hundred and fifteen 
people in Mexico calling themselves the "Assembly of Notables," 

lAn. Amer. Encyclop.,1864, pp. 518, 519. 

2 Louis Napoleon's letter, July 3d, 1862. An. Amer. Encyelop., p. 643. 



The War, and Andrctv yolinsoji's Presidency. 849 

offered to the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, a sceptre of solid 
gold, representing the crown, under the title of " Emperor of 
Mexico." He professed to be " touched very deeply," but de- 
clared : " I must make my acceptance of the throne dependent 
upon a. plebiscite of the whole country." ' This was on the 3d of 
October, 1S63, at the castle of jSIiramar, in the neighborhood of 
Trieste. 

'^o plebiscite, no vote of the people of the whole country, was 
ever taken. The French arinies were in power in several pro- 
vinces, but they were too shrewd to make any such pretence. 
General Bazaine busied himself with regulating and lowering 
the high pretensions of the "Church party," and especially of the 
archbishop and bishops, who held property and revenues amount- 
ing to about three hundred million dollars, including fifty million 
dollars in the shape of incumbrances for performance of masses, 
and embracing more than one-third of all the real estate in the 
country.^ 

As the French armies held the country and the people seemed 
cpiiet, it was not difficult to convince Maximilian that they all 
desired him to be "emperor," although no popular vote had so 
declared. A small deputation of "traitors" again went to Eu- 
rope, and, on the loth of April, 1864, he received them at his 
castle of ]Miramar and listened to their specious and false assur- 
ances. He made an address in Spanish, accepting the title and 
position of emperor, and ending with the words : " Upon the 
way to my new country it is my intention to visit Rome to re- 
ceive from the hands of the holy father those benedictions so 
precious to all sovereigns, and which are doubly important to me 
as called upon to found a new empire."^ 

He was accompanied to Mexico by his wife, jNIaria Carlotta, 
daughter of the King of Belgium. They had no children. A 
grand display was gotten up at his entry into the City of Mexico, 
June i3th, 1S64 ; but the people looked on in silence and secret 
disgust. Letters "of pacification" were sent out to many prom- 
inent persons ; among them, one was sent to President Juarez. 
He replied in a letter of the keenest irony and satire, ending 
however, with some pregnant sentences of warning."^ 

It was not to be expected that, amid all these ominous events, 
the United States government looked on with indifference and 
forgetfulness of the " Monroe doctrine," which we have hereto- 

1 Archdulce Maximilian's reply to deputation. An. Amer. Encyclop., 1863. p. 637. 

- Estimates and letters. An. Amer. Kncyclop., 1863, pp. 631-644. 

3 Archduke Maximilian's address, An. Amer. Encyclop., 1864, p. 519. 

* Letter of Benito Juarez to ' ' the Agent of Napoleon. ' ' An. Amer. Encyclop. , pp. r)21, 522. 

54 



850 A History of the United States of America. 

fore explained ; but the pending war imposed a difficult and 
delicate task on Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State. His coun- 
try was not in condition to maintain the " Monroe doctrine " by 
arms ; therefore he did what he could during the war. Through 
Mr. Dayton, the minister to France, he informed the French em- 
peror that the United States did not claim the right to control 
the people of Mexico in the establishment of any form of gov- 
ernment which they might freely choose to establish, but that 
the American government was well aware that the normal opin- 
ion of the Alexican people favored a republic in preference to 
any monarchical institutions " to be imposed from abroad," and 
that widely-spread evils would come from such attempts.' 

In the House of Representatives, on the 4th April, 1864, Henry 
Winter Davis, of Maryland, introduced a resolution to the effect 
" that it did not accord with the policy of the United States to 
acknowledge any monaixhical government erected on the ruins of 
any republican government in America, under the auspices of any 
European power." '■^ This resolution was passed by a vote of yeas, 
one hundred and nine, nays, none. In the Senate it was referred 
to a committee, who failed to report. But Mr. Dayton, in his 
communications to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, fre- 
quently stated that any action of the French government inter- 
fering with the form of government in Mexico would be looked 
upon with dissatisfaction by the United vStates.^ 

In the latter part of 1864, although General Grant felt assured 
that, by his system of persevering attrition and abrasion, he would 
exhaust the Southern armies ; yet he shared the fears of President 
Lincoln and Secretary Stanton that, as a last resort, the Con- 
federate armed forces would pass from Texas into Mexico, join 
the French, and uphold the empire of Maximilian. 

There was really little danger of this, as most of the leading 
Confederates were as much opposed to a monarchy in JMexico up- 
held by the bayonets of the adventurer Louis Napoleon as were the 
Federals ; but the danger seemed sufficient to justify extraordinary 
pi'eventives. Armed with Lincoln's authority. Gen. Lew Wallace 
went secretly to Brazos Santiago, an island near the mouth of the 
Rio Grande, where the United States still held a military post. 
Here he put himself in communication with General Carvajal, 
commanding a remnant of Juarez' republican forces in the moun- 
tains of Tamaulipas. Carvajal came on with General Wallace to 
Washington, conferred with Romero, the Mexican minister, and, 

1 Seward to Dayton, Sept. 22d, 18C3. An. Amer. Encvclop., p. 644. 

« Resolution, An. Amer. Encyelop., 1804, p. 314. 3 Dayton's letter, 528. 



The War, and Andrezv yoknson's Presidency. 851 

with fhe secret aid of the United States, bought and forwarded 
very large quantities of the best arms and munitions, which went 
to the armies of Juarez, and enabled them to cope successfully 
with the French invaders, and finally to overthrow Alaximilian's 
pretence of empire.^ 

And very soon after the close of the War between the States 
the United States government gave notice to France that she 
would be expected, as soon as practicable, to withdraw her ar- 
mies from jSIexico.^ Louis Napoleon did not feel it to be safe to 
neglect this admonition. He withdrew his forces, including the 
" foreign legion," which had a motley collection of troops from 
many nations. He invited, even urged, Maximilian to with- 
draw with them ; but that unfortunate archduke, led astray by 
certain quixotic notions of honor and of assumed duty to a coun- 
try which had never chosen him emperor, refused to leave Mexico. 

Some time before his downfall his unhappy wife, Carlotta, had 
shown such evidences of insanity that she had been removed from 
Mexico and carried back to Europe. It is not impossible that 
"coming events cast their shadows before them" over her sensi- 
tive spirit ; but those writers who attribute her mental malady 
to her husband's misfortunes commit distinct anachronism.* She 
was descended from a family in which insanity was hereditarv, 
and her malady began to appear long before her husband's down- 
fall. 

If IMaximilian had ever, in good faith, believed that the Mexi- 
can people desired him as emperor, and desired that his empire 
should rise on the ruins of their popular government, he was 
effectually undeceived by the events following the withdrawal of 
the French armies. He found himself without soldiers and with- 
out friends. The republican forces advanced on him, and at 
Qiiefetaro he was besieged. Pretended followers proved treach- 
erous, and he fell into the hands of the Alexicans. He was tried 
by a military court, sentenced and shot to death with musketry on 
the 19th of June, 1S67.* He deserved death, for his crime was 
the gravest possible against the laws of nations, being an attempt, 
carried out in overt act, to force himself as monarch and by for- 
eign arms upon a republic whose people never invited nor desired 
him. 

The financial system adopted by the South contributed to the 
causes of the long duration of the war, as well as to the disas- 

1 A Chapter of Secret History. Detroit Tribune. Philadelphia Pres., Nov. 2cl, 1SS9. 

2D. 15. Scott, 387. Barnes, '285. Holmes, 2cr.. Derrv, 3:!3. 

3 Ex. Thalheiraer's Eclec. U. S., 320. Prof. Fisher's Outlines of History. 

* Holmes' U. S., 266. Scudder's U. S., 423. 



852 A History of the United States oj" America. 

trous result to her people. Had she really anticipated serious war, 
she had it in her power, during the five months between the elec- 
tion of President Lincoln and the outbreak of actual hostilities, 
to send enormous quantities of cotton out to Europe, and espe- 
cially to England and France, where it would have been safe from 
hostile seizure or confiscation and would have been a gold basis 
for her operations. 

But it is easy to look backward at failures. To look forward 
is not in the power of man, except to a limited and deluding ex- 
tent. The South conducted her movement of secession and sub- 
sequent war as revolutionary movements have been generally 
conducted in modern times, and with the same general results. 
Her Confederate bonds bore eight per cent, annual interest, and 
were at first eagerly taken up by men, women, guardians, trustees 
and other fiduciaries. These investments were authorized by 
State legislation. Her Confederate treasury notes were poured 
out year after year, and with constantly increasing depreciation in 
value as their volume increased and as they were brought into con- 
tact with the gold standard. In May, 1864, the following were 
prices for needed articles in Confederate notes : " Boots, two hun- 
dred dollars ; coats, three hundred and fifty dollars ; pantaloons, 
one hundred dollars ; shoes, one hundred and twenty-five dollars ; 
flour, two hundred and seventy-five dollars per barrel ; meal, sixty 
to eighty dollars per bushel ; bacon, nine dollars per pound ; chick- 
ens, thirty dollars a pair ; shad, twenty dollars each ; potatoes, 
twenty-five dollars a bushel ; turnip greens, four dollars a peck ; 
white beans, four dollars per quart, or one hundred and twenty 
dollars per bushel ; butter, fifteen dollars a pound ; wood, fifty 
dollars per cord."' 

And the prices increased, so that in 1865 eleven hundred dollars 
was i^aid for a barrel of flour ! 

The actual loss in property (estimating the slaves as property) 
sustained by the people of the Southern States by the war and its 
results, has never been a subject of accurate computation. It has 
been estimated by competent minds at a sum as high as six thou- 
sand million dollars in gold ! ^ 

The United States, having greater resources, established credit, 
and the world open to them, had managed their financial opera- 
tions without serious difficulties. In fact, the war itself rather 
increased their mechanical and business successes. Early in the 
struggle Secretary Chase, of the Treasury Department, had intro- 

1 A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, quoted by Prof. Johnston's U. S., 223, 224. 
2 This was Prof. M. F. Maurj-'s estimate. 



The War, and Audrezu yohnson^ s Presidency. 853 

duced the system of national banks, whose issues of paper cui"- 
rency were to be founded on the purchase by them of United States 
certificates of debt. This greatly aided the government, and sus- 
tained for a long time the purchasing value of the paj^er currency. 

Yet it soon fell below the gold standard, and reached, on the 
i6th of July, 1S64, its greatest depreciation, which was two hun- 
dred and eighty-five dollars in treasury legal-tender notes to one 
hundi'ed dollars in gold.^ As the Federal prospects of success 
improved, this depreciation grew less, and on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1S64, was two hundred and seventeen dollars in such notes to 
one hundred dollars in gold. 

The maximum point of the United States debt was reached 
August 31st, iS6i^, when it was two billion eight hundred and 
forty-five million nine hundred and seven thousand six hundred 
and twenty-six dollars and fifty-six cents. This huge amount 
seemed sufficient to crush the nation ; yet such were the activities 
and sources of wealth in the country that, in 1866, before all the 
troops in the Federal armies were disbanded, the debt had been 
diminished by seventy-one millions of dollai's.^ 

In 1867, Mr. Seward negotiated with the diplomatic agents of 
the great Russian empire a treaty by which the country known 
as " Alaska," with all waters and water-rights appurtenant and 
all Russian territory and rights in that region, was sold and trans- 
ferred to the United States for the sum of seven million two 
hundred thousand dollars.^ Many persons at the time of the 
treaty regarded the acquisition as of small value ; but subsequent 
events have vindicated the wisdom of the purchase. 

During this period the attention of scientists and tourists was 
turned to the " Northern Wonder Land " in the northwestern cor- 
ner of Wyoming Territory. It so abounded in marvelous, grand 
and beaiitiful natural scenery, great volcanoes, spouting hot 
springs, and mountain ranges and broad basins and green dells, 
that it was thought worthy of permanent preservation as a na- 
tional reserve. Movements looking to this were commenced dur- 
ing President Johnson's term, and in February, 1872, an act of 
Congress was passed, setting aside an area, containing these won- 
ders, estimated at three thousand five hundred and seventy-five 
square miles of land. This is called " The Yellowstone National 
Park," and is worthy of an enlightened and cultured people. It 
is withdraw^n from settlement, occupancy or sale, and dedicated to 
the purposes of a public park and pleasure ground.* 

1 Table in An. Amer. Encvclop., 1864, p. 377. 

2 Prof. Johnston's U. S., 2ij. Prof. Steele, Barnes A Co.'s U. S., 283. 
3 D. B. Scott's U. S., 389. < Stephens' Comp. U, S., 846, 846. 



854 -4 History of the United States of America, 

In the fall of 1868 came on another presidential election. The 
Democratic party held their convention in the city of New York, 
and on the 4th of July put in nomination Horatio Seymour, of 
New York, for President, and Gen. Francis P. Blair, of IMissouri, 
for Vice-President. Their platform denounced in definite terms 
the reconstruction policy and measures, and declared them uncon- 
stitutional, null and void. 

The Republicans, including the radicals, met at Chicago on 
the 19th of Mav, and put in nomination Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, 
of Illinois, for President, antl Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, for 
Vice-President. In his reply to their letter of nomination. Gene- 
ral Grant, accepting it, made no allusion to politics, but announced 
his policy in the simple words : "Let us have peace." ^ 

The result was that Grant and Colfax received two hundred and 
seventeen electoral votes, and Seymour and Blair received only 
seventy -seven. Grant and Colfax were elected. 

But the popular vote was somewhat significant. It was two 
million nine hundred and eighty-five thousand and thirty-one 
against two million six hundred and forty-eight thousand eight 
hundred and thirty, showing a majority of only three hundred 
and thirty-six thousand two hundred and one for the Repub- 
licans. The negroes in the reconstructed and other States had 
been made voters. Virginia, Mississippi and Texas, not having 
been re-admitted to the Union, were not allowed to vote. Had 
they voted, it is probable the popular majority would have been 
for the Democratic candidates, though the electoral majority ^vould 
still have been for Grant and Colfax. 

President Johnson retii^ed, at the close of his term, to his home 
in Greenville, Tennessee. He was more popular than ever in his 
own State. He was afterwards elected to the United States Sen- 
ate. He was a strong man, and a patriot according to his views 
of duty. 

1 Stephen's Comp. U. S., 846. 



CHAPTER LX. 
The Presidency of Ulysses vS. Grant. 

THE presidency of Ulysses S. Grant may be considered as clos- 
ing the epoch of history of the United »States contemplated in 
this work, and set forth in one of the opening chapters as the ad- 
vance of the human race under three heads : 

First, The self-government of man. 

Second. The religious rights and knowledge of man. 

Third. Human slavery. 

For, in each one of these three great avenues of advance, the 
triumph, as shown in this history, had been complete and deci- 
sive. 

First. Every vestige of monarchy had been uprooted and de- 
stroyed. The right of man to self-government had been vindi- 
cated, and the power of men, when cultured and elevated in 
morality, to govern themselves had been demonstrated. 

Second. Perfect fi'eedom in religion had been established by 
the destruction of hoary superstition and the final divorce be- 
tween church and state — a divorce so perfect that civil govern- 
ment in the United States, whether Federal or State, "knows no 
heresy, and is committed to the support of no dogma, the estab- 
lishment of no sect." ' And yet, in no country is Christianity, in 
her highest and purest doctrines and influence, more cherished by 
the prevalent numbers and power of the people than in the United 
States. 

Third. Human slavery had been extirpated by the results of a 
war of four years, which began when the institution was in its 
fullest vigor and in the most benign form ever known, and when 
it was upheld by six millions of enlightened Christian people ; 
but which, under the wise rulings of an all-powerful Providence, 
resulted in the final destruction of slavery, not merely in the 
United States, but in every other civilized nation of the earth. 

Therefore, nothing more will be needed in completing this his- 
tory than a glance at important subsequent events, as they af- 
fected the general happiness and prosperity of the people, axad at 

1 Justice Miller, in Watsou vs. Jones, Wallace lotb. Sup. Ct. Kep., 728. 
[ 855 ] 



856 A Histo}'y of the United States of America. 

the condition of the African race, who had been so unwisely made 
an element of anxiety and disturbance in the body politic. 

General Grant entered upon his duties as President on the 4th 
of March, 1869, in the forty-seventh year of his age. His inau- 
gural address was brief, pointed, worthy of a soldier. He said 
he should have no policy of his own, except to execute the laws 
as made by the legislative department and expounded by the ju- 
diciary. "fLaws," he said, "are to govern all alike — those op- 
posed as well as those who favor them. I know of no method to 
secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their 
stringent execution."^ This was a weighty utterance. 

For his cabinet he at first nominated Elihu B. Washburne, of 
Illinois, Secretary of State ; Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, 
of the Treasury ; John D. Rawlins, of Illinois, of War ; Adolph 
E. Borie, of Pennsylvania, of the Navy ; Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, 
of the Interior ; John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland, Postmaster- 
General ; and ElDcnezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts, Attorney- 
General. But it was soon ascertained that Mr. Stewart, who was 
a great dry-goods merchant, was involved in questions of custom 
duties, which disqualified him as head of the Treasury Depart- 
ment. George S. Boutwell, of INIassachusetts, was substituted for 
him. Mr. Washburne also, being appointed minister to France, 
gave up the State Department, and Hamilton Fish, of New York, 
was appointed in his place. 

On the 10th of May, 1869, the greatest railroad line in the 
world was completed. It connected San Francisco, in California, 
on the Pacific Ocean, ^vith the Eastern cities on the Atlantic by 
way of Omaha, in Nebraska. The engineers and workmen of 
the western division, known as the " Central Pacific," met the 
like working party of the eastern section, known as the " Union 
Pacific," on the prairie near Ogden, and not far from Salt Lake 
City, in Utah Territory. The important junction was made, and 
the last spike, made of pure gold, was driven into its place with 
a golden hammer.^ The distance from San Francisco to Ogden 
is eight hundred and eighty-two miles ; from Ogden to Omaha, 
one thousand and thirty-two miles ; from Omaha to New York 
city, one thousand five hundred miles. 

On the 8th October, 1S69, Franklin Pierce died at his home in 
Concord, New Hampshire, leaving an unsullied fame as statesman 
and patriot. On the 24th of December, Edwin Stanton, former 
Secretary of War, died. He had just been nominated and con- 
firmed as one of the judges of the Supreme Court. 

J Stephens' Comp. U. S., 818. = Goodrich's U. S., 47S, 474. Stephens' Cornp. U. S., 849, 

1 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. 85 7 

In 1869, President Grant manifested his high sense of justice 
and sound policy by granting the petitions forwarded to him by 
many prominent citizens of Virginia, and submitting to her vot- 
ing people the alternative power of adopting the proposed con- 
stitution with or without what was known as the "iron-clad" 
restriction, which would have shut out from office and from the 
voting franchise many of her best white citizens, becauge of the 
part they had taken in the war. The result of the vote was that 
the constitution was adopted without the restriction, and Virginia 
was admitted and resumed her normal functions as a State of the 
Union in 1S70. 

The country recovered rapidly from the losses of the war. The 
price of gold fell to one hundred and ten, and within the first two 
years of Grant's administration, two hundred million dollars of 
the national debt were paid. The census of 1S70 showed that the 
total population was over thirty -eight million. The manufactur- 
ing establishments and their products had doubled in value. 

And yet this season was noted for a panic in the " gold market," 
which for a time caused widely-spread ruin. It was the result of 
conspiracies and " corners " attempted by unscrupulous specu- 
lators, w-hich were indicative of one of the greatest dangers of 
the country, viz. : " the making haste to be rich." The 24th of 
September, 1S69, \vas afterwards known as the " black Friday," 
because of the numerous and widely-spread financial disasters it 
witnessed or commenced.' 

In February, 1870, Congress adopted a plan for a " Signal Ser- 
vice Bureau," which has since become one of the largest and most 
useful branches of public business. Under its chiefs, Albert J. 
Myer and William B. Hazen, it is estimated that the probabilities 
as to coming weather for twenty-four hours, announced by this 
office, have saved to farmers and owners of shipping not less than 
twenty millions of dollars annually. 

After the surrender at Appomattox, Gen. Robert E. Lee had 
been elected President of Washington College, at Lexington, Vir- 
ginia. He accepted, and devoted the rest of his life to the care 
and education of young men. His institution rose in dignity 
until it was known as " Washington and Lee University." He 
died on the ist of October, 1S70, in the sixty-fourth year of his 
age. His death called out appropriate honors to his memory 
throughout the country. 

On the 31st January, 1S71, an act of Congress was passed re- 
pealing the provisions as to what had been known as the " iron- 
1 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 840. 



858 A m story of the United States of America. 

clad" oath previously. This had excluded from office the best 
people in the South, because they had sympathized and taken 
part with their section. The new oath substituted was simply 
the former constitutional oath.' 

On the 8th and 9th October, 1871, a fire occurred in the city of 
Chicago, which destroyed a large part of the business and private 
buildings.* Seventeen thousand houses were burned and a hun- 
dred thousand people for a time rendered homeless. The loss in 
property was estimated at two hundred millions of dollars, and 
two hundred and eighty human lives were lost.^ Yet such was 
the elastic recuperative energy of her people, and so great was the 
active sympathy shown, that Chicago has been restored to more 
than her pristine beauty and strength. In 1872 Boston was vis- 
ited by a similar misfortune, which destroyed property valued at 
eighty millions of dollars. 

The claims of the United States against Great Britain, arising 
out of all the circumstances attending the building and launching 
of the Alabama., her leaving England, her equipment on the high 
seas as a Confederate man-of-war, and her voyages of destruction 
against the ships and shipping interests of the United States, had 
been made a subject of diplomatic correspondence between the two 
, countries during President Johnson's term, but had not been brought 
to a satisfactory conclusion. Great Britain thought she had used 
" due diligence " and denied her liability. This, with questions of 
fishing interests and questions of boundary, threatened seriously 
the continuance of peace. 

President Grant, with incisive vigor, urged the matter to a con- 
clusion. A commission, consisting of five wise representatives 
from each nation, met in the spring of 187 1, and concluded a 
" treaty of Washington," which was duly ratified. 

This treaty allowed equal rights to American and British fish- 
ermen on the eastern coasts of Canada and the United States. It 
made the ,St. Lawrence, from its mouth to the head of navigation, 
free, for purposes of commerce, to citizens of the United States ; 
and, by reciprocity, it allowed to British subjects the free right of 
navigating the Yukon, Porcupine and Stikine rivers, in Alaska. 
It referred the questions, under the treaty of 1846, relating to the 
northwestern boundary and Vancouver's Sound to the arbitration 
of the Emperor of Germany. In due time his award was made. 
It was favorable to the United States, establishing a boundary 
giving them all they had claimed.* 

1 Stephens' Comp. TT. S., 851. 

- An' Amcr. Encyclop., 1871, p. S9t. Quackenbos, 512, 513. 

3Quackcnt)os' U. S., 512. Stephens' Ck)mp. U. S., 857. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. S59 

The most impressive clause of this treaty was the one referring 
the questions of the "Alabama claims " to a tribunal of interna- 
tional justice, to be composed of five " High Commissioners," one 
to be appointed by Great Britain, one by the United States, and 
one by each of the sovereignties of Switzerland, Italy and Brazil. 

The five arbitrators met in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 15th 
December, 1S71. They adjourned to the 15th July, IS72, and 
dissolved their board finally on the 14th September of that year. 
Great Britain was represented by a learned and brilliant jurist. 
Sir Alexander Cockburn ; the United States by Charles Francis 
Adams ; Switzerland by her ex-president, Jakob Staempfli ; Italy 
by Count Frederick Sclopis, and Brazil by the Baron ISIarcos A. 
De Itajuba. 

A majority were of opinion that Great Britain, after receiving 
information of the character and designs of the Alabama, had not 
used " due diligence " to prevent her froin leaving her joorts, and 
was therefore liable for the direct losses caused by her, but not for 
indirect or remote damages, such as the loss from expected profits 
or loss from the prolongation of the war. Mr. Adams had once 
claimed these, but had, in substance, abandoned such claim. 
The direct damages were large enough. They were ascertained 
and awarded by the board of arbitration at fifteen million five hun- 
dred thousand dollars.^ Great Britain promptly paid them to the 
United States treasury. Thus was achieved a triumph for peace 
and arbitration among the nations of the world. 

The Indians of the West were still giving trouble. In the 
spring of 1S73 the Modocs, a tribe living on Lake Klamath, 
near the bounds between Oregon and California, resisted attempts 
to remove them to their " reservation," and took refuge in the 
" lava beds " of their region, from which it was hard to dislodge 
them. General Canby, commanding the department, and peace 
commissioners sent by the United States, met them in April, 1S73, 
by appointment ; but the Indians, with their usual treachery, fired 
and killed General Canby and one of the commissioners — a kind- 
hearted clergyman. Rev. Dr. Thomas. Another commissioner 
was wounded. The assassins were followed into their fastnesses. 
A number of them were captured, and Captain Jack and others, 
proved guilty, were executed by hanging. The remnant were re- 
moved to the Indian reserves.^ 

Meanwhile the white people of the South had been sorely ex- 
ercised by the problem how they could be relieved from the dan- 

iHolmes' U. S., 270, 271, and notes. Goodrich's U. S., 474, 475. 
^TJialheimer's Eclec. U. S., 3.W. Quactenbos, 514. Barucs, liOl. 



86o A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

gers threatening civilization from tlic votes of the lately en- 
franchised negroes. These dangers were greatly increased by 
the presence among them of the white " scalawags " of the 
South, the white " carpet-baggers" of the North, and a class of in- 
trusive, yet well-intending, people, consisting of school-teachers, 
male and female, who came in numbers from the North and un- 
dertook to teach the negroes not only " reading, writing and arith- 
metic," but also the higher mystery of how they ought to vote. 

The whites of the South knew the negroes thoroughly — knew 
them as the whites of the North did not know them — knew 
them from infancy and childhood, and by an association which, 
though always that of a superior to an inferior race, had been in- 
timate and aflectionatc. They knew, therefore, how radically 
unqualified they were to exercise the right of voting, and how 
certain it was that if they exercised this rigjit under the guidance 
of the " scalawags," " carpet-baggers " and school-teachers from 
the North, or exercised it according merely to their own childish 
judgments and their own depraved aflections, instincts and de- 
sires, they would bring ruin on every social interest. 

It was indispensable, therefore, that means should be used by 
which these evils should be averted. In several of the Southern 
vStates — notably in Louisiana and South Cai'olina — the "carpet- 
bag" rule had already resulted in frightful evils — such as extrav- 
agant accumulation of j^ublic debt, wastcf'ul exj^enditures, oj^en 
bribery and corruption, incompetent and oppressive executive 
measures, absurd and dangerous legislation, and such disturbance 
of the relations of labor that the blacks were rapidly becoming 
idle, worthless, drunken and disorderly. These evils, if contin- 
ued, would have brought the Southern States to a condition worse 
than that of Mexico or St. Domingo. 

The Southern whites cannot be justly censured for arresting 
these evils by methods which, they knew, Avould work most effect- 
ually on the minds of the negroes. Far and widely there ex- 
tended the mysteries of a secret organization designated as the 
"Kuklux" by those who knew least of its nature and principles.* 
It was a name given officially first by a Federal judge, who tried 
in vain to grasp its impalpable and weird elements. 

Though not pure Greek, the word sufficiently indicated a mys- 
tic " circle." Its methods were perfectly adapted to aflect the 
souls of the negroes with superstitious fears of demons, hobgoblins 
and preternatural monsters, who would certainly invade and harry 
them if they attempted to assemble under the lead of " scala- 

1 Holmes' U. S., 272, and noto ns to Judge Busteed in AJabama iu XS71. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. 86 1 

wags," " carpet-baggers " or Northern school-teachers, but who 
would be propitious to them if they voted with the Southern 
whites, and who would, as they hoped, not interfere with them 
if they did not vote at all.' 

In addition to these mysterious means, for which few could be 
justly held responsible, the whites of the South exercised a wise 
and legitimate influence over the negroes, and had no serious diffi- 
culty in satisfying the great mass of the better classes of them, 
especially in the cotton and sugar States, that their interests were 
really identical with those of the whites, and that their true wel- 
fare would be promoted either by voting with the whites or bv not 
voting at all. 

The " Enforcement Act," which had been passed over the veto 
of President Johnson, was expected to guard the purity of elec- 
tions by supervisors of the diflerent political parties and by the 
presence of soldiers at the polls if called for. Notwithstanding 
this act and its rigid enforcement, the elections in Georgia, in De- 
cembei-, 1870, resulted in an overwhelming majority for the 
Democratic party and the complete deliveiy of the State from 
" carpet-bag " rule.^ 

Similar tendencies showed themselves in all the Southern 
States. The Republicans had confidently expected the negroes 
to vote with them, and were, therefore, greatly incensed at these 
results. 

In the summer of 187 1, very numerous prosecutions were in- 
stituted in the Federal court in South Carolina for alleged viola- 
tions of the Enforcement Act. In the counties of Newbury, York, 
Laurens, Spartanburg and Chester, and in several counties in the 
lower part of the State, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, 
and the people were put under martial law. Gross outrages on 
individual rights and liberties were committed. The courts of 
the .State were closed. Numbers of the best citizens were seized 
and carried, some to Columbia, some to Charleston, where, ex- 
posed to severe weather and without proper shelter or food, they 
were kept for months without hearing the charges against them.* 

Dr. John A. Leland, President of the Laurens Female College, 
a gentleman of the highest character, honesty and piety, was im- 
prisoned for five weeks with every indignity and crueltv, and 
then discharged on bail without ever being informed of the of- 
fence for which he had been arrested.'' 

1 The best exposition of the woAingof the " Kul^lux " is probably that in " Thorns in the 
Flesh," by N. J. Floyd, 1S84. 

2 Life of IJnton Stephens, by Waddell, 330. Stephens, 852. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S.. 854, 855. 

* "A Voice from South Carolina," by Dr. Leland, 231 page.s. Stephens, 854, 855. 



862 A Historv of the United States of America. 

Quite a number of persons were tried under a special act of 
Congress, called the " Kuklux Act," were convicted on ex /ar/c 
testimony, and condemned to imprisonment in Northern peniten- 
tiaries. With few, if any, exceptions they were pardoned by 
President Grant. 

In 1 87 1, the republic of Hayti, in the island of St. Domingo, 
inhabited almost entirely by negroes, applied for admission as a 
State to the North American Union. President Grant sent a 
commission of eminent men to examine the island. They re- 
ported favorably ; but the Congress, in 1S72, rejected the measui-e.' 

During the summer of this year, a visitor to the battle-iield of 
Gettysburg, in wandering over the Cemetery Ridge, found a 
broken drum, in which a swarm of bees were building their 
comb and storing honey gathered from the innumerable flowers 
growing from a soil once moistened with the blood of brave men 
of both sections.^ The politicians, not the soldiers, sought to con- 
tinue the strife. 

In this year (1873) eminent men died : Samuel Breeze Finley 
Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph, on the 22d of April, 
in his eighty-first year ; William H. Seward, after making a voy- 
age around the world, died on the loth of October, in his seventy- 
second year ; and General George G. Meade died on the 6th of 
November, in his fifty-seventh year. Another death of a noted 
man, under noted circumstances, occurred. 

Some Republicans, who disapproved of coercion and military 
occupation in the South, broke away from their party and formed 
a new party, under the name of " Liberal Republicans." They 
went into convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, and put in nomina- 
tion Horace Greeley, of New York, for President, and B. Gratz 
Brown, of Missouri, for Vice-President. 

The Democrats held their convention at Baltimore on the 9th 
of July, 1872. They esteemed it good policy to make no nomina- 
tion, but simply to endorse the nominees of the Cincinnati con- 
vention. 

The regular Republican convention met in Philadelphia on the 
t^th of June, 1872, and put in nomination General Grant for re- 
election as President, and Henry Wilson for election as Vice- 
President. 

Horace Greeley had gained the good opinions of many people 

by becoming sui^ety on the bail bond of Jeficrson Davis and by 

his open advocacy of the most liberal measures of pacification ; 

but very large numbers of Democrats, especially in the South, 

» Prof. Steele, Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 289, 290, and note. - Barnes & Co.'s U. S., note, 288. 



The PrcsuJoicv of Ulysses S. Grant. 863 

could not forget the bitter and vindictive spirit he had exhibited in 
the columns of his paper, The Tribiinc., early in the war. He had 
urged that, when the war was over, Southerners should not be 
permitted to return . to " peaceful and contented homes. They 
must find poverty at their firesides, and see privation in the anxious 
eyes of mothers and the rags of children." ^ Campaign documents, 
with pictorial illustrations presenting the scenes he had advo- 
cated, were freely used against ]\Ir. Greeley. His motives, his dis- 
interestedness and his consistency were all unsparingly criticised. 
Nevertheless, his enthusiastic temperament made him sanguine 
of success. He ^vorked dav and night in organizing his friends 
and belaboring his foes. 

The election resulted in giving to Grant and Wilson two hun- 
dred and eighty-six electoral votes. Only sixty-five electoral 
votes were secured for Greeley and Brown, and the popular ma- 
jority against them was seven hundred and fifty thousand — the 
largest ever known. ^ 

Mr. Greelev's wife had died about the close of the canvass. 
This family alxliction, uniting with the intense strain of the strug- 
gle and the deep disappointment and mortification attending the 
result, overthrew the powers of his mind. He became insane 
and died in a private asylum about a month after the election.^ 
In the electoral college the sixty-five votes intended for him were 
scattered among many names of small notoriety. 

The Congress of 1873— '73 was noted for three proceedings, all 
indicating the \vant of magnanimity and purity in the body it- 
self and in the great money centres of the country. One was 
known as the " Credit Mobilier " investigation. It took its name 
from a previous financial scheme of the same character in France. 
It had much unsound relation to the raising of the immense sums 
expended in railroads, and especially in the great continental line 
to San Francisco. 

Persistent rumors of the dishonest participation of members of 
Congress in these schemes led to investigating committees of both 
Houses, which took evidence and made reports. The result was 
that a deep shadow of lasting suspicion was cast over the hitherto 
fair fame of several eminent congressmen. The Senate commit- 
tee reported in favor of the expulsion of one member of that body, 
and he was only saved from this dire disgrace by intervening in- 
fluences. The House passed resolutions of censure upon two of its 
members.* 

'New York Tribune, in Whip:, May 24th, ISGl. 2 Goodrich's U. S., 475. Stephens, 858. 

2 Barnes & Co.'.s U. S., note, 291. Quackenbos, 513. Stephens, 858. 
* Quackenbos' U. S,, 513, 514. Derry's U. S., 336. 



864 -A History of the United States of America. 

The second sinister proceeding has since been known as the 
" Salary Grab." Although the members of Congress vv^ere already- 
enjoying ample money compensation for their services (amount- 
ing to about live thousand dollars per annum, and mileage allow- 
ances for travel which far exceeded expenses), yet they passed a 
bill increasing their pay to about seven thousand dollars per an- 
num, and putting its operation back so as to secure to many for- 
mer members a large amount of extra pay. They increased the 
President's salary from twenty-five thousand dollars to fifty thou- 
sand dollars per annum. This last named sum is a very moderate 
compensation, and has since been continued.^ 

But their unbecoming and selfish act in so largely swelling their 
own pay was greeted with such a storm of indignation by the 
people of the country that many congressmen hastened to deny 
all approval of the proceeding, and to refuse the extra compensa- 
tion. The act was speedily repealed. 

The third error was financial, and was one of the causes of 
widely-spread money trouble and disaster, beginning in 1873. It 
had its origin in the jDlans of Wall Street, New York, and was 
without foundation in statesmanship and justice. Silver coin had 
always been reckoned as a just legal tender for debts or other pay- 
ments, and had been definitely recognized as such by the consti- 
tution of the United States ; ^ and the nations of the world had 
given a like recognition. At the time when this unfortunate le- 
gislation was attempted, gold and silver coin was circidating as 
money in the world to the amount of eight thousand millions of 
dollars. Of this vast sum, at least four thousand five hundred 
millions were in silver coin. 

From the beginning of the government the only unit of value 
in the United States had been the silver dollar of three hundred 
and seventy-three grains of standard silver, estimating at fourteen 
hundred and eighty-five parts of fine silver in sixteen hundred and 
forty-two parts. This had never been changed. The legal-tender 
dollar was four hundred and twelve and a half grains at the stand- 
ard established. All the public bonds and certificates of debt 
were payable in gold or silver at this standard. All public and 
private debts or contracts had reference to this standard, unless 
another had been expressly stipulated.^ 

But gradually, and under inliuences manipulated largely by the 
great banking houses of Europe, where Great Britain and Ger- 
many had made gold coin the sole legal tender, and the gold spec- 

1 Holmes' U. S., 274. 2 Constitution, Art. I., sec. 10. 

3 Stephens' Comp. U. S., 858. CompRre witli Art. Coins, Amer. Encyclop., V. 441. Judge 
R. W. Hughes. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. 865 

ulators of Wall Street, New York, gold bullion had risen in value 
as compared with silver. This did not, in the slightest degree, 
affect the moral relations of the subject ; but it gave vast room 
for speculation and for working, by specious and illogical reason- 
ing, on the unwise in Congress.^ 

They passed a bill, in February, 1873, ostensibly relating only 
to the operations of the United States mints. The silver dollar 
was not specially mentioned, and it was only known to the wire- 
workers and manipulators from Wall Street that the final result 
sought was the demonetization of silver. This was followed up 
by the enactment in June, 1S74, of what were called "The Re- 
vised Statutes of the United States." In this code, a brief sec- 
tion, numbered three thousand five hundred and eighty-six, was 
quietly interpolated, the etTect of which was that, except for 
amounts not exceeding five dollars in any one payment, the silver 
coin of the United States ceased to be legal tender. It has since 
been ascertained that many members of Congress who voted affirm- 
atively did not realize to their own minds what would be the 
effect of their legislation, and that President Grant would not 
have signed these acts had he understood their effect upon the 
legal-tender silver dollar. Other causes, indicating unsound 
finances, doubtless contributed to the failures and distress which 
began in the fall of 1S73 and continued for more than a year. 
In 1878 the Congress saw the error of their ways and restored 
the silver standard dollar to its legal-tender power ; but they have 
not yet reached the full measure of right policy on this subject, 
which requires a free coinage at standard value of all silver bul- 
lion offered at the United States mints. 

General Grant was inaugurated President for his second term on 
the 4th day of March, 1873. The weather was inclement, but the 
crowd was immense, and the ceremonies were impressive. The 
address was brief and pointed, and was received with enthusiasm. 

Chief-Justice Chase administered the oath. On the 7th of May 
he was stricken by paralysis and died at the home of his daughter 
in New York. Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio, an able jurist, was 
appointed and confirmed as his successor. 

In March, 1875, Colorado was admitted as the thirty -eighth 
State of the Union. She is called the " Centennial State," be- 
cause her people ratified the act of admission July ist, 1876. 

And now the unhappy results of the war, the uprising of " scal- 
awags " and the advent of " carpet-baggers," stimulated by the 

» Bland Silver Bill. Prof. Steele. Barnes, 295. Stephen.s, 858. Letters of Judge Ro. W- 
Hughes on Silver, Richmond Dispatch, April 10, 1891, 

55 



866 A History of fhc United States of America. 

wretched policy which had forced the right of voting upon the 
negroes, began to appear in forms deeply embarrassing to the 
United States government. 

In Louisiana, under the elections of November, 1873, two sep- 
arate and conflicting governments made their appearance, each 
claiming to be the rightful one and each furnishing the returns of 
boards, each of which claimed to be the true returning board. 
The experience of the inchoate days of Kansas was repeated. 

Two men, each claiming to be governor, appeared — Warmouth, 
Greeley Republican ; Kellogg, regular Republican. Two legis- 
latures fulminated against each other ; two senators claimed the 
vacancy in Congress. President Grant sent a message informing 
Congress of the leading facts and stating that " recent investiga- 
tions of the said elections had developed so many frauds and for- 
geries as to make it doubtful what candidates i"eceived a majority 
of votes actually cast." ^ He asked Congress to act about this 
chaotic crisis. 

But the Congress, not knowing what to do, did nothing. 
Meanwhile the contending parties came to actual collision in the 
streets of New Orleans in September, 1874. Twenty-six persons 
were killed, and Governor Kellogg was obliged to take refuge in 
the United States custom-house. President Grant acted as a sol- 
dier might have been expected to act. He sent soldiers to the 
scene, who restored order and upheld Kellogg. 

Congress sent a committee to investigate, of which William A. 
Wheeler (afterwards Vice-President) was chairman. Their re- 
port developed some ugly frauds by the Warmouth party. Gov- 
ernor Kellogg was temporarily sustained and kept in power.^ 

But the elections of the next year (187=5) gave rise to a similar 
evihroglio. Nicholls (Democrat) claimed to be governor; so did 
Packard (Republican). The President refused to interfere, ex- 
cept so far as to command and keep the peace by his soldiers.^ 
At the close of his term both claimants still kept the field ; but 
hardly had Grant's successor withdrawn the soldiers before the 
Republican claimant collapsed, and Governor Nicholls quietly 
ruled the State. 

Frorn such scenes of misgovernment and its results we turn 
gladly to a brighter and happier scene which adorned the admin- 
istration of President Grant. It was the great " Centennial Ex- 
position," held in memory of the establishment of the independ- 
ence of the United States by the Declaration of 1776. 

1 Message 25th February, 1873, in Stephens, 860, 861. 
"Stephens' Comp. U. S., 863. sQuackenbos, 515. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. 867 

Long and anxious preparations had liccn made for it, in which 
all the nations of the earth had been invited to take part. Con- 
gress had made liberal appropriations of money, and public cor- 
porations and private citizens of wealth and means had poured 
out their resources lavishly to make it a success. The result ex- 
ceeded even the most sanguine expectations. 

The buildings were erected in the beautiful grounds of the 
" Fairmount Park," at Philadelphia. The main exhibition build- 
ing covered twenty acres, and its annexes covered nearly as much 
more. Two hundred smaller structures were scattered over the 
extensive grounds. In these buildings were gathered all the best 
and highest specimens of the genius and industry of the world 
in painting, sculpture, statuary, machinery, and every form of art. 
The exhibition was opened with imposing ceremonies on the 10th 
day of May, 1876. The machinery was all started at a given 
signal by one gigantic "Corliss" engine. Crowds of people 
from all parts of the United States — North, South, East and West 
— and from all parts of the habitable world continuously flocked 
from day to day to the exhibition. On the night of the 3d and 
on the 4th of July all business was suspended, except such as re- 
lated to the grand civic and military procession and ceremonies 
of those days. General Hawley was commander-in-chief. High 
officers and volunteer companies of North and South mingled 
\vith amity and enthusiasm in these movements. The re-union 
of the whole country was made manifest. Dom Pedro, the en- 
lightened Emperor of Brazil, and President Grant together took 
part in the ceremonies. 

The exposition was kept open from the loth of May to the 
loth of October, 1S76. The total number of visitors was regis- 
tered by the counting turnstiles as nine million nine hundred and 
ten thousand nine hundred and sixty-six.^ 

The return of prosperity was manifest everywhere. Large 
harvests followed agricultural labor. The Congress of 1876 felt 
that it was safe to provide for the redemption of treasury notes 
in coin on and after the ist day of January, 1879 ; and, as the 
time drew near, so complete was the restoration of public confi- 
dence that the premium on gold coin sunk and sunk until it 
reached zero, and the resumption of specie payments became uni- 
versal after a suspension of nearly eighteen years. 

Only two centres of actual hostility gave trouble. One was 
the chronic case of Cuba. Since 186S, insurrectionary spirit 
against Spain had never been quiet in that island. On the 31st 

1 Barnes k Co.'s U. S., 291, 292. McCabe, in Stephens, 866-875. 



868 A History of the United States of America. 

October, 1873, the Virginiiis^ a vessel sailing under the United 
States flag, was captured on the high seas by the Spanish cruiser 
Tortiado, on the alleged ground that she was bound for Cuba with 
men and anns for the insurgents. Captain Fry and many others 
were taken from her to the shore and shot without formal trial, 
against the spirit of the treaty between Spain and the United 
States, and against the protest of the American consul. Excite- 
ment rose high in the United States, and war with Spain was 
clamored for. Congress appropriated four million dollars for the 
navy. A fleet assembled in the waters of Cuba ; but it was as- 
certained that the Yirginiiis was not a ship owned in the United 
States and not entitled to carry their flag. Spain made repara- 
tion for all actual injuries, and the difficulty was peaceably set- 
tled.^ 

The other trouble was with the warlike Sioux Indians. They 
committed outrages and murders in Wyoming and Montana Ter- 
ritories. General Custer (who had gained a decisive success over 
the Indians at Washita in November, 1868), with a small com- 
mand of the Seventh cavalry, was detached to march upon them. 
On the 3i:;th of June, 1876, he came suddenly on a large body of 
the Sioux, occupying a strong position near the Big Horn river. 
Without waiting for reinforcements Custer bravely, but some- 
what rashly, determined to attack them. He sent Colonel Reno, 
with three companies, to fall on the rear of the Indian position 
while he charged directly on their front. A bloody conflict ensued. 
Custer, his two brothers and his nephew, all fell on the field, and 
all the men with him, two hundred and fifty in number, were 
slain. Colonel Reno was surrounded, but, rapidly throwing up 
slight intrenchments, he held his ground on the bluff's until rein- 
forcements arrived.^ The Sioux were driven off", but not before 
they had gained a partial success, ^vhich encouraged them to con- 
tinue the war; but they were followed up with ceaseless vigor 
during the sunimer, autumn and winter, and defeated again and 
again with severe loss. Finally, a small remnant of them, under 
their chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, took refuge in British 
teiTitory. 

As the time approached for nominations for the next presiden- 
tial term, some evidences of curious anxiety appeared. Many 
w^arm admirers of General Grant proposed his renomination for a 
third consecutive term.^ Nothing in the constitution forbade it, 
and though he himself never gave personal evidence of unseemly 

1 Quackenbos, 516, 517. Holmes, 275. 

2 Barnes, 292, 293. Thalheimer, 335. Quackenbos, 518. 
8 Holmes' U.S., 277, 278. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S.. Grant. 869 

ambition on the subject, yet he submitted himself to the views of 
his political friends in expressions indicating that he did not con- 
sider the precedents of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe 
and Jackson as conclusively binding on him ; but the people of 
the country received the idea of a third-term President with so 
little favor that the Republican leaders did not venture to press it. 

The Republican convention met at Cincinnati, Ohio, and on 
the 14th of June, 1S76, nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, 
for President, and William A. Wheeler, of New York, for Vice- 
President. The Democratic convention met at St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, and on the 3yth of June nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of 
New York, for President, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, 
for Vice-President. The Republican platform was nearly a repe- 
tition of its predecessor. The Democratic platform made a strong 
appeal for reform and free government. 

The canvass was lU'ged with vigor in every part of the coun- 
try. The result came near to involving the United States in an- 
other bloody strife in arms. The electoral votes were known to 
be nearly equal ; both sides claimed the victory. The whole 
number of electoral votes was three hundred and sixty-nine ; 
therefore one hundred and eighty-five votes were required to elect. 

But, unhappily, the disturbed conditions arising out of the war 
and the reconstruction measures gave rise to a state of returns 
never before known. Two returns as to electoral votes were 
made from several States. This compelled the electoral college 
to refer the whole matter of the election to the Congress. 

They were thus brought face to face with questions never be- 
fore presented. The Democrats contended that, by a right count, 
they were entitled to the electoral votes of South Carolina, Flor- 
ida and Louisiana, which would give them two hundred and 
three votes ; but that, if the votes of those three States were 
counted for Hayes, Tilden would still have one hundred and 
eighty-four undisputed votes, and one vote from Oregon was justly 
his by official return, which would give him one hundred and 
eighty-five votes ; ' but the Republicans insisted that, by the offi- 
cial returns certified by the governors, as always theretofore re- 
ceived. Haves and Wheeler had a majority of the electoral votes. 

The Democrats had a majority in the House ; the Republicans 
in the Senate. Thus, agreement of the two Houses seemed im- 
possible. The country looked on in breathless anxiety. Already 
the unstable and fighting elements were beginning to come to the 
surface, and to prepare for bloodshed. 

I Stephens' Comp. U. S., 876. 



870 A History'of the United States of America. 

In this alarming crisis, Samuel J. Tilden wrote a patriotic let- 
ter, which was made public, and which urged some amicable set- 
tlement by a compromise bill in Congress to prevent open war. 

The Congress adopted the plan of a "Joint High Commission," 
to whom the disputed election should be referred for decision. 
The bill for this purpose received the votes of many earnest South- 
ern members, among whom were Alexander H. Stephens, of Geor- 
gia, and John Randolph Tucker, of Virginia. Some doubted the 
constitutionality of the bill, on the ground that the Vice-President 
of the United States (being president of the Senate) was the 
functionary authorized to receive and count the votes in the pres- 
ence of the Congress.^ But the bill passed both Houses, and was 
signed by the President. 

The "Joint Commission " consisted of five senators — Edmunds, 
Morton, Frelinghuysen, Bayard and Thurmau ; five representa- 
tives — Payne, Hunton, Abbott, Garfield and Hoar ; and five jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court — Clifford, Miller, Field, Strong and 
Bradley. The papers relating to the dispute were referred to 
them. They sat constantly and vv^orked diligently. Their deci- 
sion and award were not made until the second day of March, 
1877, only two days before the time for inaugurating the new 
President. 

The questions of fact and law, fraud and force of official re- 
turns, were presented fully and argued lucidly before the " Com- 
mission " by the best legal minds of the countr}-, among whom 
Jeremiah Black and Charles O'Connor were conspicuous.^ The 
decision was that Rutherford B. Hayes, for President, and William 
A. Wheeler, for Vice-President, had i^eceived one hundred and 
eighty-five electoral votes, being a majority of one vote, and were 
duly elected.' 

The country breathed more freely, and acquiesced. But the 
Democrats failed not to notice that the vote in the "Joint Com- 
mission " was eight Republicans to seven Democrats, and that the 
grave justices of the Supreme Court voted on each side of the po- 
litical lines as the members of Congress did — that is, according to 
their previously known party views. This disputed election and 
its decision have been held to be strong evidence of the failure of 
the republican form of government ; but this would be a crude 
and false conclusion. 

The decision was simply that the counting authority could not 
go behind the official returns certified by the governors of the 

> Art. XII., Amendments to IT. S. Constitution. 

2 " The Republic as a Form of Government," by John Scott, of Fauquier, Va., pp. 266-286. 

3 Stephens, 876. Eggleston, 356. Scudder, 418. Thalheimer, 337. 



The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. 871 

States, and thus plimge into the chaotic sea of evidence as to" 
fraud, intimidation and invalid ballots which lay behind. On 
this basis all previous elections had been decided. It seemed safer 
to rest on this, and hope for better times and more honest rule in 
all the States. The result was proof of conservatism rather than 
failure in the republic. 

Soon after the close of his second term, General Grant set out 
on an extended course of travel. He passed through Great 
Britain and nearly all the enlightened countries of Europe, re- 
ceiving everywhere, alike from crowned heads and subjects, marks 
of courtesy and honor. He then traveled in Asia and the ex- 
treme East, passed round the world, and returned to his home 
through the Pacific, by San Francisco and the great continental 
line of railroad. 

He settled in the city of New York. Here he became a part- 
ner in a banking house with his son-in-law, Mr. Ward, whose 
financial ventures were somew^hat perilous. The result was dis- 
astrous failure, which involved the worldly fortunes of the ex- 
President, but did not affect his honor. He died of cancer of the 
throat on the 23d July, 1885. His funeral was one of pomp and 
magnificence, attended by the highest dignitaries of the land 
and the surviving generals of both Northern and Southern armies. 
His remains were interred at Riverside Park, in New York city. 



CHAPTER LXI. 
The Presidencies of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. 

WHATEVER doubts the Democrats, North and South, may 
have felt as to the good faith exercised in the elections 
which had been decided in favor of President Hayes, it is certain 
that the South had no reason to complain of his administration. 

Pie was inaugurated on Monday, March 5th, 1877, and served 
until March 4th, 1881. Among his first official acts was an 
order withdrawing from Louisiana and other Southern States 
the United States troops theretofore quartered therein. The ef- 
fect was immediate and highly salutary. The " carpet-baggers," 
" scalawags " and negro politicians rapidly collapsed in numbers 
and influence. Stable government and security took the place of 
anarchy and disorder. 

But now began to appear in the United States an element of 
danger, intensified by the prevalence of free institutions. In no 
country in the world had labor, in every form, been more re- 
munerative. Wages, even of ordinary and unskilled laborers, 
had been higher than in any other country, making the sober 
workman and his family comfortable and prosperous. Skilled 
labor in every department commanded the best prices. 

From the Old World had been introduced the principle and 
usage of organization of workmen into guilds and societies. So 
long as these were confined to legitimate co-operation for pur- 
poses of mutual help in sickness, advantageous purchases of food 
and clothing, and special emergency, their effect was good ; but 
restless and leading minds among the working classes, and es- 
pecially of those who had migrated from Europe, began to con- 
ceive of purposes far wider and wilder than mere co-operation. 
A huge organization emerged, known as " Knights of Labor," to 
which all were invited who, in any form, worked with hands 
and heads in mechanical or industrial art. 

Their methods of relief and remedy in cases in which they 
conceived themselves to have suffered grievance -were chieffy two, 
viz. : " strikes " and " boycotts." Their " strikes " involved not 
merely the ceasing to work themselves and falling back upon 

[ 872 ] 



The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. 873 

a common fund previously contributed from their wages to main- 
tain them during a protracted "strike," but involved also active and 
sometimes forcible and bloody opposition to other laborers em- 
ployed to take the places of the "strikers." The "boycott" was 
a system first practiced in Ii'eland. Its essence was a cessation of 
all purchases, dealings or business with all who in any manner 
opposed their proceedings. It was essentially a conspiracy, on 
the largest scale, against good feeling and liberal dealing, and 
was, therefore, against the spirit of the English common law and 
of Christianity. 

In July, 1S77, some reduction in the high rate of wages pre- 
viously paid by the " Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company " 
having been made, the brakemen and train hands " struck " and 
refused to work at Martinsburg, in West Virginia.' Other rail- 
road workmen joined in the movement. Soon all transfer of pas- 
sengers or freight was suspended. The eflbrts of the companies 
to obtain other laborers were forcibly and brutally resisted by the 
strikers. Twenty thousand organized insurgents held possession 
of Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, for more than two days. One 
hundred and twenty-five costly locomotives and two thousand 
five hundred freight and express cars, besides many engine-houses 
and other buildings, were burned by the strikers. State troops 
were ordered out, and United States soldiers were hurried to the 
scene. Bloody conflicts followed, in which not less than one hun- 
dred lives were destroyed. Gradually the insurgents learned that 
the arm of orderly government was too sti'ong for them. They 
began to return to their work, after having caused irreparable loss. 
Similar riots occurred at Chicago and St. Louis, and with like re- 
sults. In San Francisco a mob attacked the employers of Chi- 
nese laborers, and were, with blood and difficulty, dispersed. 

But there is certainly a reverse side of this labor question strongly 
favorable to the " Knights " and to all who seek for fair treatment 
of workmen and workwomen in every department by employers. 
In the United States as well as in England, Thomas Hood's " Song 
of the Shirt" has met a response in thousands of souls. Seam- 
stresses in New York and other cities have toiled at wages barely 
sufficient to keep soul and body together, while their employers 
were becoming millionaires. Other forms of labor have met simi- 
lar oppression at the hands of the rich. 

If it be true that, in 18S6, in New York, the Widow Landgraf 
was " boycotted " by organized laborers, and handbills were dis- 
tributed urging people not to buy bread at her bakery, simply be- 

1 Thalheimer's Elec. U. S., 340, 341. 



874 -^ History of the United States of America. 

cause she had declined to conform to some of the guild rules, it is 
equally true that employers have banded themselves together for 
the purpose of crushing " strikes " and keeping down wages. 
The cloakmakers in New York, not long ago, by concerted action 
" locked out " and dismissed all their workmen and women be- 
cause of a " strike " in one single shop. Similar hardships have 
been visited on cigarmakcrs, collar and paper-box workmen, and 
shoemakers and binders, men and women. ^ No inlluence less than 
real, personal Christianity in employers and laborers will furnish 
a solution of these sad questions. 

In Idaho Territory, early in the autumn of 1877, the Nez Perces 
Indians broke out into open war ; but the United States troops, 
imder Colonel Miles and General Howard, marched promptly 
against them and subdued all hostile movements by the end of 
October.^ 

The second session of the Forty-fifth Congress was held in 
1877— '78. An act was passed relieving Southern soldiers who, 
by reason of wounds or invalidity, were pensioned by their States, 
from all operation of the "iron-clad" oath. The "Bland Silver 
Bill " was also passed, by which the silver dollar of four hundred 
and twelve and a half grains of standard silver was restored to 
its money power as legal tender, though its coinage was limited 
to four million dollars per month. Resumption of specie pay- 
ments was provided for, to take cfiect on the ist of January, 1879 ; 
and, as gold by that time was at par with the government's trea- 
sury notes in Wall Street, New York, the resumption was so quiet 
and easy that no financial strain attended it. 

In the summer of 1878, the yellow fever made its appearance 
in New Orleans, and spread with alarming rapidity up the rivers 
and into Missouri and Tennessee. At least seven thousand per- 
sons died.^ Under an act of Congress, scientific researches as to 
the nature and origin of this disease were made, and measures of 
health and cleanliness have been adopted. 

Notwithstanding the heavy public debt, the country grew fast 
in prosperity and population. The census of 1880 showed a total 
of more than llftv million — an increase of about twelve million in 
ten years. 

By the treaty of Washington, in 1871, difficulties and questions 
of damage between Great Britain and the United States, concern- 
ing the fisheries of the northeastern coast, had been referred to a 
commission. They sat at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1878, and after 

>Art. "Industrial Discontent." BelforfVs Mag., Feb., 1891. 

2 Stephen's Comp. U. S., 881. ^ Prof. Steele, Barnes, 295. 



The Presidcticy of yamcs A. Garjicld. S75 

careful investigation awarded to Great Britain the sum of five 
million five hundred thousand dollars. 

In iSSo, two treaties with China were made and ratified. One 
regulated commerce between the two countries ; the other granted 
to the United States power to regulate and restrict the nature and 
extent of immigration of Chinese people to our country. 

As the time for the presidential nominations of 1880 drew near, 
increasing anxiety was felt. It was known that President Hayes 
positively declined to permit his name to be used as a candidate. 
The attempt to renominate him would have opened afresh maga- 
zines of explosives too dangerous to be used. General Grant's 
friends — prominent among whom was Roscoe Conkling, of New 
York — enthusiastically urged him for a third term and presented 
his name to the Republican convention, which met in Chicago 
on the 2d day of June, 1880. But the opponents of the third- 
term idea prevailed. The votes for Grant never rose above three 
hundred and six. James G. Blaine led the opposition. James A. 
Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated for President, and Cliester A. 
Arthur, of New York, for Vice-President. 

The Democratic convention met in Cincinnati, on the 23d of 
June, iSSo, and nominated Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, of New 
York, for President, and William H. Englisli, of Indiana, for 
Vice-President. 

A party or sect known as the " Greenback party" had arisen, 
whose leading principle was that the government ought to issue 
an enormous volume of paper currency, and inake it legal tender, 
basing its acceptance at par simply upon the credit of the govern- 
ment, and not upon its power of convertibility into gold or silver 
coin at the pleasure of the holder. This was known as the theory 
of " fiat money," and it was ingeniously upheld in argument by 
Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, and others. It had seductive 
fascinations for many minds ; but it could not delude those who 
remembered the lessons of history. Nevertheless, the "Greenback- 
Labor" party held a convention and nominated James B. Weaver, 
of Iowa, as President, and Benjamin I. Chambers, of Texas, as 
Vice-President. The vote they received was comparatively small. 

The Republicans were successful. James A. Garfield was inau- 
gurated on Friday, the 4th of jSIarch, iSSi. The day was bleak, 
stormy and blood-chilling ; yet the military and civic display had 
never been more imposing. Fifty thousand non-residents crowded 
the city of Washington. 

The new President was, in the highest sense, a self-made aiian. 
He was one of nature's noblemen. Born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, 



876 A History of the United States of America. 

in 1S31, he was one of a family living in iDovcrty on a small and 
recently cleared farm in \vhat was then a wilderness.^ His father's 
death, while he was yet in boyhood, made it necessary for him to 
toil with his hands for his mother and her family. His early ed- 
ucation was limited ; but his soul was of high order and could not 
be suppressed. By patient exertions he entered Williams College 
and graduated with great credit in 1S54. He distinguished him- 
self in the Northern armies and attained the rank of major-general. 
During the war he was elected to Congress and was a leader in 
the House of Representatives. He was elected senator from 
Ohio, but, being nominated for the Presidency, never took his seat 
in the Senate. He had been a hard student, and had gained wide 
knowledge of the history of man. He was a faithful Christian, 
and was a member of the denomination who discourage human 
creeds and prefer to call themselves simply " Christians.'' Frank, 
winning and generous in character and mannei", he had hosts of 
friends and was beloved by many who differed from him in party 
questions. 

His nominations for his cabinet were confirmed by the Senate. 
They were : James G. Blaine, of Maine, Secretary of State ; Wil- 
liam Windom, of Minnesota, of the Ti'easury ; Robert T. Lincoln, 
of Illinois (son of the deceased President, Abraham Lincoln), of 
War ; William H. Hunt, of Louisiana, of the Navy ; Samuel J. 
Kirkwood, of Iowa, of the Interior ; Thomas L. James, of New 
York, Postmaster-General ; Wayne McVeagh, of Pennsylvania, 
Attorney-General.^ 

Hardly had the new presidency opened before a bitter conflict 
began to develop itself between Republican forces. Roscoe 
Conkling, of New York, had urged the renomination of General 
Grant as long as there was hope, and had favored the nomi- 
nation of Chester A. Arthur, as Vice-President. He and his 
special party friends took some pride in denominating themselves 
as " Stalwarts." His chief ground of hostility to President Gar- 
field was concerning the lucrative office of collector of the port of 
New York. The President declined to nominate the man urged 
by the " Stalwarts." This quarrel would be beneath the notice of 
history had it not led to a blood-red tragedy. 

The President's wife, Mrs. Lucretia R. Garfield, a lady of more 
than ordinary force and beauty of character, had suffered with 
malarial fever after coming to Washington. She was removed 
to Long Branch, New Jersey, where she gradually improved in 
health. 

iProf. Steele, Barnes, (note) 296. Stephens, 892. = Stephens' Comp. U. S., 896. 



The Presidency of J aims A. Garfield. Syy 

After passing through the opening labors of his administration, 
which had been aggravated by the course of the " Stalwarts," the 
President felt at liberty to seek some respite. He prepared to 
visit Long Branch, and to go thence to attend the commencement 
exercises in Williams College. On July 2d, 1881, accompanied 
by Seci'etary Blaine, he Avas driven in a carriage to the reception- 
rooms of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company. Some 
members of the cabinet had preceded him. They were to take a 
car on the limited express train which was to leave the station at 
half-past nine o'clock in the morning. All were ready, and the 
President and jSIr. Blaine were cheerfully conversing, when, as 
they were passing through the ladies' saloon on their way to the 
car, a pistol-shot was heard. The ball inflicted a slight wound 
on the President's arm ; but another shot immediately followed, 
and the bullet penetrated the body of President Garfield in the 
back near the spinal column and in the region of the kidneys. 
He fell heavily to the floor. 

Amazed and almost paralyzed by the scene, the niembers.of the 
cabinet nevertheless hastened to have the President raised and re- 
moved to his home. The assassin had a hired hack waiting for 
him and attempted to fly, but was promptly seized by Captain 
Kearney and Policeman Parks. He brandished his pistol, waving 
a sealed letter and shouting in a loud voice : ''Arthur is President 
of the United States now. I am a Stalwart. This letter will 
tell you everything. I want you to take it to General Sherman." 

He \vas soon identified as a man .named Charles Guiteau, who 
had been an office-seeker and lounger in Washington and else- 
where. His letter to General Sherman deserves preservation as 
a sign of the times. It was as follows : 

" To General S//er/i/an : 

"I have just shot the President. I shot him several times, as I wished 
him to go as easily as possible. His death was a political necessity. I am 
a lawyer, theoloo;ian and politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I 
was with General Grant and the rest of our men in New York during the 
canvass. I am going to the jail. Please order out your troops and take 
possession of the jail at once. Very respectfullv, 

"Charles Guiteau." 

General Sherman, with considerate prudence, endorsed on the 
letter that he did not know the writer and never saw or heard 
of him to his knowledge, and that the letter was remitted to 
Major Twining, Commissioner of the District of Columbia, and 
Alajor Brock, chief of police, as testimony in the case.^ 
1 Letters hi Stephens' Comp. U. S., 897-S99. 



878 A History of the United States of Afnerica. 

The wound received by the President was in its nature mortal 
from the beginning ; but, by medical and surgical skill and care- 
ful nursing, he was kept alive for more than two months. Dur- 
ing this time the sympathy manifested was not confined to the 
United States, but was literally world-wide. Frequent inquiries 
and expressions of sorrow came from the Old World, and espe- 
cially from Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Em- 
press of India. 

The slowly dying President bore his suflerings with patience 
and Christian fortitude. With the hope that change of air might 
do good, he was conveyed to Long Branch. Here, in Francklyn 
Cottage, at Elberon, he died at 10 135 p. M. of the 19th Septem- 
ber, 1881. His wife had watched and nursed him with patient 
love to the end. 

The assassin, Guiteau, was carefully guarded against all " lynch 
law " punishment. The nearest approach to it was a shot fired 
at him through the grated window of the jail by a subordinate 
officer .or private soldier of the guard, who bore the name of 
Mason. The shot missed. The soldier was duly tried and pun- 
ished for this breach of military duty ; but he was pardoned be- 
fore his term of imprisonment expired. 

A regular indictment was found on the 8th of October, 1881, 
by a grand jury against Charles Guiteau, for the murder of James 
A. Garfield. The trial lasted from the i6th November, 1881, to 
the 35th January, 1883, and was eminent in judicial caution and 
fairness to the accused. George Scoville, who had married Gui- 
teau's sister, led as counsel in his defence. The plea was insanity, 
though the accused himself protested against it, and insisted that 
he had killed the President as a political necessity and moved by 
a Divine impulse. His whole demeanor previous to, during and 
after his trial fully entitled him to the designation of " crank," 
which has ever since been a recognized American word, the 
meaning of which is well understood. It describes a man who is 
eccentric, but not insane. 

The jury found him " guilty," and he was sentenced to be exe- 
cuted by hanging on the 30th day of June. Efforts for a new trial 
and appeals for pardon were all ineffectual. The sentence was 
carried out, in the jail and in the presence of a limited number of 
spectators, on the day appointed. 

Sombre and disturbing as some of the reflections of Chester A. 
Arthur on the tragic events which had made him President of the 
United States probably were, he promptly assumed his high office 
and grave duties as soon as he received official notice of the death 



The Presidency of Chester A. Arthur. 879 

of President Garfield. He took the oath of office before Hon. John 
R. Brady, one of the justices of the Supreme Court of New York, 
on the 20th September, and sent to the cabinet of the dead Presi- 
dent information of his act, with renewed expressions of sorrow 
and sympathy.^ The cabinet had advised this prompt action to 
avoid the disorders of an interregnum. From this time to the end 
of his term, May 4th, 1885, he continued diligently to discharge 
his high duties. 

One of his seasons of recreation was s^jent in a visit to the great 
National Park, in the Yellowstone region of Wyoming Territory. 
Its natural wonders have continued to attract yearly a crowd of 
visitors. 

The series of gigantic manoeuvres for dishonestly making money, 
commonly known as the " Star Route Frauds," early attracted the 
attention of the Garfield and Arthur administration. These frauds 
involved malpi-actices on a large scale in the Postoffice Depart- 
ment. In two months the investigations made led to the annul- 
ling of contracts amounting to nearly two millions of dollars.^ 

The population of the country had become so large and so con- 
flicting in the character and interests of its elements, that the 
question of restricting immigration became serious in the law- 
making power and its counsels. 

From the teeming lands of China great numbers of her people 
were constantly making their way across the Pacific Ocean to the 
United States, and chiefly to California. By the year 18S0 they 
were estimated at one hundred thousand, of whom not less than 
seventy-five thousand v.ore in California.* They were heathen in 
their religious faith, and, therefore, were gross in their vices and 
usages ; but they were neither so corrupt nor so dangerous as the 
"communists," "anarchists" and "atheists," who came chiefly 
from Europe, and who, born and raised under systems of Chris- 
tian teaching more or less false and heretical, had discarded en- 
tirely the religion of Christ, and abandoned belief even in the ex- 
istence and righteous government of God. 

The Chinese made themselves useful and efficient as workers on 
railroads, in mines, in factories, in market-gardening, in laundries 
and in domestic service. It is a fact, be3^ond truthful denial, that 
the chief opposers of their continued residence and migration ^vere 
the working Irish and other European foreigners and the classes 
with whom the Chinese competed by furnishing cheaper labor ; 
but whatever its source, this opposition became bitter and per- 
sistent. 

1 Telegrams in Stephens, 907. - Prof. Steele, in Barnes, 297. 

^ThaUieimer'sEclec. U. S., 341. 



88o A History of the United States of America. 

Early in 1S79 a bill passed both Houses of the Congress forbid- 
ding, except under close restrictions, the further immigration of 
the Chinese. President Hayes vetoed the bill, because it was in 
plain violation of the " Burlingame " treaty betw^een the United 
States and China, made in 1868. Hence the amended treaty in 
1880, of w^hich we have given an account. 

In 1882 the opposition to the Chinese resumed its career and 
with better prospects of success. A bill was passed forbidding 
Chinese immigration for twenty years. President Arthur re- 
turned this bill, with grave objections ; but another was soon 
passed suspending Chinese immigration for ten years, forbidding 
the naturalization of all Chinese, and imposing fines and penal- 
ties on masters of vessels who should bring unauthorized Chinese 
immigrants to this country. This bill the President was induced 
to approve.' 

In subsequent debates in Congress on this subject, arguments 
open to serious question have been urged. It is difficult to main- 
tain logically such prohibitions, unless the United States shall 
carry them out against other nations than China. In the Senate 
an attempt, somewhat hazardous, was made to impeach the Chris- 
tian doctrine of the unity of the human race, and to uphold as 
sound the error in the textual criticism of the New Testament 
which seeks to strike the word ai}xa (blood) out of Acts xvii. 
zd, and thus to deny that God " hath made of one blood all na- 
tions of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." * 

In 18S1, a claim to a new insular land was asserted in behalf of 
the United .States. A ISIr. Bennett had dispatched from San 
Francisco, July 8th, 1879, the steamer ycaunctte, to make explora- 
tions in the Arctic regions. She had long been missing. With 
the hope of finding her, the United States revenue cutter Thotnas 
Corzvin, Capt. C. L. Hooper, went to those seas. 

She did not find the yeannette, but on August i3th, iSSi, she 
reached the southeast coast of Wrangcll Island, northeasterly from 
.Siberia. In the belief that the right of discovery applied, Captain 
Hooper raised the United States flag and took possession in the 
name of his countiy.^ The island proved to be about sixty-six 
miles broad by forty long, with a range of hills culminating in a 
peak two thousand eight hundred feet in height. The bones ot 
the mammoth and specimens of fossil ivory were found. 

The fate of the Jeannette was sad. Lieutenant De Long, her 
commander, was obliged to abandon her in the ice. With his 

1 Quackenbos' U. S., 527. Barnes, 298. 

2 Senator Jones' speech in U. S. Senate, and Dispatch, Va., December 21, 1887. 

3 Quackenbos' U. S., 526. 



The Presidency of Chester A. Arthur. 88 1 

crew he reached the mouth of the Lena in September, 1881 ; but 
by a series of exposures and misfortunes he and most of his men 
perished. A few survived to tell. 

In March, 1883, the bill making bigamy and polygamy in 
United States Territories misdemeanors punishable by fine and 
imprisonment, became a law. It was specially intended for Utah. 
We have noted its effect, and may hope for its complete success. 
At the subsequent registration in Utah one thousand polygamists 
were disfranchised. 

In the same session the new Apportionment Bill became a 
law. It fixed the num.ber of representatives at three hundred 
and twenty-five, apportioned as follows : Alabama, eight ; Ar- 
kansas, five ; California, six ; Colorado, one ; Connecticut, four ; 
Delaware, one ; Florida, two ; Georgia, ten ; Illinois, twenty ; In- 
diana, thirteen ; Iowa, eleven ; Kansas, seven ; Kentucky, eleven ; 
Louisiana, six ; Maine, four ; Maryland, six ; Massachusetts, 
twelve ; Michigan, eleven ; Minnesota, five ; Mississippi, seven ; 
Missouri, fourteen ; Nebraska, three ; Nevada, one ; New Hamp- 
shire, two ; New Jersey, seven ; New York, thirty-four ; North 
Carolina, nine ; Ohio, twenty-one ; Oregon, one ; Pennsylvania, 
twenty -eight ; Rhode Island, two ; South Carolina, seven ; Tennes- 
see, ten ; Texas, eleven ; Vermont, two ; Virginia, ten ; West Vir- 
ginia, four ; Wisconsin, nine. A subsequent apportionment, in- 
creasing the number, but preserving the ratio, has been made. 

In 1S83 the wire suspension bridge across the wide expanse of 
East river and connecting New York with Brooklyn was com- 
pleted and opened for use. It was commenced January 3d, 1870, 
and is reckoned among the wonders of the age in mechanical en- 
gineering. 

In the same year a " Civil Service Bill " was passed, the object 
of which was to destroy as far as practicable the war canon, " to 
the victors belong the spoils," in its application to peaceful civil 
appointments, and to require competitive examinations as to com- 
petency. Yet a curious sequel has shown how impracticable it 
is to satisfy all men. The President, who sought in good faith 
to execute this law, was assailed therefor with deliberate obloquy ; 
but it was noted that his assailants were chiefly those who were 
disappointed as to getting office. 

On the ist October, 18S3, postage was greatly reduced on all 
matter mailable for the public. On letters not weighing more 
than half an ounce it was reduced from three cents to two cents. 
Subsequent legislation has made a two-cent stamp carry a letter 
of an ounce. 
56 



8S2 A History of the United States of America. 

On the nth October, 1883, a "General Railway Time Conven- 
tion," held at Chicago, introduced an ingenious and scientific 
system by which perfect regularity in computation of time pre- 
vails among all the railways of the United States. It is done by 
dividing the country by meridians and applying fixed laws of 
computation to the sections according to designations, as "Eastern 
Time," " Central Time," "Mountain Time" and "Pacific Time." 
It went into efiect for the United States at noon of November 
i8th, 1883.^ 

A territorial bill for the newly acquired Alaska main-land, 
w^aters and islands was approved in 1884. 

In the fall and winter of 1884— '85 a cotton exposition was held 
in New Orleans, which was highly successful, though not more 
so than another which had preceded it in Atlanta, Georgia, in 
1881— '82, and which rivaled, in its extent and in the numbers 
who attended it, the great Philadelphia exposition of 1876/ 

The time for presidential nominations came in 1884. Secre- 
taries Blaine and Windom had resigned soon after the death of 
President Garfield. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen and Charles J. 
Folger had been nominated and confirmed in their places respec- 
tively. Chester A. Arthur was not pressed as a candidate for the 
presidency. 

The regular Republican nominees w^ere James G. Blaine, of 
Maine, for President, and John A. Logan, of Illinois, for Vice- 
President. The Deinocratic nominees were Grover Cleveland, of 
New York, for President, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, 
for Vice-President. The steadily growing party, known as " Pro- 
hibitionists," who were in favor of prohibiting (except for med- 
ical, sacramental and mechanical purposes) the manufacture, 
trafiic and sale of intoxicating wines and liquors, nominated for 
President John P. St. John, of Kansas. A few, styling them- 
selves the " People's party," nominated Benjamin F. Butler, of 
Massachusetts. The " Women's Rights Convention " nominated 
Belva A. Lockwood, of the District of Columbia. The " Amer- 
ican Political Alliance " nominated W. L. Ellsworth, of Penn- 
sylvania. Candidates, therefore, were plentiful in 18S4. 

Cleveland and Hendricks were elected. The vote of New 
York, which was heavy and decisive in the college of electors, 
w^as somcNvhat close in the numerical vote. Some disposition to 
contest it was manifested by prominent Republicans ; but this 
effort would have been too perilous to be serious. The laws of 
New York as to elections were definite, and had been definitely 

iQuackenbos' U. S., 529, 530. « Barnes & Co.'s U. S., 29S. Stephens' Comp. U. S., 912. 



The Presidency of Chester A. Arthur. 883 

carried out, with a. counted result in favor of the Democratic 
nominees. 

Amid these 'cxcilefnents, liopes and disappointments felt by 
many, the whole country was cheered by the success of the expe- 
dition sent by the Navy Department to look for Lieutenant Greely 
and his men, who, in the Proteus, had penetrated into the Arctic 
seas years before. He and seven men survived of the twenty-five 
who had sailed in the Proteus. They were on the point of star- 
vation when they were found and rescued at Cape Sabine, in 
Smith's Sound. But he and his officers had discovered Lake 
Hazen and Mount Arthur, the highest peak of which reaches four 
thousand five hundred feet above sea-level, and Lieutenant Lock- 
wood and Sergeant Brainerd, in 1S82, reached, on the coast of 
Greenland, the highest point in latitude ever attained by man. It 
was called Lockwood Island, and is only three hundred and ninety- 
five miles from the North pole. 



CHAPTER LXII. 
The Presidencies of Cleveland and Harrison. 

THE incoming of a Democratic presidency, after twenty-fuur 
years of continuous executive rule by Repul)licans, was a 
change welcome to many thousands of people. Democratic prin- 
ciples, when truthfully asserted and acted on, are the real princi- 
ples of a vast majority in the United States ; but those principles 
have been often misrepresented and abused to evil ends. 

Grover Cleveland was the son of an unpretending clergyman 
of the Presbyterian Church, and was born in Caldwell, New Jer- 
sey, March iSth, 1837. Soon after his birth his father removed 
the family by schooner to Albany, and thence by packet on the 
Erie Canal to central New York. The son, aged sixteen, was 
pursuing academic study when the father's death left the family 
very poor. Against difficulties, which nothing less than singular 
courage and resolution would have surmounted, the young man 
made his way to the bar and the practice of law in Buffalo, 
in 18^9. His merits soon raised him. His "marked industry," 
unpretentious courage and unswerving honesty won for him i^apid 
promotion.^ He was elected Mayor of Buffalo, and, as such, re- 
formed abuses, broke up rings, and enforced the proper use of the 
city funds and the proper discharge of municipal duties. He 
fearlessly vetoed many acts of the city council, and gave his rea- 
sons in language not to be misunderstood. In 1S82 he was nomi- 
nated and elected Governor of New York, receiving a majority of 
about one hundred and ninety thousand votes over his opponent. 
His course as governor displayed all his best traits. 

After his inauguration as President he named as his cabinet : 
Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, Secretary of State ; Daniel 
Manning, of New York, of the Treasury ; William C. Endicott, 
of Massachusetts, of War ; William C. Whitney, of New York, 
of the Navy ; L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, of the Interior ; 
William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, Postmaster-General, and A. H. 
Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney-General. The Senate confirmed 
them. 

1 Prof. Steele, in Barnes, SOO. ThtUneimer, 350. 
[ 884 ] 



The Presidency of Grover Cleveland. 885 

President Cleveland, in his presidency, acted out his character 
as previously developed. He approved the " Civil Service Act " 
in principle, and honestly sought to carry out its provisions. He 
was thus relieved from a duty which to him would have been spe- 
cially annoying, viz., the duty of deciding among office-seekers ; 
but thousands of people, whose so-called democracy consisted in 
gathering spoils from success, were thus disappointed by him and 
alienated from him. 

The readjustment of the tariff was the chief legislative issue of 
his administration. His principles and policy on that subject 
were never a subject of doubt. He repudiated the whole scheme 
of protective tariffs, in all their varied forms. He did what he 
could, in messages and influence, to defeat the protective policy. 
He was aided by leading Democrats, chiefly from the .South, 
pi'ominent among whom was Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, who 
was in the House of Representatives and chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means ; but the protectionists, and espe- 
cially the rich men in the Senate, who had become rich largely 
by the dishonest policy of protection to special interests to the 
injury of all others, were too strong for the Democrats. They 
succeeded in defeating every eflbrt at fair readjustment of the 
tarifl'. 

One weapon of defence President Cleveland held in his own 
hands, and he wielded it with keen and startling energy. This 
was the " veto " power. He sent back more bills with his reasons 
for dissent than any former President had ever done. His vetoes 
were unsparingly applied to partisan bounty and pension bills, 
and to lavish and inequitable ajDpropriation bills. His objections 
were generally sustained, because the House of Representatives 
was Democratic. 

The Vice-President, Thomas A. Hendricks, never took his seat 
as presiding officer of the Senate.' After a brief illness he died 
at his home in Indiana, on the 35th day of November, 1885. Tid- 
ings of this death reached many communities at the very time 
their people were engaged in the churches in the Thanksgiving 
services recommended by public proclamations. 

A Department of Agriculture had been established by act of 
Congress, and to provide against the disorders which might arise 
in case of the death or permanent inability to act both of President 
and Vice-President, the Congress of 18S6 passed the " Presidential 
Succession Act," already alluded to herein.^ The order of succes- 
sion is as follows : Secretaries of State, Treasury and War, the 

1 Prof. Steele, Barnes, (note) oOO. - In Chapter XLIV. 



886 A History of the United States of America. 

Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the Secretaries of the 
Navy, the Interior, and Agriculture. 

Strikes and labor disturbances continued and greatly impeded 
business success. In several instances railroad traffic was sus- 
pended. Switches were displaced with intent to derail trains, 
and often this intent was realized in the fact. Valuable property 
was destroyed, and lives \vere lost or serious bodily injuries sus- 
tained. 

But something even worse was coming, which proved that the 
Chinese were not the most ungodly and inhuman among the im- 
migrants. Avowed communists, atheists and anarchists appeared 
in all the larger cities and began to preach their doctrines of 
pillage and murder. In Chicago they were especially blatant, 
chiefly harangued and incited by one Parsons, who claimed to be 
a native American, and by his wife, who sympathized in his 
teachings. To preserve order it was found needful to disperse 
some of their meetings by the police force.' 

Incensed at this organized opposition, the anarchists delib- 
erately prepared to murder the policemen. On the 4th of May, 
1886, a large meeting of the conspirators was attempted on the 
streets. The police, after warning them, without effect, to dis- 
perse, were proceeding to more vigorous measures. At that 
moment a bombshell, loaded with dynamite, was thrown among 
the policemen. It exploded and killed seven of their number 
and wounded many others. The murderers instantly dispersed 
and fled. 

But the worst of them had been marked and were known. They 
were chiefly foreigners, with names savoring of Germany and 
Austria. They were arrested, regularly indicted, and fairly tried 
by jury. The proof of their complicity and of their presence, 
aiding and abetting when the murder was committed, was so defi- 
nite that seven of them were convicted and sentenced to death. 
.Some doubts as to two existing, the governor of the State com- 
muted their punishment ; one committed suicide ; and the remain- 
ing four were left to the fate they had invoked. Strenuous efforts 
by zealous counsel were made to have the records in their cases 
reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States ; but that 
august tribunal promptly decided that it had no jurisdiction in the 
premises. The four men, one of whom was Parsons, were hanged 
by the neck until they were dead. Anarchists began to realize the 
fact that the atmosphere of the United States was more certainly 
fatal to thein than that of the countries whence they came. 

1 Prof. Steele, Barnes, oOO. United States newspapers of the times. 



The Presidency of Grover Cleveland. 887 

In the evening and night of August 31st, 1886, a series of 
earthquake shocks were experienced from the Canada line down 
to the Gulf of Mexico. They were most violent and destructive 
in and about Charleston, South Carolina. Three shocks, with 
alarming ti'emblings of the earth, followed each other in rapid 
succession. The people rushed from their houses into the streets 
to find them blocked with tumbling walls and chimneys. Fires 
broke out in many places. For days the people dared not to re- 
enter their houses. Through the streets stretchers were borne 
carrying the dead and wounded. Public and private buildings, 
venerable churches and historic edifices tottered and fell, or else 
settled do-wn with huge chasms in their walls and damages almost 
irreparable. In the regions near the city great fissures suddenly 
opened, hot streams of sulphurous water poured out, and the 
earth subsided in many places from three to eight feet.^ 

But after the emotions of horror and alarm began to give place 
to faith and confidence in God and themselves, the Charleston 
people evinced wonderful courage and perseverance. They were 
aided by active sympathy and help from the North and South. 
Nearly every building of value has been restored to more than 
previous beauty and strength. 

On the i8th of November, 1886, after a long illness, the ex- 
President, Chester A. Arthur, died in the city of New York. 

President Cleveland had not been married up to the time of his 
administration ; but in 1887 he was united in marriage to Miss 
Frances Folsom, of New York, a lady who, by her beauty, w^it 
and tact, made a favorable impression on all who came w^ithin her 
influence. The marriage took place at the White House, the 
presidential residence in Washington. 

In 18S8, Chief-Justice Waite, of the Supreme Court, died, after 
a judicial career reflecting honor on him. President Cleveland 
nominated as his successor Afelville W. Fuller, of Illinois, \vho 
was confirmed by the Senate, and now holds this high oflice. 

The Samoan group consists of three small islands lying in the 
Pacific Ocean about twenty-seven hundred miles south of the Sand- 
wich Islands, and in latitude 14° south, longitude 170° west of 
Greenwich. They would be unimportant but for the fact that 
they lie on the line of the usual sea route to New Zealand and 
Australia, and are suited for a coaling station. In 1888 the Ger- 
man empire manifested a disposition and purpose to assume 
control of these islands by a protectorate, which displaced the 
reigning king. The United States and Great Britain both made 

1 Contemporary United States journals. Barnes, 300, 301. 



888 A History of the Utiited States of America. 

protest against this, and the court at Berlin yielded to their re- 
monstrances and assented to the restoration of the native kingdom. 

But though the controversy w^as thus ended, it had a sombre 
sequel. Early in 18S9, a number of war-ships of Germany, Great 
Britain and the United States were anchored in supposed security 
in the broad strait of water between the largest island of Samoa 
and the outer reef. On the i^th of jSIarch a furious wind-storm 
arose. . The ships were driven on the reef, in wreck and ruin, and 
with serious loss of life. Only one escaped — the British steam 
frigate Calliope., who, by her mighty engines, was able to keep 
her head to ^vind and wave, and move against the storm, and 
thus gained the open sea and was saved. The German v^^ar-ships 
lost ^vere the Adler., Olo^a, and Eber; American war-ships lost, 
the Trenton., I'andalia, and Nipsic. 

In the nominating conventions of 1S88 the Democrats renomi- 
nated Grover Cleveland for Pi-esident, and placed on the ticket 
with him the veteran and popular statesman, Allen G. Thurman, 
of Ohio. The Republicans put in nomination Benjamin Harri- 
son, of Indiana, for President, and Levi P. IMorton, of New York, 
for Vice-President. Harrison is a grandson of Gen. William 
Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, of 
whom we have heretofore had much to narrate in this work. The 
grandson was a lawyer, but had been in the Federal army during 
the war of the States and had risen from the rank of second lieu- 
tenant to that of brigadier-general. After the war his State had 
elected him to the United States Senate. Levi P. Morton was an 
astute politician of enormous wealth, his property and money 
being estimated by millions of dollars. This fact was not with- 
out weight in securing his nomination. 

The Republican candidates were elected by a considerable ma- 
jority of the chosen electors, although in the popular vote a ma- 
jority appeared for the Democrats. President Cleveland gave no 
signs of depression or mortification, but, on completing the duties 
of his term, quietly resumed the station and avocations of a pri- 
vate citizen. 

The inauguration of the new President, Benjamin Plarrison, 
took place on the 4th of March, 18S9, and was attended by an 
immense crowd and by imposing ceremonials. But the day was 
cold, rainy and inclement, being one in a season marked by water 
floods which did very great damage to railways and growing 
crops. 

The most appalling disaster accompanying these floods was 
that at Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania. On the 31st of 



The Presidency of Benjatnin Harrison. 889 

May, 1889, a massive stone dam on the South Fork creek, which 
had held a deep and broad body of water above the level of the 
town, after some indications of failure, suddenly gave way. The 
waters swept in a huge torrent over the town, carrying destruc- 
tion of life and property everywhere in their course. Not less 
than two thousand two hundred and ninety-five persons perished. 
The day express train of the Pennsylvania Railroad was swept 
from the track, with its ponderous locomotive and all its cars, and 
twenty-five passengers were drowned.' So grave were these dis- 
asters that public sympathy was excited through all the land, and 
large sums of money were donated to relieve the families of those 
^vho had perished. 

The presidency of Benjamin Harrison is now in progress. It 
is not ended. It is not an era of time passed, and therefore it is 
not a legitimate subject for the final recitals and conclusions of 
history. A few allusions to the prominent events as thus far 
developed are all that can be hazarded. 

The new President nominated as his cabinet gentlemen of 
prominence : James G. Blaine, of Maine, Secretary of State ; 
William Windom, of Minnesota, of the Treasury ; Redfield Proc- 
tor, of Vermont, of War ; Benjamin F. Tracy, of New York, of 
the Navy ; John W. Noble, of Missouri, of the Interior ; Jere. 
M. Rusk, of Wisconsin, of Agriculture ; W. H. 11. Miller, of 
Indiana, Attorney-General ; John Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania, 
Postmaster-General. Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, has not 
held a sinecure. Novel events and questions have occupied his 
attention. 

Among the sources of material wealth coming to the United 
States with the acquisition of the lands, islands and waters of 
Alaska, purchased from Russia, none is more interesting and im- 
portant than the seal fisherv. Enterprising sealers from Canada 
competed with the people of the United States for the seals ; but, 
under orders from Washington, the revenue steam-cutter Bear 
captured some of these Canadian adventurers and found them 
red-handed with the slain bodies and the skins of the seals they 
had taken. 

Canada insisted on the fishing rights of her people, and the 
questions involved speedily became a subject of correspondence 
between the State Departments of Great Britain and the United 
States. The Behring Strait of deep w^ater between the main-land 
of Alaska and the continent of Asia is sixty miles wide, and the 

1 Alden's Manifold Encyelop., XX. 606-608. Compare with official statement in N, Y, World 
Almanac, 1890, p. 52. 



890 A History of the United States of Ainerica. 

distance between the shore of Alaska and her nearest island is 
much more than six miles. Thus a question of international law 
has emerged, viz., whether these waters can be considered as 
mare clausum — a closed sea — that is, a part of the waters of the 
ocean to \vhich the United States have exclusive right, and from 
which they may law^fully exclude the sealers and fishermen of 
other nations. 

If this were all the case the question would seem easily solved, 
and against the United States, by the fixed principle of interna- 
tional law which confines the right of a nation to the waters of 
her coasts to a distance of three miles. 

But the United States claim that the right to presei've and en- 
joy the seal fishery of the Alaska coasts and waters passed to 
them by the purchase of the whole region and its appurtenances 
from Russia, who had always claimed and enforced such right, 
and that, as the seals, by their fixed habits, annually make their 
way from shore to shore across deep waters and to distances ex- 
ceeding six miles, the right would be entirely nugatory unless it 
carried the right to protect these valuable animals against the 
wasteful invasions of indiscriminate sealers.^ 

The correspondence on each side has resulted in a mutual ex- 
pression of vs^illingness to refer the questions in controversy to 
arbitration and decision by sovereign judges. Meanwhile, by 
reason of wide preparations and reliance on success by Alaskan 
sealers, the United States ask the privilege of taking not more 
than seven thousand five hundred seals in the current season. 

Another source of anxiety and diplomatic research to Secretary 
Blaine has arisen out of events in New Orleans. 

Italy and her dependency, the large island of Sicily, have for 
many years been yielding their full share of immigrants to the 
United States. Some of these have become good citizens, but a 
very large number, and especially of those who have settled in 
and about New Orleans, have manifested all the treachery, malig- 
nity, cruelty and superstition which enter into the worst forms 
of the Italian character. 

It is a proved fact that a secret society, known to its members 
and to those who have discovered its methods as " The Mafia," 
had existed in Sicily and the most southern parts of Italy. Its 
members Avere oath-bound. Their object was to put personal 
enemies out of the way by the stiletto, the poisoned cup or food, 
and other secret modes of murder. Many of its members were 

1 Ex-Minister Phelps' article in N. A. Review. Secretary Blaine's letters to Earl Salisbury. 
Montague's letter, Dispatch, Va. Times, Va., April 12th, 1891. 



The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. 891 

in New Orleans and her suburbs, and mysterious murders often 
took place. 

The chief of police in the city was David C. Hennessey. He 
was acute and indefatigable in following up the traces of these 
murderers, in seeking to bring them to justice, and in gathering 
proofs of the existence and methods of the "Mafia." His success 
was so great that nothing less than his death seemed to promise 
safety to those conspirators against the human race. Their plots 
were carried out. Hennessey was murdered on the 15th of Oc- 
tober, 1S90, on one of the streets of the city while discharging his 
official duties. 

A number of Italians were arrested. Evidence was gathered, 
which justified a grand jury in finding indictments against them. 
They were regularly tried in the city criminal court having juris- 
diction. The trial lasted twenty-five days. The evidence seemed, 
to patient and just minds, conclusive to prove their guilt ; but, 
much to the amazement of the great body of the people of New 
Orleans, the jury found a verdict of "not guilty." 

Meanwhile facts leaked out tending strongly to prove that the 
jury had been tampered with, and that direct efforts to bribe them 
had been made, and, moreover, that threats of the secret and 
murderous methods of the " Mafia " had been suggested to in- 
fluence them against an adverse verdict. 

Thereupon the people of New Orleans assembled in righteous 
wrath. They were harangued by influential leaders, prominent 
among whom were W. S. Parkerson, Walter D. Deneger, John 
C. Wickliffe and James D. Houston. A large and resolute body 
of men, armed with double-barreled guns, Winchester rifles and 
revolvers, maixhed to the jail. No effective resistance could be 
made to them. They entered the cells and put to death eleven 
Italians against whom the evidences of murder and complicity in 
the " Mafia " methods had been strongest. A slight wound was 
inflicted on one of the assailants. Having done their work, they 
dispersed to their homes.' This was on the 14th March, 1891. 

When news of these events reached Washington citv by tele- 
graph, the Italian diplomatic representative — Baron Fava, who 
had for many years been his countrv's minister to the United 
States — made to Secretary Blaine earnest complaint and claim 
for redress. He insisted that among the men put to death were 
three or more subjects of the King of Italy, entitled under treaty 
to special protection. ]Mr. Blaine's first action was somewhat 
hasty. He sent by telegraph a message to Francis T. Nicholls, 

iTel. narrative to Dispatch, Va., March 20, 1891. Washington Post. 



892 A History of the United States of Atnerica. 

Governor of Louisiana, in which, after alluding to the " deplor- 
able massacre " and the complaint of the Italian minister, he 
said : " The President deeply regrets that the citizens of New 
Orleans should have so disparaged the purity and adequacy of 
their own judicial tribunals as to transfer to the passionate judg- 
ment of a mob a question that should have been adjudged dispas- 
sionately and by settled rules of law. The government of the 
United States must give to the subjects of friendly powers that 
security which it demands for our own citizens when temporarily 
under a foreign jurisdiction." ' 

But when more deliberate reflection came, the State Depart- 
ment took ground constitutionally unassailable. Baron Fava and 
the Count Rudini, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs at 
Rome, were informed that the government of the United States 
had no power whatever to arrest and bring to trial in her courts 
the killers of the Italians ; that such power was vested only in the 
State authorities and courts of Louisiana, and must be the result 
of an indictment by a grand jury of that State, and that the treaty 
with Italy only required that the United States should give to the 
subjects of that kingdom the same measure of protection and re- 
dress given to citizens of the United States. 

But the Count Rudini, with strange ignorance concerning the 
United States constitution and Federal system, professed great in- 
dignation, and ordei-ed Baron Fava to return home, leaving only 
a charge, whose functions should be strictly limited to "current 
business." The Italian consul in New Orleans, who, by his course, 
had rendered himself unacceptable to her authorities and people, 
was also called back to Italy. 

An elaborate I'eport was forwarded to Washington from the 
authorities of Louisiana, concerning which it is expedient only 
to say that it shows that all the Italians killed, save one, had 
made the needed declarations of purpose to become citizens of the 
United States, and had actually voted in Louisiana ; and the one 
who had not thus lost all claim on Italy was a man who had been 
convicted of crime in Sicily and had fled from justice. 

During the term of President Harrison, as thus far current, six 
new States have been admitted to the Union — viz. : Montana, 
Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming. 
The motives and methods of the dominant party in the Congress 
as to the admission of these States have been freely called in 
question. It has been urged that their condition as to population 
and readiness to exercise the functions of State sovereignty have 

1 Telegram of Secretary Blaine, March 15th, 1891. 



The Presidoicv of Benjamin Harrison. 893 

not been made manifest, and that thej were admitted rather to 
increase the power of the Republican party in the Senate than 
for any higher considerations : and as to some of them the method 
adopted was a prospective act of Congress to be recognized and 
perfected by a presidential proclamation. This was thought by 
many to be unconstitutional.' And it cannot be truthfully denied 
that disorder and irregularity, both in the internal action of some 
of the new States and in the Senate chamber, have already mani- 
fested the crude conditions and indirect motives that were in ac- 
tive force. But these admissions of States are all recognized by 
the United States government as complete, and on the 4th of July, 
1S91, the flag of the nation bore forty-four stars. 

On the 6th December, 1SS9, Jefferson Davis, who had been the 
only President of the Confederate States, died in New Orleans. 
His death awakened anew, in the hearts not only of the people 
of the South, but of many in the Northern States, sentiments of 
admiration and sympathy, in view of his devotion to, and suffer- 
ings for, the cause he loved so well. Measui'es were set in motion 
to erect a monument to his memory. Statues worthy of their 
fame have already been erected to Lee and Jackson, and the 
vmveiling in each case was attended by very large and enthusi- 
astic civic and military processions and ceremonies. 

The long term of the Congress of 1S89— '9oand the limited term 
of 1890— '91, with the intervening period of elections, involved 
one of the most serious strains to which the institutions of the 
United States have been subjected. 

The enduring question of a protective tariff again came up in 
Torms not so threatening to peace, but actually wider in division 
of opinion than ever before ; and to it was added a persistent 
pui-pose to adopt laws under which a dominant party might be- 
come actually sovereign, even against the v^ill of the people. 

The tariff bill, known as the " McKinley Bill," from the name 
of its leading advocate in the House of Representatives, passed 
both Houses of Congress, received the signature of the Presi- 
dent, and is, at least for the present, the law of the land. It is 
strongly protective in its construction and policy, although it con- 
tains some provisions known as " reciprocity sections," intended 
to adapt the rates of duties on imported goods to the rates 
charged by nations adopting reciprocation on products and man- 
ufactures from the United States. This feature is understood to 
be earnestly favored by the Secretary of State, James G. Blaine. 
But thus far it has very little affected the " McKinley Act." That 

1 r. S. Constitution, Art. IV., sec. 3. 



894 -^ History of the Uttited States of Arnerica. 

act continues and strengthens all the previous legislation favoring 
special manufactures and other interests protected and enriched 
at the expense of agriculturists and the masses of the people. 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, elected in De- 
cember, 18S9, by rigid party methods, w^as Thomas B. Reed, of 
Maine. He embodied all that w^as tenacious and obdurate in 
party spirit and purpose. 

Thoinas Jefierson and his true disciples had taught that minor- 
ities in the people and minorities in houses of legislation had 
rights which must be respected and preserved in order to main- 
tain the safe balances of the Union ; and the rules both of the 
Senate and the House had recognized these rights of minorities. 
They did not impeach the established democratic canon that the 
majority must govern ; they did not, under any circumstances, au- 
thorize a minority to enact positive legislation. All that these 
rules did was to enable a minority, in extreme cases, to impose 
delays, theoretically, but not practically, endless, upon legislation 
threatened by a dominant majority in violation of inhei'ent right, 
and oppressive and injurious to special sections or interests. 

But the House of 18S9— '90 revised and remodeled its rules so as 
to eliminate, to a large extent, the methods by which a vigilant 
and resolute minority might protect its rights. Speaker Reed 
promptly availed himself of the new rules. When members of 
the minority declined to answer to their names or to reckon them- 
selves as present so as to make a qiioriim for business, he never- 
theless directed their names to betaken down and counted by the 
clerk, thus securing what he decided to be a quorum for business, 
and making inevitable a decision by a mere majority, and annihf- 
lating a conservative right of a minority which had been recog- 
nized by the fathers of the republic from its foundation. 

The leaders of thtf minority failed not to protest, and stormy 
scenes were enacted in the House : but Speaker Reed was moved 
neither by argimient nor invective nor pathetic appeal, and his 
followers fell into the condition of automata worked by his hands. 

A bill was introduced, called by its advocates an " Elections 
Bill" — by its opponents a " Force Bill." It is not necessary to 
detail herein its provisions. It was founded uj^on the hypothesis, 
asserted, but never proved, that the white people of the States in 
which were the largest number of negroes, exercised methods of 
intimidation, fraud and violence, to deter them from voting or to 
compel thein to vote for Democratic candidates. 

This bill, if made law, would have operated to put every step 
of the process of elections for members of Congress in the States 



The Presidency of Benjamin Uarrison. 895 

into the hands of commissioners and officials chosen by the 
United States government, and, of course, by the party in power. 
The superintending of the polls, counting of the votes, and making 
out and certifying of the results, would have been in partisan 
hands ; and, if they deemed it needful, they were to have power 
to call in the aid and action of the military force of the country. 

So alarmingly radical was this bill that some of the more mod- 
erate Republicans shrunk back, at first, from voting favorably to 
it. To insure its passage, therefore, the Republicans of the House 
used party methods without scruple, and decided a number of 
contested election cases in favor of Republican contestants, even 
when the evidence established the existence of majorities for the 
seated members. Some of these decisions were so grossly parti- 
san and unjust as to draw indignant comment from the general 
public. 

Yet this " Force Bill " passed the House of Representatives and 
went to the Senate for consideration. Here it was watched and 
delayed until the Congress adjourned late in the summer of 1890. 

Between this time and the re-assembling of the Congress in 
December, 1890, the most signal display of popular opinion and 
sentiment in favor of Democratic principles took place that had 
ever been known in the United States. It was like an organized 
storm — a tornado under intelligent direction and power. It was 
not the work of Democratic orators or leaders to any large ex- 
tent ; neither was it the result of public debates between con- 
testants representing the two parties. If any influence is to be 
predicated as chiefly potent in the movement, it was the public 
press — the newspapers, magazines and periodicals — which had 
given all the facts and arguments applicable to the situation. 
The people had been thoroughly enlightened, and they voted ac- 
cordingly. 

Curious questionings have taken place as to the relative effi- 
ciency of the varied causes of this strange political upheaval. 
Was it the "McKinley Act," or the act of the House in changing 
its rules, and in seeking to annihilate the rights of minorities, or 
the rough pertinacity and partisanship of Speaker Reed, or the 
gross violations of justice in the decision of the contested elections, 
cases, or the passing of the " Force Bill " by the House ? The only 
answer history can make is that all these causes existed, and all 
tended to work the result. That result was, that in the elections 
North, South, East and West, in the fall of 1890, a sufficient num- 
ber of Democrats were returned to give a practical working ma- 
jority of more than one hundred votes in the House against the 



896 A History of the United States of America. 

* . . 

Republicans, and changes occurred which will tend to secure, in 

reasonable time, a majority in the Senate favorable to Democratic 
principles. 

Notwithstanding this ominous storm, the Republican leaders in 
the Senate, during the winter session of 1890— '91, sought earnestly 
to bring the " Force Bill," with some amendments, to a successful 
vote. President Harrison was understood to be strongly in favor 
of the bill, and he used his influence and that of his executive 
department, as far as safety would permit, to obtain its passage. 
But in the Senate it was watched with ceaseless vigilance and skill- 
ful opposition by a number of strong men, among the foremost of 
whom was Senator Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland. It became 
evident that, even among the Republican senators, some were in- 
tellectually too clear-sighted to be really friendlv to such a bill, 
and some were too much alarmed at the late upheaval to be en- 
thusiastic in its support. It was once laid aside to take up a bill 
for " free coinage of silver," which passed the Senate, but was not 
passed by the House of Representatives. 

The rules of the Senate still recognized the right of debate so 
long as senators thought it their duty to throw additional light 
on important questions. To smother this right was a dangerous 
and invidious task, upon which few desired to enter ; yet, without 
some such step, it was known to be impossible to pass the "Force 
Bill." Therefore, precedents were sought in the usages of the Eng- 
lish House of Commons and of the French Chamber of Deputies. 
A " cloture " resolution was invented for closing debate ; but the 
tactics of the opposition prevailed. The "cloture" was evaded. 
The fourth day of March, 1891, arrived. The session of Congress 
was ended, and the "Force Bill" was dead. 

Thus the institutions of the United States escaped the most dan- 
gei"ous rock of centralization and party tyranny that had ever 
threatened them with destruction. 

The Congress which expired on the 4th of March, 1S91, has 
often been designated as the " Billion " appropriation Congress. 
While its votes of money did not literally reach a thousand of mil- 
lions of dollars, yet for pensions and doubtful purposes they were 
so extravagant that their results have brought serious embarrass- 
ment to the United States treasury. 

Early in April, 1891, occurred another of those deploi-able con- 
flicts between laborers and organized powers of order and gov- 
ernment, which are growing into signs of the times. The miners 
and workmen in the " coke regions " of Pennsylvania, near More- 
wood, in Westmoreland county, struck for increase of wages and 



Tlic Presidency of Boijanii)! Harrison. 897 

decrease of hours of laboi", left their work, and prepared to re- 
sist by force and brutality all efforts of the owners or lessors of 
the works to obtain other laborers. These strikers were chiefly 
foreigners. They organized a movement on the Frick Company's 
plants and buildings at Morewood ; but they were met by men 
who, though few, were firm. 

Superintendent Pickard called together and organized a small 
body of brave and experienced citizens, all of \vhom were sworn 
in as special deputies of the sheriff'. Captain Loar commanded 
them. They wore no uniforms, but were heavily armed. Super- 
intendent Pickard furnished to each man a Winchester rifle and 
twenty-six cartridges. He made a brief address, urging them to 
protect the company's . property, protect the men at work and 
protect their own lives, and concluding by saying that any one 
not willing to accept and do his duty might drop to the rear. 

Not a man dropped back. The strikers advanced in three par- 
ties and in some disorder. They had battered in the telephone 
office, had cut the wires, and when they reached Morewood they 
threw stones, which shattered the windows of the company's 
store. They broke down the gate and were preparing torches to 
fire the buildings. Captain Loar three times commanded them 
to halt and desist. They answered with jeers and with three shots 
from revolvers. He ordered his deputies to fire. They obeyed 
and fired several volleys with steady aim. Eleven of the raiders 
were killed and sixtv wounded. Dismayed by this stern resist- 
ance, the mob broke and retreated. 

Upon information reported by the Sheriff' of Westmoreland, 
Governor Pattison promptly ordered two regiments of the State 
military to the spot ; but no more force was required.' The 
strikers, especially the foreigners, were thoroughly cowed. They 
had showed no timidity in the attack, for every one who fell re- 
ceived the shot in the front of his body ; but they found law and 
order too formidable to be overcome. The funeral of the slain 
was at Mount Pleasant, and drew ten thousand people together ; 
but Generals McClelland and Wiley, with staff' and regimental 
officers and five companies of the Eighteenth regiment, were in 
attendance. Perfect order prevailed. 

These and like indications prove that the dangers from violence 
and bloodshed are no longer from Indians in this country. 

In July, 1S91, a serious disturbance occurred in the mining re- 
gions of East Tennessee. The miners rose, not because of dis- 
satisfaction as to wages or hours, but because, under a law of the 

1 Narrative in Saturday Tidings, Buftalo, N. Y., April 11, 1891. 
57 



898 A History of tJie United States of America. 

State, convicts for crime were made workers in the mines. They 
were guarded by a squad of State soldiers, and were called " ze- 
bras," by reason of their striped convict dresses. The armed 
miners drove oft' the soldiers and dispersed the convicts. Gover- 
nor Buchanan acted firmly. He ordered out the militaiy, and 
gave the miners notice that force vv^ould be used. Negotiations 
resulted in quiet. They returned to their work, with the under- 
standing that eftbrts to repeal the obnoxious law would be made. 
But these troubles have been renewed. About the close of Oc- 
tober, 1 89 1, near Briceville and Oliver Springs, in Tennessee, 
miners released and dispersed five hundred convicts employed in 
the inines froin the stockades, in which they were kept by the 
guards. There will always be opposition to the employment of 
convicts for crime in open competition with honest and reputable 
laborers. 

The Sioux Indians, imder their great chieftain Sitting Bull, had 
shown unrest and a disposition to attack the whites in the fall of 
1890. Ghost dances and other savage rites had been practiced. 
The United States authorities had made earnest eftbrts to preserve 
peace. A number of Big Foot's band, of Sitting Bull's followers, 
had agreed to surrender ; but when a party, under Captain Wal- 
lace, of the Seventh cavalry, and embracing armed Indians, em- 
ployed as a police force, went into the " Bad Lands," on Porcu- 
pine creek, near the Pine Ridge agency, to disarm these Indians, 
an iiTegular fight took place on the 28th of December, 1890, in 
which both Sitting Bull and Captain Wallace were killed. The 
circumstances led to inquiries of the War Department, in which 
some blame was suggested as due to ofiicers in command.' But 
Indian treachery has never died out. 

The frequent quarrels and wars, internal and external, of the 
republics of South America have, from time to time, involved the 
United States in embarrassing questions. Two of these cases in 
the term of President Benjamin Harrison call for historic notice. 

One occurred during the war between Guatemala and San Salva- 
dor in 1890. General Barrundia, of the latter State, had become 
specially the object of hostility in Guatemala. It was known that 
he had embarked on the Acapulco, a merchant steamer of the 
United States, which would touch at a port of Guatemala. An 
order for his arrest had been issued. Mr. Mizner, the United 
States minister to Central America, had become satisfied that if 
the merchant steamer, with Barrundia on board, came into a port 
of Guatemala, she passed under the jurisdiction of that State. In 

1 Report in Balto. Sun, Dec. 30th, 1890. 



The Presideticy of Be it jam in Harrisoii. 899 

this a merchant-ship differs from a " man-of-war " or armed na- 
tional ship. These principles had been definitely affirmed by a 
decision of Secretary Bayard during- President Cleveland's term. 

But Minister Mizner sought to shield General Barrundia from 
inhumanity. He obtained a written guaranty from the President 
of Guatemala and the Minister of Foreign Atlairs of Central 
America that in no event should the life of the general be endan- 
gered after his arrest. He then gave written advice of his views 
(using nearly the words of Secretary Bayard) to Captain Pitts, of 
the steamer Acapulco^ who caused the document to be translated 
and read to General Barrundia. But, unhappily, that impvilsive 
officer adopted a course which resulted in his death. \\'hen the 
Guatemalan warrant of arrest, borne by an officer and soldiers, 
came on board the Acapiilco^ Barrundia refused to suffer arrest, 
drew his pistols and sword, and was preparing to use them when 
he was shot dead by a volley from the soldiers. 

It is believed that President Harrison's cabinet have not ap- 
proved of jSIizner's course, and have even gone so far as to cen- 
sure and punish the United States naval officer whose armed 
ship was in or near the harbor, on the ground that he did not in- 
terfere to prevent the arrest. Such a position will not be main- 
tained if international law, rather than temporary excitement, 
shall govern the case. 

The other complications affecting the United States arose out 
of the late civil ^var in Chili. It is not needful to give herein 
the history of that war any further than to show how it touched 
our country. Chili has been a constitutional republic since 1833. 
In 18S6, Jose Manuel Balmaceda was elected President. He be- 
haved well early in his term, but towards its close manifested an 
ambitious purpose to perj^etuate his power, or at least to inter- 
fere unconstitutionally in the election of his own successor. The 
Congress opposed him. In January, 1890, Balmaceda demanded 
the resignation of the cabinet officers and appointed others, 
naming as their chief the man whom he wished to force on the 
country as President. Clashings between him and the Congress 
continued until, in January-, 1891, he resorted to the usual plea of 
the usurpei" — declared it to be impossible to carry on the govern- 
ment with the obstructions resisting him, dissolved the Congress, 
and assumed, practically, the claims of a dictator. Both parties 
took up arms ; civil war raged. Balmaceda, after some fighting, 
held the southern provinces with a considerable army, the port of 
Valparaiso and the town of Santiago as his capital. The Con- 
gressionals held the four upper provinces, with Iquique as their 



poo A History of the United States of America, 

capital, and with the strong fleet and a small, but resolute, land 
force.^ 

The United States government, in accord with established pre- 
cedents, continued to recognize Balmaceda and his officers as the 
government de facto in Chili. Patrick Egan, an appointee of 
President Harrison, was the minister at Santiago. He was a na- 
tive of Ireland and had suffered imprisonment for alleged politi- 
cal offences under the British rule. In Chili his course was such 
as to draw on him the imfavorable regard of the Congressional 
party. _ 

Desiring to increase their land force, and to arm it efficiently, 
the Congressionals sent a steamer of considerable size, named the 
Jtata, to the coast of California, near San Diego, to receive from 
parties in the United States a large number of rifles and other im- 
proved inodern arms. This purpose was intended to be kept a 
secret, but information concerning it having been communicated 
to the United States government, they considered the plan a vio- 
lation of international laws of neutrality, and directed their law 
officers at San Diego to proceed against the Itata. A libel was 
filed in the District Court and a marshal, with process, was ac- 
tually aboard the Itata. But, in contempt of the process, she 
steamed out to sea, put the marshal ashore by a boat, and, at a 
distance of more than three miles from the coast of California, 
she met the expected ship and received the arms contracted for. 
She then steamed rapidly southward. The United States steam 
frigate Charleston was promptly sent in pursuit of her. Finding 
herself hard pressed, the Itata reached Iquique and was imme- 
diately surrendered by the Congressionals to the United States 
admiral commanding the squadron there. Five thousand rifles 
were aboard of her and were given up with her, with the assur- 
ance (which has been, apjDarently, accepted as true by the United 
States government) that they were all the arms she had received.^ 
But a belief has been publicly expressed that in her run through 
the Pacific she was met by the powerful war-steamer Esmeraldas 
(belonging to the Chilian Congressionals) and had put aboard of 
her the larger part of the arms received, and that the subsequent 
successes of the Congressional army were greatly promoted 
thereby. 

The Itata., with her cargo, was carried back to San Diego to 
await the decision of the libel. The district judge decided favor- 
ably to her, but on grounds which the law officers of President 

1 Dispatches and reports, Washington Post, August 29th. 1891. 

2 President Harrison's Message, Dec, 1891. 



Tlic Presidency of Benjanii)) Harrison. 901 

Harrison regarded as so untenable that an appeal has been en- 
tered/ and the case will probably reach the vSupreme Court for 
final decision. 

After several land and naval conflicts, the war in Chili was 
substantially ended by a complete victory gained by the Congres- 
sional army over the forces of Balmaceda, in the neighborhood of 
Valparaiso, on the 28th of August, 189 1. The victors gained 
possession of that city, and the usurper and his officers, with the 
few of their troops who were not captured, fled in terror and 
rout. Balmaceda took temporary refuge at the official residence 
of the Argentine legation, in Santiago, and there, on the morning 
of the 19th September, 1891, he is represented to have ended his 
own career and life by a pistol shot fired through his temple. 

The Congressionals re-established the republic. Jorge Montt 
was elected President, and the government was recognized by 
the United States ; but the events of the' year left hostile feel- 
ings, which threaten to disturb the continuance of peace. On 
the i6th of October, 1S91, a considerable number of the sailors 
of the United States steam frigate Baltimore, then lying in 
the port of Valparaiso, were j^ermitted, under established usages 
of comity, to go ashore unarmed. They were violently assaulted 
by a number of Chilians. One petty officer was killed, and 
eight seamen were seriously wounded, one of whom has since 
died. So savage and brutal was the assault that several of the 
men received more than two wounds, and one as many as eigh- 
teen stabs.^ 

The United States government promptly demanded satisfac- 
tion. The government of Chili claimed time to make judicial 
investigation, which resulted in a report charging one or more 
Chilians with making the assault, but acquitting the "police and 
the municipal government.' 

Another source of disturbed feeling has been the right of asylum 
and protection for political refugees in the official residence and 
grounds of the United States minister in Santiago. Mr. Egan 
has firml}^ claimed and given efficacy to this right. A United 
States war-steamer has borne these refugees to a port of safety. 

Chili has withdrawn an offensive note, and has signified her wil- 
lingness that Mr. Egan shall remain as ministei", and that the 
questions between her and the United States shall be referred to 
sovereign arbitrators, or to the Supreme Court of this country. 
It is hoped that peace may be preserved. 

1 President Harrison's Message, Dec, 1891. - Ihld. 

■< Report iu Washington Post, Jan. 4th, 1892. 



902 A History of the United States of America. 

President Harrison spent a part of the year 1S91 in an ex- 
tended tour of observation, chiefly through the southwestern part 
of his country and in her Pacific States, 

On the 1st day of July, 1S91, a train of raih'oad cars, propelled 
by steam, made a successful ascent to the top of " Pike's Peak," 
in Colorado. The track ran round the peak in the hardiest forms 
of engineering. The point oi tertninus is fourteen thousand one 
hvindred and forty-seven feet above the l-^vel of the sea — by far 
the highest point inhabited by man and reached by such means. 
Mount Washington, in Nev\^ Hampshire, comes next, reaching by 
railroad a height of six thousand two hundred and eighty-eight 
feet. Mount Pilatus, overlooking the Lake of Lucerne, in Switz- 
erland, is third, with a height, by railroad, of six thousand feet. 
Sixty-five persons were in the cars which gained the top of Pike's 
Peak. They wore light summer clothing when they set out, but 
before they reached the summit they were glad to put on the 
heaviest winter overcoats they had brought with them.' 

On the 19th of August the President attended and took a 
prominent part in the dedication of a monument commemorating 
the " Battle of Bennington." For many years the people of Ver- 
mont had been contemplating it, and, at last, one hundred years 
from the time when she became a State, the purpose was accom- 
plished. The monument is an obelisk, built of native stone and 
faced with sand-hill dolomite. It is three hundred and one feet 
high, and stands on a commanding site two hundred and eighty- 
three feet above the Wallasoc river. The principal address was 
delivered by Edward J. Phelps, formerly LTnited States minister 
to Great Britain. 

The Congress of i890-'9i passed an "International Copyright 
Law," under which the benefits and protection given are to be 
enjoyed by authors and artists of Great Britain, France, Belgium, 
Switzerland and Germany, inasmuch as those sovereignties by 
their laws give like benefits and protection to authors and artists 
of the United States. 

.After delays which had caused surj^rise and disappointment, 
the Senate of the United States, in executive session, on the 
nth day of January, 1S92, ratified the Brussels treaty, which 
had been assented to by seventeen sovereign powers on the 2d of 
July, 1890. Thus the United States co-operates with the strong- 
est nations of the world for the i-epression of the slave-trade in 
Africa, and for restricting the importation of intoxicating liquors 
into the valley of the Congo river. 

1 Letter from Colorado Springs, Washiiigtou Post, July 3, 1891. 



The Presidency of Bciijaniiii JrCarrisou. 903 

Extended preparations are in progress for a " World's Fair," to 
be held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, in 1892 and 1893, Seve- 
ral cities — New York, Washington, St. Louis and Chicago — com- 
peted before the Congress for the hqnor of being the site of this 
great exposition. Many concurring circumstances determined 
the choice. Chicago now has a population approaching in num- 
bers that of New York, and her great advantages of position, as 
to transportation both by water and land, give her facilities and 
prospects not exceeded by those of any city in the world. It is 
hoped that nearly all the nations of the earth will take part in the 
approaching exposition, and that it will aid in bringing men to- 
gether in iniiversal amity and peace. 



CONCLUDING SUMMARY. 

IT now only remains that we shall give a brief review of and 
hopeful glance at the present condition and future prospects 
of the United States. 

( I ) The first point to which attention is naturally directed is 
how far the history and example of this country have afiected 
other sovereignties of the earth on the paramount question of self- 
government by iTian ; and assuredly on this point the present out- 
look is full of hope and proinise. 

When the United States became a confederated republic, only 
three other republics existed in the vv^orld, viz. : Switzerland, 
Holland and San Marino. Of these, the first had many draw^- 
backs on the free exercise of her republicanism ; the second was 
ruled by William V., a stadtholder with power and state essen- 
tially royal, and the third was so small that her weakness was her 
chief protection. 

But in 1884, after the lapse of barely a century, we find forty- 
one controlling sovereignties in the world, and of these not less 
than twenty were republics. It is true that, under causes set in 
motion by surrounding kingdoms, Holland had become the "King- 
dom of the Netherlands ; " but among the forty-one we reckon 
the great German empire as one, although she embraced in her 
imperial union not less than twenty-five minor states, among 
which were Alsace-Lorraine with her Ober Priisident and ele- 
ments of republicanism, and the free cities Bremen, Hamburg and 
Lubeck. 

Since 1884 another great republic has been added to the world's 
sovereignties, viz., that of Brazil, which has an area of three 
million two hundred and eighty-seven thousand nine hundred 
and sixty-four square miles, and a population of fifteen millions. 
Her adoption of the essence and forms of republicanism make 
one of the wonders and prophecies of this age. Her action 
was quiet and without bloodshed. Her Emperor, Dom Pedro, 
born on her soil, was respected and beloved, but his daughter 
was the power behind the throne and had shown strong aversion 
to civil and religious freedom. Therefore the reigning family 
were quietly sent out of the country. This is a precedent that 

[ 904 ] 



Conchidi)ig Summary. 905 

may be easily followed by the people of other monarchies. 
Dom Pedro died in Paris, the capital city of another republic, on 
Friday, the 4th day of December, 1S91. The people of Brazil 
really loved him, and his death removes the last hope of his 
dynasty as to reigning in Brazil. An attempt at usurpation and 
dictatorship by the late President, Da Fonseca, has been so 
promptly rebuked and crushed by the republican spirit there that 
Brazil must be reckoned as lost to the monarchic cause. Fonseca 
resigned, and the Vice-President, Floriano Peixotto, became Presi- 
dent. He had aided in constructing the present constitution, and 
is thought to be soundly republican. 

France is the great republic of Europe, and is the living pro- 
phecy of what is coming there, though, perhaps, not without a 
mortal struggle of kings for the retention of their power. The 
revolutionary furor and excesses of France in the close of the 
last century were the proximate result of the attempts of the sur- 
rounding kings to crush her republicanism ; and yet those very 
excesses were used by Edmund Burke and equally shallow rea- 
soners to uphold monarchy and discourage political freedom. But 
France has triumphed. The Bourbons and the Bonaparte dynasty 
have fallen — it is to be hoped, to rise no more to power. France is 
acknowledged as a republic even by the sagacious Pontiff' of the 
Roman church, who concentrates in his " cathedra " the political 
wisdom of a thousand years. 

It is a mere question of time when other monarchies will be- 
come republics. The republics are already in the niaiority among 
the sovereignties of the earth. As fast as the people gain the 
education and morality needed for self-government, they will dis- 
card kings and establish republics. 

(3) The next subject of inquiiy is as to the effect of American 
institutions in developing the power of thought, especially as 
manifested in works of literature. On this subject, able men in 
the Old World for a long time thought the argument and ex- 
perience unfavorable to America. Sydney Smith, and others 
equally satirical, ridiculed the early literary attempts of America. 
The question "Who reads an American book?" did not imnie- 
diately find an answer soothing to the people of the United 
States ; but facts have given the answer. 

Greece had passed out of her legendary infancy and had lived 
more than eight hundred years before she produced all of her 
great-est Avriters, her poets, philosophers and historians, her Homer, 
Plesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aris- 
totle and Plutarch ; Rome, as monarchy, republic and empire, had 



906 A History of the United States of America. 

lived nine hundred years before she produced her Ennius, L,ivy, 
Sallust, Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Suetonius, Taci- 
tus, Jerome and Augustine ; England had been a British, Danish, 
Saxon and Norman monarchy for thirteen hundred years before 
she had given to the woi'ld her Alcuin, Bede, Chaucer, Spenser, 
Shakespeare, Milton, Locke, Boyle, Addison, Pope, Johnson, 
Goldsmith, Hallam, Macaulay, Scott, Byron and Tennyson. It 
is not, therefore, a just subject of reproach to the United States, 
whose whole life, as colonies and republics united, has not yet 
reached three hundred years, that she should not yet have attained 
the high ideals in literature which have been reached by Greece, 
Rome and England. 

But she has already accomplished enough in this sphere to show 
what she can do and may do in the future. The student need 
only read the thirty -live closely printed columns of the " New 
American Encyclop£edia " relating to the literature of the United 
States up to the year 1865, to find evidence that no other nation 
has ever, in so short a time, done so much and done it so well. 

The Virginia colony had hardly lived fourteen years before 
George Sandys, on the banks of the James, made a poetical trans- 
lation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, which was published in London 
in 1636, and eagerly read by competent scholars. In colonial 
times, Jonathan Edwards wrote a book on " The Freedom of the 
Human Will," which Robert Hall and Sir James Mackintosh, of 
England, praised as beiiag " unmatched, certainly unsui'passed, 
among men in any age or country." David Rittenhouse wrote 
on astronomy and mathematics, and Benjamin Rush and James 
McClurg on disease and remedy, works which enlightened both 
worlds. Benjamin Franklin exhibited in his writings a genius 
and wit equally applicable to the highest science and the " Poor 
Richard " philosophy. 

And in the period of barely one hundred and sixteen years 
which has passed since she became a nation, the United States 
has produced among poets, Longfellow, Lowell, Dana, Sprague, 
Percival, Bryant, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Preston, Drake, Halleck, 
Bayard Taylor, Edgar A. Poe, Willis, Cooke, John R. Thompson, 
and others, whose works have not died. 

Among historians, she has produced Bancroft, Irving, Prescott, 
Lossing, Headley, Palfrey, vSimms, Gayarre, Tvlotley, Stephens, and 
many others, who, by research and patient labor, as well as by 
sound induction, have made history a teacher. 

Ainong novelists and writers of iiction, she has produced Charles 
Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, Fenimore Cooper, Pauld- 



Concluding Summary. 90^ 

ing, Kennedy, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Miss Sedgwick, IMiss Les- 
lie, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Poe, Willis, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 
John Esten Cooke, J. G. Holland, Mrs. South worth, Mrs. Hentz, 
]Mrs. Terhune, Amelie Rives, Thomas Nelson Page, and many 
others, who have exhibited versatility and power. 

As to the orators of the United States, it is now a reasonable 
claim that they would not sutler by comparison with those of any 
age or any country ; and the law books written by American 
jurists are cited as authority in the highest courts of the civilized 
world. 

One form of literature America has brought to a point so near 
to perfection that her readers are in danger of being seduced into 
the bad habit of reading nothing else. This is the newspaper. 
In the year 1775 only thirt^'-seven papers circulated in the colo- 
nies. In 1884 not less than twelve thousand newspapers and 
magazines were printed and circulated. The number has increased 
largely since that time, and the great " dailies " and " weeklies " 
of the larger cities are, in each issue, volumes and encyclopaedias 
of information on the special subjects discussed. 

(3) Our third subject will be the effect of the civilization and 
republican principles of the United States on the advance of pop- 
ulation. 

On this point the phenomena presented are certainly amazing, 
and such as the world had never known before. Some have 
raised questions as to this test, and have urged the populousness 
of the empire of China as evidence that the human race may 
multiply enormously when no favorable conditions of freedom in 
government, and intelligence and morality in the people, existed. 
But they leave out of view the material facts which difTerentiate 
the cases. 

China, as a nation, is so old that authentic history declines 
to decide how old she is. Four thousand years would be a mod- 
erate estimate. Her soil is rich, and rice and vegetables, with ani- 
mal food in abundance and with scant fastidiousness as to its 
kind or quality, have sustained her millions, who, though in some 
respects ruled with the iron hand, in most respects have been left 
free to live and multiply as they pleased. 

But the national life of the United States does not extend be- 
yond one hundred and sixteen years. In her colonial life, popula- 
tion grew very slowly. The difficulties, dangers, diseases and 
mortalities which attended a constant struggle with forest, river, 
swamp and field, with deceitful and malignant savages, and with 
white men more destructive than the red men — all these causes 



908 A History of the United States of America. 

tended to check population. The ixsult was that, in 1776, when 
the United States declared their independence, their total popula- 
tion did not much exceed three millions, of whom at least half a 
million were slaves. 

These premises authorize the inference that if the United 
States, since obtaining her independent sovereignty, has out- 
stripped, in her ratio of increase of population, other civilized and 
Christian nations, her free and liberal system of government and 
civilization must be predicated as one of the most efficient causes 
of such progi'ess. This \vill bring us to the facts. 

In 1790, barely a year after her" first President was inaugurated, 
her population had reached, in round numbers, nearly four mil- 
lions ; in iSoo, she had more than five and a quarter millions ; 
in 1810, she had nearly seven and a quarter millions ; in 1820, she 
had considerably more than nine and a half millions ; in 1830, she 
approached thirteen millions ; in 1840, she had more than seven- 
teen millions ; in 18:^0, her number ran beyond twenty-three mil- 
lions ; in i860, she came very near to thirty-one and a half mil- 
lions ; in 1870, she had more than thirty -eight and a half millions ; 
in 1880, she had fifty million one hundred and fifty-five thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-three ; in Jvme, 1890, according to a 
census which has been questioned and criticised, but never proved 
to be substantially erroneous, she had sixty-two million four hun- 
dred and eighty thousand five hundred and forty, exclusive of white 
persons in Indian Territory, Indians on reservations and the peo- 
ple of Alaska. It is a moderate estimate, therefore, which num- 
bers her present population at sixty-four millions. 

This population is far beyond that of Germany, or of Austria 
and Hungary united, or of France, or of Great Britain and Ire- 
land, or of Italy or Turkey or Japan. 

To account for this immense increase we have in the United 
States her freedom, her conditions of general health and cheer- 
fulness, her genial and fertile soils and great abundance of varied 
and nutritious food, all of which tend to normal increase by natu- 
ral propagation. 

But this mode of increase will not account for her present num- 
bers. Immigration of millions from foreign lands — from Ger- 
many, Scandinavia. Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, France, 
England, Scotland, Ireland, and more distant lands — this has been 
a potent factor in the marvelous increase. Ireland, chiefly by rea- 
son of immigration to America, has been, within a few decades, 
brought down from a population of about nine millions to about 
four and a half millions. 



Concluding Summary. 909 

The dangers threatening the United States from foreign immi- 
gration have been becoming more and more obvious to thoughtful 
men. Remedial and restrictive laws have been enacted by the 
Congress, but only in the case of China have these law^s made na- 
tionality a ground of exclusion. The prevalent grounds of exclu- 
sion thus far are disease, destitution as to means of support, crime 
and ascertained proclivity to crime and lawlessness, and a pre- 
contract for coming as a skilled laborer to the United States. A 
strong feeling exists in the country to extend and make more effi- 
cient the grounds of exclusion. 

(4) The fourth subject for consideration will be the material 
successes in industrial arts beneficial to man and productive of 
wealth, which have attended the civilization of the United States 
with such persistence as to indicate the relation of cause and ef- 
fect. 

On this subject we need not seek anything new. The facts are 
patent and are known to the world. Never was such activity 
displayed in any nation in any age in inventing appliances to aid 
human labor, and in devoting them to the accumulation of com- 
fort and wealth, as in the United vStates, both in colonial and sov- 
ereign States. The one hundred and fifteen years of independent 
nationality have been so specially affluent in these sources of 
wealth that none can doubt the potency of freedom as a cause 
therein. 

The cotton-gin, electric telegraph and telephone, and all the 
forms of the modern mower, reaper and binder, are of American 
origin, and they have revolutionized the labor of the world and have 
gone far in annihilating the obstacles of time and space. Amer- 
ican ingenuity and skill have reduced the number of separate 
pieces in a well-made \vatch from the eight hundred, formerly 
considered indispensable in the Old World, to one hundred and 
twenty. The " Waltham " and " Elgin " watches of the United 
States have achieved a success so complete that the Geneva v^ratch- 
makers have failed in competition. Nearly all the parts of the 
best of these American watches are made by machinerv, and yet 
so perfect is their action that railway companies find it to their 
interest to furnish them to their conductors on both passenger and 
freight trains, where an error of five minutes would often lead to 
appalling disaster. 

Railways were not an American invention. The " tramwa}'," 
first of wood and afterwards of wood strengthened by an iron 
rail, had been used in the coal regions of England from about 
the year 1676. For many years horses, oxen and human beings 



9IO A History of the United States of America. 

were the motive power. It is certain that, in 17S3, Oliver Evans, 
of Philadelphia, patented a steam wagon, of which the dra%vings 
and specifications were sent to England in 1787. This was the 
origin of the modern locomotive. 

As early as 1826, the first railway was commenced in the 
United States, connecting the granite quarries of Qiiincy? Massa- 
chusetts, with the Neponset river, a distance of three miles. The 
cars were drawn by horses. 

In the spring of 1829 a tractor-engine, built by the English en- 
gineer, George Stephenson, at his works at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
arrived in New York ; but it was more an object of curiosity than 
of use. In the same year another English-built locomotive ar- 
rived, and was used in drawing cars on the railway running from 
the Delaware and Hudson Canal ComjDany to Honesdale, the ter- 
minus of their canal. 

The Southern mind was fully awake on this subject, and before 
the locomotive had been permanently used either in England or 
the United States, the directors of the Charleston and Hamburg 
Railway, in South Carolina, had approved the advice of Horatio 
Allen, then chief engineer, given in November, 1829, and had 
voted to adopt this motive power. It was employed soon after- 
wards. 

Since that time the building of railways and improvement of 
locomotives have gone forward continually in the United States. 
In 1838, eighteen hundred and forty-three miles were in use ; in 
i860, more than thirty-one thousand miles had been completed. 
In 1882, the railways covered one hundred and seven thousand 
one hundred and fifty-eight miles. In 1883, nearly eight thou- 
sand miles were added, and the total mileage in actual use was 
about one hundred and fifteen thousand, at a cost, in roads and 
equipments, of nearly seven thousand millions of dollars. In June, 
1891, the total mileage in railways completed was one hundred and 
sixty-three thousand four hundred and twentv.^ The latest rail- 
road statistics accessible gave Germany about twenty-five thou- 
sand miles ; France, twenty-two thousand ; Great Britain and Ire- 
land more than twenty thousand ; Russia about nineteen thou- 
sand, and Austria about sixteen thousand. 

It has often been asserted by the people of the Old World that 
recklessness and frequent accident and loss of life or limb are con- 
stant incidents of the enormous development of the railway sys- 
tem of the United States. Jules Verne's ingenious fiction, " Round 

1 Introduction to Manual of Railroads for ISiU, bj- H. V. and H. W. Pour, 70 Wall street, 
New York. 



Concluding Snmmary. 91 1 

the World in Eighty Days," has given increased currency to this 
idea ; but it is a charge not sustained by the preponderance of 
evidence from facts. In no country is railway traveling attended 
with so much of comfort, convenience and safety as in the United 
States. No collisions nor disasters on railroads therein have 
equaled in horror and extent of injury to life and health three 
which have occurred in Great Britain and Europe within a few 
years past. 

One of these was by the breaking down of a railroad bridge 
across a frith in Scotland, in which a number of persons, never 
definitely made known, were killed or maimed or otherwise in- 
jured. The most gloomy fact in this case was tbat the rupture of 
the bridge was the direct result of criminal dishonesty in a con- 
tractor. Another case was the breaking down of tbe bridge on 
the Jura-Simplon Railway, which crosses the Birs river, near the 
town of Moenchenstein, in Switzerland. This bridge was the 
w^ork of the great engineer, Eiftel, who was the architect of the 
tower of the Paris Exposition ; yet the bridge was ruptured in 
July, 1891, and a long train of passenger cars was precipitated 
into the yawning chasm below, with a loss of one hundred and 
fifty lives and the maiming or vv^ounding of about three hundred 
and fifty of the unfortunate passengers. The third horror occurred 
on the twenty-sixth day of July, 1S91, at St. Mande, in France. 
It was the result of collision of the engine and cars of an excur- 
sion train and the telescoping of the cai's upon each other, crush- 
ing and imprisoning the hapless pleasure-seekers ; and it was com- 
plicated by the firing of a reservoir of gas on one of the damaged 
cars, whereby many of the people caught in the wreck were 
roasted to death. The number of victims was not less than two 
hundred. 

No cases as fatal and fearful as these have occurred on Ameri- 
can railways. A strong proof that they are normally safe is the 
fact that, on nearly every passenger train, agents of solvent insur- 
ance companies can be found, who, for twentv-five cents, will 
issue to the assured a policy for one thousand dollars, insuring 
him as to life and limb on his trip, provided it does not exceed 
twenty-four hours in duration. 

And, for a number of years, an '-Interstate Railroad Law," en- 
acted by the Congress, has been in operation, which tends to pub- 
lic safety and correction of all inequitable and injurious charges 
and practices of railway companies, if brought to light. 

The estimated value of the real and personal property owned 
in the United States in 1S90 was sixty-two thousand six hundred 



913 A History of the United States of America. 

and ten millions of dollars. No previous year equaled the year 
ending November 30th, 1891, in the value of exports and im- 
ports. For that year the exports, made up largely of agricultu- 
ral products, breadstufls, provisions and cotton, reached the im- 
mense sum of nine hundred and forty-nine millions of dollars. 
The imports of all kinds for the same year reached the aggregate 
sum of eight hundred and nineteen million three hundred and 
seventy-two thousand four hundred and eighty-nine dollars. The 
balance of trade, therefore, for that year in favor of the United 
States was nearly one hundred and thirty millions of dollars, pay- 
able in money. 

But, notwithstanding all these evidences of prosperity, pro- 
phets of woe are not wanting, ^vho predict a coming downfall for 
our country, and undertake to point out the efficient causes. 
Some brief allusions to these will bring this work to a close. 

First is predicted the failure of democracy and self-govern- 
ment. We have seen enough to demonstrate the danger on this 
score, but enough also to encourage the hope that the conserva- 
tive powers of the people's government will prevail. So long as 
State sovereignty, within the proper sphere, is maintained, so long 
will centralization be impossible, and freedom in church and state 
be preserved. 

Secondly. Ruin is predicted from the increasing power and in- 
fluence of wealth and its attendants — bribery, gambling and cor- 
ruption. This is a real danger, and within the j^ast ten years has 
been watched with growing alarm. Millionaires have become so 
common in the United States that, in the largest cities, a man 
worth less than a million of dollars is not accoimted a rich man ; 
and some count their millions up to twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred 
or more. The "love of money" [cpiXapyvpia] is among the 
most subtle, ingenious and jDotent forms of evil known among 
men. It has invented special modes of business, known as 
" trusts," in which many unite their means so as to secure a mo- 
nopoly of supply and sale even in such articles as wheat, sugar, 
and the twine used on the reaper and binder by which the har- 
vests are secured. Legislative control and prohibition have been 
attempted as to these " trusts," but with doubtful success. 

The immense wealth of the United States is in comparatively 
a small number of hands. Moi-e than one-half of it is estimated 
to be in the hands of thirty-one thousand people. Some millions 
of families are in the happiest condition known on earth, having 
" neither poverty nor riches " ; but some millions of families are 
also in a very sad condition, holding lands and homes so heavily 



Coiif ludi^ig Summary. 913 

incumbered by mortgages that no escape iVom temi^oral ruin 
seems practicable under existing conditions. What the form of 
relief is to be has not yet appeared. Creditors have not yet 
shown the kindly and loving dispositions Avhich would spare op- 
pressed debtors and their families, and would remove from our 
land the warning reproach of the English poet Goldsmith : 

" 111 fares the land — to hast'ning ills a prey — 
Where wealth accumulates and men deca3^'' 

The late census has disclosed the fact that two million two 
hundred and fifty thousand families in this country hold farms 
and houses mortgaged for amounts which woidd be barely realized 
by foreclosure and forced sales. The incumbrances are estimated 
to have amounted to two thousand five hundred and sixty-five 
millions of dollars at the close of 1890. The immense harvests 
and better prices of 1S91 have reduced the amount, but enough 
remains to bring torturing anxiety to millions of hearts. And it 
has been noted that when the creditors holding these mortgages 
have consented to renew the loan, they have, with few exceptions, 
imposed the terms that interest and principal shall be paid in gold, 
thus securing to themselves the artificial and inequitable profit 
which we have heretofore explained. 

Speculators in grain, and especially in wheat, during the years 
from 1SS4 to 1890, inclusive, did much by combinations and "cor- 
ners '' to buy the products of the farmers' hard toil at prices too low 
to yield the cost of prodtiction and any reasonable surplus. Thus 
the agriculturists were continuously oppressed. One noteworthy 
effect has followed these evils. The owners and tillers of the 
soil had, in previous years, made imperfect combinations under the 
name of " Grangers." Within a few years past, in self defence, 
they have extensively combined their persons, po^vers, resources 
ancl counsels in combinations known as " Farmers' Alliances." 
They are not a political party and have no methods of party poli- 
tics. Some of their theories and plans may not be wise ; but 
they are already a power in the land, watching and seeking to 
avert the evils coming from a selfish money power. 

One of the most injurious and degrading results coming from 
the plutocracy which threatens this land is the \vide prevalence 
of bribei-y in elections and the indifference with which this deeply 
dyed immorality is regarded. Bribery is universally forbidden 
by law, and as universally practiced in fact. It has been openly 
intimated in the pages of a respectable American magazine, that 
a well-known citizen, afterwards appointed and confirmed to a 

58 



914 A History of the United States of America. 

high office, contributed a sum estimated in its total at four hun- 
dred thousand dolkrs as a " contribution to the campaign fund," 
which was known to be a prevalent power in the election aided 
by him. 

So universal and bold has become the use of money by candi- 
dates for office, for bribing voters, that it has been proposed, with 
a satire all the keener because it is edged with truth, that all 
offices shall be sold at public auction and the proceeds applied to 
the support of the government ! 

We know what this means. When the office of emperor 
(" imperator ") was offisred, in the )'ear 193 A. D., at public auc- 
tion, in the Roman camp, by the Pretorian guards, and when vSul- 
picianus and the rich old senator Didius Julianus began to bid 
against each other, and when Julianus rose to a bid of six thousand 
two hundred and fifty silver drachms (about one thousand dollars) 
to each soldier, then his bid triumphed. He was proclaimed as 
emperor. But Rome was already rotten, and was hastening to 
her ruin. 

No remedy for this threatening evil in the United States will 
avail, except the power of personal Christianity. 

Thirdly. The prevalence of the use of intoxicants in the United 
States is thought to portend final ruin. Histoiy does not deal 
with this subject in its supernatural relations. It has a definite 
force in the historic and temporal sphere. It has been ascertained 
that liquors which will intoxicate are sold in the United States to 
the amount of nine hundred millions of dollars yearlj^ ; and the 
late census has shown that, for the year ending 31st December, 
18S9, only two million three hundred and thirty-five thousand and 
fifty-six gallons of intoxicants, including pure alcohol, cologne 
spirit, high wines, whiskey, brandy, rum and gin were used in 
medicines and in the arts and manufactures. As one million 
seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty-five gallons of 
whiskey are included in this total, it may be reasonably estimated 
that three dollars per gallon would be a fair valuation. This 
would give a deduction of about eight millions of dollars, leav- 
ing eight hundred and ninety-two millions of dollars yearly ex- 
pended in intoxicants actually drank as beverage by the people. 
Moreover, it has been proved that one hundred and fifty thousand 
persons die annually from the immediate eff'ects of intemperance, 
and a number, estimated by millions, of women and children are 
brought to poverty, suffering and crime by its prevalence. The 
police offices, jails, penitentiaries and lunatic asylums all bear 
testimony that the proportion of crime caused by drinking intoxi- 



Concluding Summary . 9it| 

eating liquors is as nine to one compared with any other cause. 
If, therefore, the temporal good and order of society be a proper 
subject for human law, this evil is such. Unhappily, craving 
habits and wide indulgence make intoxicants popular, and fill 
bar-rooms and saloons with voters. A great political party has 
ventured to put into its platform of principles a declaration 
against " sumptuary laws," meaning thereby to include laws for- 
bidding or restricting the sale of intoxicants as beverages ; but 
the Supreme Court of the United States, from the days of Chief- 
Justice Tanev down to the present time, have made a series of 
consistent decisions to the effect that laws of the several States 
regulating or prohibiting sales of intoxicants are not " sumptuary 
laws," but are police regulations, for the maintenance of morality 
and good order, and as such are to be upheld by the courts and 
obeyed by the people. 

These decisions, w^orking in unison with an aroused public con- 
science, and constantly spreading public sentiment, will, it is 
hoped, save this country from ruin by intoxicants and narcotics 

Fourthly. The existence in the United States of a vast popula- 
tion of African descent, supposed to number, on the ist of June, 
1890, about seven million four hundred thousand souls, is thought 
by some to threaten the permanent prosperity of the country. 
The fear felt is a conflict of force between the races, such as took 
place in Hayti ; and though no thoughtful men doubt that, in a 
bloody struggle in this country, the whites would prevail, yet they 
fear that, in the war of extermination, the institutions and prosper- 
ity of the land would receive a fatal shock. 

All such fears are without adequate foundation. They began 
in the errors of the census of 1870, which produced the impres- 
sion that the negro race in the former slave States was growing 
in population at a ratio far greater than that of the white race. 

These errors have been corrected, and the truth on this subject 
has appeared by the statistics of the census of 1890. It is proved 
that between 1880 and 1890, the colored population of those re- 
gions increased at a ratio not exceeding fourteen per cent., while 
the white population increased at a rate of about twenty-five per 
cent. — nearly twice as rapidly as the colored element. 

Nevertheless, vague fears on this subject, mingled with religious 
speculations equally vague, have caused many persons to desire 
that the negro population should be removed from the soil of the 
United States to some other countiy. No less than five definite 
efforts have been made to inaugurate a grand exodus of the Afri- 
can race back to the country whence their forefathers came. 



9i6 A History of the United States of America. 

But all such projects are visionary and Utopian. They are 
wanting in one element, without which the attempt to carry them 
out would be worse than the bloodiest persecution. That element 
is the consent of the negro race themselves. They do not desii'e 
to be transferred to Africa. 

Neither ^vould the white people of the United States be profited 
by any such exodus. If all the negroes could be removed to an- 
other country by the ist day of July, 1892, then it is probable in a 
high degree that the crops of cotton, rice, maize and sugar-cane 
in the Southern States for the current year and for several years 
thereafter would be diminished by about nineteen-twentieths in 
amount and value. 

So far as the ordinary habits and dispositions of the negroes are 
manifested, they give little cause to fear any widely-spread and 
bloody collisions between the races. Individual cases of brutal 
lust and murder by negroes have, indeed, arisen, and have been 
promptly punished by summary justice ; but a large number of 
persons of African descent in our country are consistent Chris- 
tians, and many, by industry and economy, have acquired wealth 
and influential business position. 

The only real danger lies in the persistent effort of the negro 
to run counter to the inexorable laws and providential orderings 
of God, and to force himself into social equality with white peo- 
ple in marriage, public schools, conveyances, hotels, amusements 
and festive assemblies. This is a weakness in him which will be 
corrected by good sense and Christianity. He will gradually 
learn that his true welfare and happiness will be promoted by the 
fixed convictions of the whites, both in the North and the South, 
which forbid marriages with negroes and all comminglings tend- 
ing to social equality and, therefore, to marriage. His equality 
as a political factor, a citizen and a voter, is recognized. With 
this he will learn to be contept. 

Fifthly. The last element of supposed danger which is deemed 
worthy of notice is the malign power of religious differences, and 
especially those differences which assert and seek to maintain the 
impcrium in itnperio — the practical union of church and state — 
with the church dominating the state. Some have carried their 
apprehensions of this evil so far as to suppose that on the soil of 
the United States shall be fought the final field of Armageddon — 
" the battle of that great day of God Almighty " — the coming of 
which was foretold in the Apocalypse of John the Divine ; and they 
ai-gue that "the spirits of devils" will "go forth unto the kings 
of the earth " and induce them to unite all the armies they can 



Concluding Summary. 917 

raise and hurl them upon the United States to crush freedom for- 
ever in this world. 

Independently of the material impossibilities which attend any 
such interpretation, we have safeguards in the very atmosphere 
created in North America by the institutions of freedom which 
invest her. These institutions have already wrought a potent 
change in the religious spirit of the world. Old beliefs and 
forms are passing away. Human symbols and creeds, however 
hoary with age, have lost their power to bind the conscience. 
With few and abnormal exceptions, the creed of the people of 
the United States is that God has revealed to fallen and sinful 
man the way of salvation of both soul and body for time and 
eternity, and that Christ is that revelation ; and Christ is re- 
vealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, 
which, in their original forms, were given by holy men of old, 
who spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 
The creed of the people of the United States is that these Scrip- 
tures are verbally inspired and infallible. 

Within a few years past a prominent American secular maga- 
zine obtained from a number of eminent ministers of various 
Christian denominations their carefully matured views as to the 
nature and extent of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and 
published them ; and Stuart Robinson, a Protestant theologian 
widely known and esteemed, reviewed these articles, and ex- 
pressed the belief that the article written by a well-known divine 
of the Roman church was the soundest of all — the fullest, safest, 
best view of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

In the last year of Jubilee, President Cleveland, with wisdom 
and discrimination, sent to the Pontiff' at Rome, as a gift, a copy 
of the constitution of the United States, printed in the most 
elaborate style, on the heaviest and whitest of paper, and splen- 
didly bound and embossed. And since the decrees of the Coun- 
cil of Trent were promulgated, Rmne has learned much concei'n- 
ing freedom, civil and religious, and has profited thereby. 

The Roman church, through her accredited ministers, has 
frequently declared that she approves the American principle 
which separates church and state and confines the church to her 
legitimate spiritual authority. 

The subject of the public schools sustained by State funds has 
been the chief source of trouble. These schools do not profess 
to teach religion in any form ; but they do profess to teach mo- 
rality, which is indispensable to the good citizen ; and in teach- 
ing morality they necessarily use forms and expressions coming 



9i8 A History of the United States of America. 

from the Holy Scriptures, which are the supreme source and 
fountain of morality. The common English version gives these 
forms and expressions. 

It is to these that the Roman church has objected. vShe has 
gone so far as to insist that she may establish parochial schools of 
her own, and that these schools, although not under the authority 
of the civil State, are entitled to draw their full proportion of 
the civil State funds. This claim is too obviously illogical and 
unfounded to be generally sustained. It will probably find a 
peaceful end as the Roman church becomes more and more per- 
meated by the American spirit. 

Evidences of the triumph of this spirit in her counsels have 
lately appeared. An attempt had been made in Europe (finding 
expression in what is known as the " Cahensley " memorial) to 
introduce the policy of sending sectional and national teachers — 
Austrian, German, Italian, Belgic, Irish, Spanish — to their several 
peoples who have migrated to America. It has been made known 
that this policy is not only opposed by the highest United States 
officials, but by Cardinal Gibbons and by the present Roman Pon- 
tiff'. 

Another signal evidence of the advance of the Roman church 
in sound Christian principle and policy appeared in a decision of 
the highest ecclesiastical court of that church (Leo XIII. hims.elf 
presiding therein), rendered on the i6th day of August, 1891, 
in Rome. The question was the validity of a marriage solemn- 
ized in Bridgeport, Connecticut, some years previously, between 
William Grant, then a Protestant, and Mary Reilly, a member of 
the Roman church. The marriage was by an ordained minister 
of the ^Methodist church and according to the forms thereof. 
Grant afterwards became a communicant in the Roman church. 
Esti"angements between the husband and wife arose, resulting in 
a separation, and a decree of divorce by a secular court. Grant 
sought to have the marriage Annulled by the ecclesiastical courts 
of his church', but the Vicar-General, James Hughes, decided 
that the marriage was valid. Grant appealed to the Archepisco- 
pal Court in Boston, which reversed the decree of the Vicar- 
General. Appeal was then taken to the highest church court in 
Rome. After full hearing and mature consideration, that court 
reversed the decree of the Archepiscopal Court, and affirmed that 
of the Vicar-General, thus deciding that the marriage was valid. 

The census officers of the United States include with the Ro- 
man church the Greek religionists (Uniates) who acknowledge 
the authority of the Roman PontiflT, the Greek orthodox church, 



Concluding Summary. 919 

the Russian orthodox church, the Armenian, the old Catholic, and 
the organization calling itself the " Reformed " or " Converted " 
Catholic church. All these have adherents in the United States. 

The custom of these churches is that baptized children j^artake 
of their first communion between the ages of nine and eleven. 
Therefore, children, though baptized, if under the age of nine, are 
not included in the census. On this basis, the total number of 
connnunicants in all these organizations in the United States was, 
about the close of June, 1890, six million two hundred and seventy- 
six thousand four hundred and ninety-nine. The communicants 
in the Roman church proper numbered six million tw^o hundred 
and fifty thousand and forty-five. 

This number is exceeded by the total of two Protestant com- 
munions — viz. : the Methodists and the Baptists. The Metho- 
dists numbered four million seven hundred and forty-seven thou- 
sand one hundred and thirty ; the Baptists three million nine hun- 
dred and seventy-four thousand five hundred and eighty-nine — 
total, eight million seven hundred and twenty-one thousand seven 
hundred and nineteen. And if all the other Protestant commu- 
nions ai'e added to these two, the total membership will be found 
to run so far beyond that of the Roman and Greek united that 
little fear of overweening claim and power on the part of the two 
last named need be felt in the United States. Moreover, the ad- 
mission has frequently been made that a large proportion of im- 
migrants of the Roman communion who come from Europe to 
the United States fall away and are lost to the jurisdiction of 
Rome, under the influence of American teachings and environ- 
ment. 

All these facts are operating powerfully in the great North 
American republic to produce true Christian unity, which is ne- 
cessary to the highest development of the Christ-life and charac- 
ter. Numerous as are the religious denominations of this coun- 
try, the sectarian spirit is becoming every day more and more re- 
pulsive to the millions who read and hear and think. Christ is 
the only King recognized as "supreme in our country. His reign, 
universally established, will make liberty and happiness perma- 
nent and secure. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Abenakis, Indians 246, 257 

Abercrombie, General 294, 821 

Abercrombie, British colonel 500 

Abolition of Slavery . . . 552, 682, 685, 827, 837 

Abraham, patriarch 54 

Acadia 43,82,249,277 

Ackland, Major 422, 424, 426 

Ackland, Lady Harriet 422, 426 

Accomac, Virginia 225 

Acuna, Don Diego 85 

Adam, first man 52 

Adams, Samuel 335, 352, 361 

Adams, John 335, 345, 361, 567-5S1 

Adams, John Quincy . 613, 647, 649, 662-665, 

669, 6S2, 692 

Adams, Charles Francis 724, 859 

Adet, M 563 

Adolphiis, KingGustavus 129 

Africa, Southern 13 

African Slavery 58, 311, 320, 596 

Ahasistari, Huron 238 

Agriculture, Department of 885 

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of 270 

Alabama 36, 648, 768, 828, 843 

Alabama, Confederate war-ship . . 787, 796, 858 

Alaska 11,853,858,882,889 

Albemarle, N.C 164-170 

Albany, N. Y 133 

Algiers, Dey of 565 

Alien and Sedition Laws 576, -580, 583 

Algonquins 15 

Alexander in.. Pontiff 58 

Alexander VI., Pontifif 31,49 

Allen, Col. Ethan 358, 369 

Allen, Capt. Wm. H 606 

Allerton, agent 115 

Almonte, Mexican ruler 700, 846, 847 

Almagro 35 

Altham, Father John 158,160 

Amazon Queen 35 

Ames, Fisher 540 

Amelia Island 648 

Ambrister and Arbuthnot 649 

America, United States of 11 

America, North . 15 

America, South 26, 28, 35 

Amidas, Capt. Philip 40 

Amherst, Gen. Jeffrey 293, 303, 319 

American System 656 

Ampudia, Mexican general 701 

Ancient Colonies 234 

Andre, Major John 459-465 

Anarchists, Atheists, Communists 886 

Andros, Sir Edmund 136,149-155 

Anderson, Richard C 664 

Anderson, INIaior Robert 770, 776 

Angel, Colonel, of R. 1 458 



PAGE. 

Anglican Church 81,118,170,214 

Anthracite Coal 581 

Anne, Queen of England . . . 140, 255, 264, 265 

Annapolis, Jlarylaud 156, 160 

Anti-Rentism 135 

Anjou, Philip of 257, 263 

Appalachee Indians 174 

Appomatox, Queen of 70 

Appomattox C. H 809 

Aquetneck Island 116 

Arguin Islands 58 

Archer. Gabriel 67, 76 

Archdale, John 170 

Area of United States 11 

Argyll, Duke of 14 

Argall, Capt. Samuel 78, 80, 83, 85, 127 

Argus, U. S. brig 606 

Arista, Mexican general 703 

Aristotle 19 

Arkansas 36, 676, 779, 828, 843 

Armada, Spanish 40, 84 

Arlington, Henry, Earl of 218 

Armstrong, Col. John 289 

Arnold, Benedict 358, 371, 372, 

397, 409, 412, 418, 424, 458-469 

Annstrong, Gen. James 623, 721, 722 

Armistead, Major George 634 

Arthur, Chester A 875-882, 887 

Ashburton Treaty 683 

Assiento 264,323 

Asia 12, 889 

Assembly, First General 86 

A.ssemblv, General, New York 133 

Assembly of Notables 848 

Asiatic Cholera 669 

Assunpink River 394, 537 

Ashe, General 444 

Ashley, Lord 164 

Atlantic Ocean 12 

Attakulla-kulla 316 

Attucks, Crispus 345 

Atherton, Representative, of N. H 682 

Aurania, Fort 126 

Austin, Anne 121 

Austin, Moses 694 

Austria 733, 737 

Ayllon, De 59 

Ayscue, Sir George 97 

AvluTD. Sailing-master 601 

Azilia, Margravate of 180 

Azores 23 

Aztecs 14 

Bacon. Nathaniel 221-228, 230 

Bacon's Laws 222 

Bacon's Rebellion 212-230 

Bacon Quarter Branch 221 



[ 921 ] 



922 



Index, 



Badger^ George E 687 

Bainbridge, Captain 603, 604 

Bailey vs. Poindexter 52 

Balboa, Vasco Nunez de 34, 35 

Baldwin, Virginia colonist 89 

Balfour, Britisli colonel 489-i91 

Baltimore, Lord 113, 146, 157 

Baltimore, City of 162, 634 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 873 

Balmaceda, Jose Manuel 899 

Balcarras, Earl of 4G8 

Bancroft, George 700 

Bank of United States . . .543, 644, 074, 688-691 

Baptists 119-120 

Baptism of Negroes 321 

Barbary States 564, 587, 644 

Barclay, Robert . . . .• 139 

Barclay, British Captain 607-610 

Baratarians, New Orleans 640 

Barlow, Capt. Arthur 40 

Barney, Commodore Joshua G32, 633 

Barnwell, Col. John ' 175 

Barre, Isaac 291, 307, 334 

Barre, De La 236 

Barras, President French Directory .... 569 

Barreault, Capitaine 572 

Barron, Commodore Samuel .... 588, 590, 591 

Barrow, English martyr 102 

Barry, William T 667 

Barrundia, General 898,899 

Batcheler, Stephen 113 

Bates, Edward 774 

Battle of— 

Acadia Neck, 278. Aiken, 810. Alabama 
VB. Hatteras, 787. Alamance, 346. Alamo, 
the, 695. Allatoona, 795. Algiers, ships, 644. 
Argus vs. Pelican, 606. Arkansas Post, 786. 
Averysboro, 810. 

Baker's Creek, 786. Ball's Bluff, 782. Bal- 
timore, 634. Banks' Ford, 789. Belden, 717. 
Belmont, 7S2. Bemis Heights, 421-425. Ben- 
nington, 414. Bentom-ille, 810. Big Bethel, 
782. Big Black River, 786. Big Bhie River, 
798. Big Horn River, 868. Bloody Brook, 
198. Bloody Run, 225. Bloody Angle (Spot- 
sylvania), 793. Blackstoeks, 474. Bladens- 
burg, 033. Bon-Homme Richard vs. Serapis, 
446. Boonsboro or South Mountain, 783. 
Boonville, 782. Buckland's, 790. Brandy- 
wine, 400. Brashear City, 791. Bull Run, 
782. Bunker's Hill, 363. Buena Vista, 708. 
Bushy Run, 319. 

Callabee, 636. Camden, 453. Carrick's 
Ford, 782. Carnifex Ferry, 782. Carthage, 

782. Carthagena, 267. Campbell's Station, 
791. Carlisle Barracks, 803. Cassville, 804. 
Cedar IMountain or Slaughter's Mountain, 
784. Cedar Creek, 797. Cerro Gordo, 712. 
Chapultcpec, 716. Chantilly or Ox Hill, 784. 
Cliaiicellorsville, 788, 789. Charleston Har- 
bor, 788. ( 'hesapeake fs. Shannon, 605. Chi- 
huahua, 710. Chippewa, 628. Churubusco, 715. 
Chickasaw Bayou, 785. Chickamauga, 791. 
Combahee, 176. Cold Harbor (first), 784, 
(second), 801. Constellation vs. Insurgent, 
572, vs. Vengeance, 573. Constitution vs. 
Guerriere, 601, vs. Java, 603, vs. Cyane and 
Levant, 615. Corinth (first), 783, (second), 

783. Cowpens, 475. Contreras, 714. Crater 
(Petersburg), 803. Crow's Creek, 315. Craney 
Island, 630. Cross Keys, 781. Chrj-sler's, 628. 
Cumberland Gap, 787. 



Dahlgren's Raid, 799. Dallas, 794. Dalton, 

804. Danbury, 397. Deatonsville, 809. De- 
catur, 794. Deerfield, 258. Defeat of Wilson 
and Kautz, 802. Drcwry's Bluff (first), 784. 
Drewry's Bluff (second), 800. 

Elkhorn or Pea Ridge, 783. Enterprise vs. 
Boxer, 607. Essex vs. Phcebe and Cherub. 
610. Eutaw Springs, 492. 

Fishdam Ferry, 474. Fishing Creek, 454. 
Fisher's Hill, 797. Five Forks, 808. Fleet- 
wood or Brandy Station, 789. Fort Brown, 
703. Fort Carolina, 38. Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery, 419. Fort Chamblee, 369. Fort 
De Russy, 792. Fort Detroit, 263. Fort Don- 
elson, 783. Fort Duquesne, 299. Fort Fisher, 

805. Fort Frontenac, 298. Fort Gregg, 808. 
Fort Griswold, 467. Fort Henry, 783. Fort 
McHenry, 634. Fort McAllister, 796. Fort 
Macon, 783. Fort Mifflin, 406. Fort Mimms, 
636. Fort Meigs, 624. Fort Morgan, 797. 
Fort Motte, 486. Fort Moultrie, 380. Fort 
Niagara, 303. Fort Pillow (first), 783. Fort 
Pillow (second), 798. Fort Pulaski, 783. Fort 
Powell (Mobile), 790. Fort Schuyler, 412. 
Fort Steadman, 808. Fort Stephenson, 625. 
Fort Sumter (first), 777, (second), 788. Fort 
Wagner, 787. Fort William Henry, 291. Fort 
Washington, 387. Franklin, 795. Frayser's 
Farm, 784. Fredericksburg, 785. 

Gabriel, 710. Gaines' Mill and Cold Har- 
bor, 784. Galveston, 787. Germantown, 403. 
Gettysburg (first day), 790. Gettysburg (sec- 
ond day), 790. Gettysburg (third day). 786, 
819-821. Goliad, 696. Goose Creek, 176.. 
Great Meadows, 275. Great Bridge, 374. 
Grand Gulf, 790. Grierson's Raid, 786. Guil- 
ford C. H., 482. Gwynn's Island, 376. 

Hadley, 196. Hampton (first), 374. Hamp- 
ton (second), 630. Hanover, 784. Harper's 
Ferrv, 784. Hatcher's Run (first), 804, (sec- 
ond); 810. Hatteras Inlet, 782. Haverhill, 
259. Helena, 787. Hobkirk's Hill, 485. Holly 
Springs, 785. Honey Hill, 805. Hornet vs. 
Peacock, 604. Hornet vs. Penguin, 615. Hun- 
ter routed, 801. 

Island No. 10, 783. luka, 783. 

Jamcsto\\n, 227. Jamestown Island, 496. 

Kaskaskia, 439. Kcarsarge vs. Alabama, 796. 
Kecuu,i,'litan,07. Kent Island, 159. Keowee, 
314. Kernstown (first), 783. Kernstown (sec- 
ond), 797. Kenesaw Mountain, 804. Kettle 
Creek, 444. King's Mountain, 470. Kingston, 
R. I., 197. Kinston, N. C, 810. Kittanuing, 
289. Knoxville, 787. 

La Chine, 246. Lake Champlain, 610. Lake 
George, 286. Lake Erie, 607. Lexington, 
Mass., 352. Lexington, Mo., 782. Little Ten- 
nessee, 316. Lookout Mountain, 787. Long 
Island, 382. Louisburg (first), 269, (second), 
294. Lovejoy Station, 794. Lundy's Lane, 
628. Lynnhaven Bay, 252. 

Macon Road, 794. Macon, 805. Malvern 
Hill, 783. Manassas (first), 782, (second), 784. 
Manassas Junction, 784. Mansfield or Sabine 
Cross Roads, 799. Martinsburg, 789. Marye's 
Heights, 786. Maumee River, 550. Memphis, 
783. MeehanicsviUe, 784. Merrimac (after- 
wards Virginia) vs. Cumberland, 783, vs. Con- 
gress, 783, vs. Monitor, 785. Michilimackinac, 
318. Miami Villages, 546. Mill Springs, 783. 
Missionary Ridge, 787. McCowan's Ford, 479. 
McDowell, 783. Monmouth, 431. Monk's 



Index. 



923 



Comer, '449. Monongahela, 281. Monterey, 
704. Molinos del Key, 716. Montauk and 
als. vs. Nashville, 7S6. Monocacy Creek, 797, 
802. Miunfordsville, 785. Murfreesboro. 785, 
792. Mystic River, 193. 

Paintsville, 783. Palmetto Ranche, 814. 
Pamunkey River, 92, 95. Palo Alto, 702. Pas- 
cual, 710. Peacock vs. Epervicr, (115. Peach 
Tree Creek, 794. Perryville, 7.s5. Petersburg, 
802. Philippi, 782. Philadelphia Station, 791. 
Pickett's Mills, 804. Pittsburi? Lauding, 783. 
Plains of Abraham, 307. Plattsburg, 612, 629. 
Pleasant Hill, 799. Plymouth, N. C, 799. 
Point Pleasant, 232. Point Judith, 435. Pres- 
ident vs. Little Belt, 598. President vs. Brit- 
ish fleet, 614. Princeton, 394. Port Royal 
(first), 82, (second), 782. Port Republic, 784. 
Potomac River, 78.5. Providence, Md., 162. 
Port Hudson, 787, 791. Pyle's Royalists, 481. 

Quebec, 372. Queenstown, 622. 

Raisin River, 623. Raymond, 786. Reams' 
Station, 804. Red Bank, 405. Red River, 799. 
Resaca, 804. Resaca de la Palma, 702. Rich- 
mond, Ky., 785. Rich Mountain, 7X2. Ring- 
gold, 791. Roanoke Island, 783. Rome, 791. 

Sackett's Harbor, 627. Saint Augustine, 

185. Saint John's River, 37. Saint SimDUs, 

186. San Jacinto, 696. San Antonio, 715. 
Santa Fe, 710. Savannah River, 443. Savan- 
nah, 445. Savage's Station, 784. Sabine Pass 
(first), 788, (second), 792. Scary Creek, 7S2. 
Shiloh, 783. Seven Pines or Fair Oaks, 785. 
Sharpsburg or the Antietam, 786. Sillery 
AVood, 308. Sorel River, |370. Spotsylvania 
C. H., 801. Springfield, N. J., 457. Spring- 
field, Mo., 782. Spring Hill, 791. St. Clair's 
Camp, 547. San CosmeGate, 717. Stoningtou, 
631. Stamford, 437. Stonv Point, 438. 

Tallushatchee, 637. Thames River, 626. 
Thirteenth Pennsylvania captured, S04. Ti- 
conderoga, 297. "Tipi^ecanoe, 618. Tisha- 
mingo Creek, 805. Tohopeka, 637. Trenton, 
390. Trevilian's Station, 802. Tripoli, 5S7. 

United States vs. ]\Iacedonian, 603. Upper 
James, 98. Upper Manhattan, 1'28. 

Vera Cruz, 711. Vicksburg, 790, 822. Vil- 
lere's Canal, 640. Vincennes, 440. 

Wachusett vs. Florida, 796. Washita, 868. 
Waxhaw, 451. Waynesboro, 80S. Wasp rs 
Frolic, 603. Weehawken vs. Atlanta, 786. 
Weldon Railroad, 804. West Point, 783. 
White Oak Swamp, 784. White Plains, 3S5. 
Wilderness, 801. Williamsburg, 783. Wil- 
liamsport, 790. Winchester (first), 783. Win- 
chester (second), 789. Winchester (third), 
797. Wiiitermoot, 434. 

Yalabusha, 266. Yellow Tavern, 793. York, 
627. Yorktown Forts, 40S. 

Batte, Capt. Henry -219 

Baum, Colonel 413, 415 

Baxter, George 131 

Bayard, Colonel 137 

Bayard, James A 613 

Bayard, Thomas F 884,889 

Baxter, Rev. Richard 206 

Beatrice Enriquez 22 

Bear, U. S. steam cutter 889 

Beaure.gard, Gen. P. G. T. . . . 712, 777, 791, 800 

Beecher, Henry Ward 743 

Beckwith, Sir Sidney 630 

Behring Strait 12, 8s;9 

BeU, John 687, 690, 766 



Bellamont, Earl of 252 

Bellarni, M 570, 571 

Bemis Heights 421 

Bennett, Gov. Richard 98 

Benton, Thomas H 671, 675, 681, 697 

Bennington 413, 902 

Bermudas 77, 78, 85 

Bermuda Hundreds 81 

Berkeley, Sir William 94-99, 213-230 

Berkeley, Lord John 165 

Berry, Sir John 229 

Bernadotte, General 584 

Berlin Decree 592, 598 

Berrien, John M 667 

Beverley, Major Robert 228 

Biard, Jesuit father 82 

Bibb, George M •. 691 

Biddle, Captain James 615 

Bigotry and Witchcraft 201-211 

Bidlack, Captain 434 

Bill of Rights, Virginia 526 

Billion Appropriation Congress 896 

Birney, James G 697 

Bjarni Herjulf 18, 22 

Bland, Giles 2'26, 229 

Bland, Col. Theodore 400 

Bland, Richard 336, 342 

Bland Silver Bill 874 

Black Hawk, Indian chief 672 

Black, Jeremiah S 747 

Blaine, James G 875, 876, 882 

Blennerhasset, Harman .... 589 

Blood Hounds 36 

Bloody Brook 198 

Bloody Run 220,225 

Bloody Belt, The 317 

Bloody Angle, Spotsylvania 801 

Blair and Rives, editors 699 

Blair, INIontgomery 774 

Blair, Francis P 807, 854 

Bladensburg 591, 633 

Blue Laws, Alleged 124, 125 

Blvthe, Lieut., H. M. R. X 607 

Bolsius, Rev. John Martin 183, 184 

Bolivar Y Ponte, Simon 658 

Bonetta, sloop of war 500 

Bon-Homme Richard 446, 447 

Bonaparte, Napoleon 553,570,574, 

584, 591-594, 598, 632, 646 

Boone, Daniel 544, 773 

Book of Mormon 748 

Borgia family 31 

Borie, Adolp'h E 856 

Border States.- 768,827 

Boston Ill, 115, 379 

Boston Massacre 345 

Boston Tea Party 344 

Boston Port Bill 346,523 

Boscawen, Admiral 293, 294 

Booth, John Wilkes 810, 811 

Botts, John Minor 689 

Boutwell, George S 856 

Bouquet, Colonel 319 

Botetourt, Lord, governor 340, 341, 342 

Bovadilla 26 

Boxer, British brig 607 

Boycott 872-874 

Bradford, William, governor 103, 109 

Bradstreet, Simon, governor 154, 207 

Bradstreet, Gen. John 296, 298, 319 

Branch, John, of North Carolina 667 

Bragg, Gen. Braxton 708, 785, 787, 791 



924 



Index. 



Brandywine River 130, 400 

Brandt, Indian chief 410, 433, 435 

Breda, Netherlands 97 

Brent, Colonel 227 

Brent, William 376 

Braxton, Carter 341 

Brewster, William 103, 106 

Brebeuf, Jean De 240 

Bull of Pope Alexander VI 31 

Brockenbrough, Judge William 52 

Brunswickers 3S1, 409 

Breyman, Colonel 415 

Brudenell, Rev. Iilr. . 426 

Brown, Col. Thomas, Tory 451, 469, 487 

Brown, General, U. S. A 627, 628 

Brown, Milton 697 

Brown, William J., of Indiana 726 

Brown, John (Osawatamic) .... 745, 759-765 

Brown, Aaron V 747 

Brown, B. Gratz 862 

Breckinridge, John C 746, 766, 800 

Brooke, Lord 123 

Brookfleld 196 

Braddock, Gen. Edward 276, 280-283 

Broke, P. B. V. British captain 605-606 

Brock, British general 620-622 

Brooks, Preston S 743 

Bribery and Corruption, Alleged 663 

Brussels Treaty 902 

Buchanan, Scottish scholar 103 

Buchanan, James 739, 746, 747-772 

Buchanan, Admiral Franklin 783, 785 

Burgesses, House of 86, 98 

Burras, Anne 73, 87 

Buccaneers 648 

Bull, Capt. Thomas 152 

Bullet, Captain 300, 374 

Burgovne, Gen. Jolm 360, 377, 409, 427 

Bunker's Hill 303 

Buford, Colonel 451 

Burr, Aaron 371, 580. 588, 590 

Burroughs, Rev. George 208 

Burrows, Lieut. William 607 

Butler, Col. John 433 

Butler, Col. Zebulon 433 

Butler, Benjamin F., N. Y 678 

Butler, Gen. Benjamin F. . . . 766, 800, 805, 834 
Burnside.'Gen. Ambrose C.,783, 785,787, 791, 821 
Byng, Admiral 836 

Cabot, John 30, 31 

Cabot, Lewis 30 

Cabot, Sebastian 30, 31 

Cabot, Sanctius 30 

Cabrillo 35 

Calef, Robert 210 

Calvert family 93, 113, 157 

Calvert, Georere 157 

Calvert, Cecelius 157 

Calvert, Leonard 158 

Calvin, John 101 

Cadianne, Mohawk 236 

California 35, 244, 709, 719, 733 

Caldwell, Rev. James 456, 457 

Caldwell, Murder of Mrs . , 457 

Calhoun, John C. . . . 599, 649, 654, 655, 657, 

662, 665, 671, 682, 691, 723 

Callender, James Thompson 577 

Cadwalader, General 393, 430 

Campbell, Scottish poet 433 

Campbell, English officer 443, 444 

Campbell, Col. William 470, 471 



Campbell, James, of Pennsylvania. .... 735 

Campbell, Judge John A 776, 807 

Canada . 42, 43, 82, 23G-241, 288-298, 302-310, 

358, 369-372, 617-629, 682, 858, 889 

Canaries 23, 40 

Canonicus, Sachem 109 

Cameron, Simon. ; 774 

Canby, U. S. Gen 859 

CjiribbcGS 21 

Carleton, Gen.'sir Guy .' ."364,'369J 370, 502, 529 

Carollnas 37, 166 

Carolina, North .... 41, 163, 178, 779, 828, 843 
Carolina, South . . 37, 59, 170, 171, 178, 7o8, 

828, 843, 860, 861, 869 

Caroline, steamer 682 

Caroline, U. S. war schooner 640 

Caron, Sir Noel De 62 

Canonchet, Indian chief 197 

Carr, Dabney 342 

Cary, Archibald 342 

Carver, Jolin, governor 104, 105 

Carthage 54, 56 

Cartier, Jacques 42 

Cambridge, Mass 115 

Carteret, Sir George 138, 165 

Carteret, Philip 139 

Carteret, James 139 

Cartel for Exchange of Prisoners. . 384, 825, 833 

Carthagena, S. A 267 

Carson, Kit, hunter 710 

Carpet-baggers 838, 843, 860, 865, 872 

Catawbas. . . 188, 313 

Causes of Re volution 311-346 

Cavaliers 62 

Cayugas 236 

Cassen, George 68 

Casimir, Fort 130 

Cass, Lewis 668, 723, 747 

Census of United States 550 

Central Pacific Railroad 856 

Centennial Exposition in 1876 866 

Challons, Capt. Henry 84 

Champe, Sergt. John 464 

Champlain, Samuel De 43, 235, 237 

Chadd's Ford 400 

Chambersburg, Penn 803 

Chanco, Indian 89 

Chatham, Earl of 349 

Charles v.. Emperor 14,33,36, 121 

Charles, Cape 63 

Charles L, of England 92,93,110, 142 

Charles II., of Eng.,97, 99, 110, 132, 142, 213, 218 

Charles IX., of France 37 

Charlestown, Mass 115, 365 

Charleston, S. C 170, 448-450, 788 

Chauncey, Commodore 626 

Chase, Judge Samuel 577, 536 

Chase, Salmon P., Ch. J. . 760, 774, 843, 852, 865 

Chew, Benjamin . 403 

Cherry Vallev, N. Y 434 

Chesapeake Bay 31, 63, 157 

Cherokees 15, 182, 188, 312, 316, 664 

Chickahominy River 67 

Chickasaws 15, 182, 266, 313 

Chicken, Captain ... 176 

China 12, 693, 873, 875, 879 

Chitomachen, sachem 160 

Chichely, Sir Henry 219 

Chicago, 111 242, 622, 858, 903 

Chieseman, Captain 228 

Chesterfield, Lord 301 

ChevaUer of St. George 255, 256 



Index. 



925 



Cheeves, Langdon 599, 727 

Choiseul, French minister 310 

Choctaws 15, 188, 313 

Cholula, Mex 14 

Chrysler's Spring 628 

Chili, S. A 664, 899-901 

Choate, Rufus 732 

Christianity 11, 40, 02, 113, 914 

Christian Sabbath 105 

Church Establishments . 4S, 94, 115,166, 323, 

326, 328, 520 

Church Party-, Mexico 846, 848 

Church, Captain 198 

Cilley, Colonel 424 

Cincinnati 617 

Cipango 20 

Ciyil Service Act SSI, 885 

Clark, Captain, pilot 84 

Clark, George Rogers 439-441 

Clark's Island . 105 

Clarke, John 116 

Clarke, Walter, governor 152 

Clarke, Col. Elijah 444, 470 

Clarke, Capt. William 551, 586 

Clarendon, Earl of. 110 

Claj-borne, William 156-102 

Clarendon, Lord 164 

Clifton, Richard 103 

Clinton, Sir Henry . . 379, 3S1, 332, 419, 429, 

438, 447, 450, 463, 497 501, 

Clinton, George, governor 419 589, 

Clinton, Gen. James 434 

Cleveland, Colonel 470 

Cleveland, Grover. . . '. 882-888 

Clay, Henry . 509, 605, 613, 654, 05i>, 658, 662, 

669, 671, 688, 727, 733, 734 

Clay, General, of Kentucky 624, 625 

Clayton, John M 725 

Cloyce, Sarah 205, 207 

Colbert, French minister 241 

Cockburn, Admiral Sir George 629 

Cockburn, Sir Alexander 859 

Cochrane, English admiral 632 

Coffee, General 036, 640 

Cobb, Howell, of Georgia 727, 747 

Colfax, Schuyler 854 

Colorado '.865 

Colored Half Orphan Asylum 824 

Colleges and Universities 11 

Columbia River 551 

Columbia, District of 11,29,575,682 

Columbus. Christopher 13, 17, 20, 21-26 

Columbus, Fernando 22 

Columbus, Bartholomew 29, 30 

Coligny, Admiral 37, 42 

Cod, Cape 41, 104 

Coke, Sir Edward 60, 117 

Coddington, William 116 

Colden, Lieutenant-Governor, N. Y 334 

Colleton, James, governor 173 

Colleton, Sir John 165 

Communipaw 126 

Comfort, Point 78, 84 

Common Prayer, Book of 205 

Congress, First Colonial 248 

Congress, First American 337 

Congress of 1774 348 

Cordon of French Posts 201, 266 

Como, Diocese of 49 

Coustantine, Emperor 47 

Connecticut 18, 112, 123, 152, 450 

Converts 88 



Constitution of Virginia 90, 624 

Constitution of United States . . . 532, 535, 538 

Confederation, Articles of 517, 527 

Confederate States 771, 779, 829 

Confederate Treasury Notes 852 

Collamer, Jacob 725 

Collier, Admiral Sir George 441 

Copenhagen 19 

Cordova 35 

Cotton, John. 116 

Cotton, Culture of 177, 852 

Cornbury, Lord, governor 140, 253, 254 

Coree Indians 174 

Cory, Giles 208 

Cornstalk, Indian chief 232 

Complanter, Indian chief 435 

Concord, Mass 353, 354 

Convention, Virginia, 1775 350 

Conway, General 399, 430 

Convention Troops 440 

Continental Currency 450 

Conkling, Roscoe 875 

Conner, Commodore 706, 707 

Conrad, Charles M 729 

Cornwallis, Lord, 381, 393, 400, 401, 452, 493, 499 

Cortez, Hernando 14, 35 

Courtlaudt, Mayor 137 

Country Life, Southern 329, 330-332 

Cooper, Thomas 579 

Cooper, J. Fenimore 135, 518 

Corbctt, Boston 811 

Cowpens, Hannah's 475 

Cox, Jacob D 856 

Coxe, Daniel 274 

Craven, William, Earl of 165 

Craven, Charles, governor 176 

Crawford, WilUam H 006, 647 

Craney Island 630 

Crawford, George W 725 

Credit Mobilier 863 

Creswell John A. J 856 

Crittenden, John J 687, 729, 813 

Cramirton, English charge 737 

Cromwell, biiver. '. '. '. '. ". 97,'li5,' 124, 132, 213 

Creek Indians 182, 313, 316, 663, 664 

Cruger, British colonel . 451 

Croghan, Major George 625 

Crockett, David 694 

Crs'stal Palace Exposition 736 

Cuba 25, 29, 692, 730, 731, 739, 867 

Culpepper, John 168 

Culpepper, Lord 218 

Gumming, Arthur, governor 752 

Gushing, Caleb 094, 735 

Custer, Gen. George A 868 

Dacres, Capt. James A 001, 602 

Dade, Major, U. S. A. . 673 

Dakota, North 892 

Dakota, South 892 

Dallas, George M 697 

Dale, Sir Thomas 79, 80 

Danbury 397 

Danes in New Jersey 138 

Daniel, Father Anthony 239 

Daniel, Robert, governor 170 

D'Artaguette, French officer 266 

D'Auvergne Sans Tache 499 

Davie. Colonel. 469 

Davidson, Brig. -Gen 479 

Davenport, Colonel _469 



936 



Index. 



Lavies, Rev. Samuel 2S3 

Darieu, Isthmus of. 34 

Daston, Sarah 209 

Davis, Jeflferson. .708, 735, 772, 781, 794, 812. 

821, 830, 8j5, 802, 890 

Davis, Henry Winter 839, 853 

Davis, John, navigator 40 

Davenport, John 112, 124 

Dare, Ananias 41 

Dare, Eleauor 41 

Dayton, William L 746, 850 

Deixne, Silas 348, 393, 399 

Dearborn, General 619, 626 

Decatur, Captain Stephen, Sr 572 

Decatur, Captain Stephen, Jr . 109, 572, 587, 591 

603, 614, 644 

Declaration of Independence, 212, 392, 509, 512 

Djerfield, Mass 258 

Degeneracy, Theory of. 13 

Delawares 15 

Delaware, Lord 75, 78, 79, 85 

Delaware, Lady 85 

Delaware 129, 143, 147 

De Kalb, Baron 399, 453, 454 

De Long, Lieutenant 880 

De Monts, Huguenot 43, 235 

Denys, French navigator 42, 235 

Dennis, Captain 97, 98 

Democrats, party 567, 895 

D'Estaing, Admiral 435, 444 

De Soto, Ferdinand 36, 37 

Detroit, Mich 263, 317, 620, 621, 624 

Development Theory 13 

Dickerson, ]Mahlon 678 

Dieskau, Baron 284, 287 

Digges, Edward, governor 98 

Digges, Dudley 342 

Discovery of America 17,26 

Dinwiddle, Gov. of Va 273 

Dobbin, James C 735 

Dongan, Thomas, governor 136, 149 

Doniphan, Colonel 710 

Donop, Count 382, 405 

Dollar, U. S. Silver 864 

Donelson, Andrew J 746 

Dorchester, Mass 115 

Dorchester Heights 377 

Dorr, Thomas W 525, 692 

Dover, N. H 112 

Downie, British captain 611 

Downing, Major Jack 669 

Douglas, Stephen A 655, 728, 741, 766 

Draft, The 823, 825 

Dred Scott Case 756, 759, 840 

Drummond, William 167, 228 

Drummond, Sarah 225, 229 

Drake, Sir Francis 39,41,721 

Duane, Wm. J 674 

Duel 109, 588. 591 

Dudley, Joseph, of Mass 150 

Dudley, Gov. of Mass 257 

Ducoudray, French artillerist 399 

Dunderberg, The 419 

Duplessis, Col. Manduit 405 

Duumore, Gov. of Va.342, 347, 360, 373, 374, 376 

Durant, George 164, 168 

Dustin family 249 

Dutch people 126, 127, 171, 238, 32S 

Du Thet, Gilbert, Jesuit 82 

Earthquakes 887 

Early, Gen. Jubal A 786, 797, 801, 802, 803 



Eaton, Theophilus 124 

Eatou, ^Villiam, consul 588 

Eaton, John H. 667, 668 

Edmondson, William, Friend 167 

Edward VI., King 101 

Egan, Patrick 900, 901 

E-ypt 13, 54 

Elizabeth, Queen 39, 40, 46, 59, 101 

Elizabethtown, N. J 138, 456, 538 

EUot, Rev. John 191 

Elliott, Lieut. U. S. N 609, 613 

Ellsworth, W. L 882 

Elskwatawa, Indian prophet 618 

Embargo 593, 594 

Endicott, John 116 

Eudicott, William C 884 

Enforcement Act 861 

England's Naval Power 600 

English, William H 875 

Enterprise, U. S. brig -. . . 607 

Epervier, British brig 615 

Episcopacy, Prelatic, 62, 81, 89, 98, 102, 117, 

150. 324 

Erasmus, Desiderius 101 

Era of Good FeeUng 648, 655 

Eric the Red 17, 19 

Erie, Lake 607, 610 

Erskine, British minister 597 

Esopus, N. Y 420 

Espejo, Spanish leader 35 

Esquimaux 17 

Essex, U. S. frigate 610 

Espy, Prof. James P 738 

Esther, Indian Squaw 434 

Estaiug, Admiral D' 435, 444 

Estremadura 36 

Eutaw Springs 492 

Everett, Edward 731, 766 

Ewell, General Richards 739, 790, 819 

Ewing, Thomas 687, 689, 725 

Exeter 113 

Exploring Expedition, 1838 683 

Exploration by Lewis and Clarke 551 

Exports and Imports 551,596, 912 

Fabius, The American 396, 438 

Farragut, Admiral D. G 783, 796 

Fairfax, Earl of 515, 516 

Fairfax, George Wm 515 

Fairfax, Lieutenant 844 

Fava, Baron 891 

Fauchet, French minister 556, 562 

Fayette, Marquis Gilbert Motier De La. 399, 

400, 431, 446, 4.59, 467, 493, 495, 659, 660, 

Federalists 567 

Feudal System 58 

Ferdinand, King of Spain 23 

Ferguson, Dr. Adam 429 

Ferguson, Col. Patrick 447, 449, 469, 470 

Fenwick, John 139 

Field, Cyrus W 754, 756 

Fifteenth Amendment 844 

First Ocean Steamer 647 

Fillmore, Millard 723, 734, 746 

Fish, Hamilton •. 856 

FishingCreek 454 

Fisher. Marv 321 

Financial Troubles 679,857 

Five Nations 15, 68 

Fitzgerald, Colonel 395 

Fletcher, Gov. of N. Y 154 

Floyd, John B., governor 747, 769, 770 



Index. 



927 



Florida,. 18, 34, 36, 184, 443, 63G, 638, 649, 650, 

698, 768, 828, 843, 809 

Folger, Charles J 882 

Folsom, ISIiss Frances 887 

Foote, Commodore A. H 783 

Forey, French general 847 

Forrest, Ed\\'in 726 

Forrest, Gen. N. B 785, 791, 798, 804 

Forrest, Mrs 73 

Force Bill, The 671, 894 

Fort Dearborn 622 

Fort Edward 285 

Fort Griswold 467 

Fort London 313, 315 

Fort !Mercer 405 

Fort Mifflin 405, 406 

Fort Jliami 550 

Fort :Mimms 636 

FortMcHenry 634, 635 

Fort Necessity 275 

Fort Prince George 313, 315 

Fort Moultrie 380, 450 

Fort IMotte, S. C 486 

Fort ^^'ashington 385, 386 

Forty Fort 434 

Fordyce, Captain 374 

Forbes, General 294, 299, 300 

Forsyth, John 678, 776 

Forsyth and others, commissioners .... 776 

Fourteenth Amendment 841 

Fox, George 141, 167 

Fox, Charles, M. P 484 

Foster, British envoy 597, 599 

Foy, Secretary 374 

France .... 45, 393, 427, 430, 553, 584, 676, 846 

Francis I., King 42 

Franklin, \\illiam 140 

Franklin, Benjamin.. 148, 268, 271, 272, 280, 

288, 301, 330, 335, 339, 342, 365, 393, 427, 552 

Franciscan Monks 237 

Fra.ser, General 409, 424, 425 

Fraunces' Tavern, N. Y 530 

Fra Paolo 121 

Fredericksburg, Va 373, .508 

Free Schools 215, 331 

Free-Soil Party 723 

Freedman's Bureau 842 

Frelinghuysen, Theodore 698 

Frelinghuvsen, Frederick T 882 

Fremont, Gen. John C 709, 746 

Frederica, Ga 185 

Friends (Quakens) 120, 141 

French Protestants 37 

Frobisher, IMartin 40 

Frolic, British war brig 603 

Frontenac, Count 243, 245, 249 

Fry, Colonel Joshua 275 

Fulton, Robert 595 

Fugitive Slave Laws 730, 732, 740 

Fuller, Meh-illeW., Chief Justice 887 

Gabrouski, Count 420 

Gadsden, Christopher 313 

Gadsden, Gen. James 719 

Gage, Gen. Thomas .... 339, 344, 317, 349, 

352, 364, 377 

Gallatin, Albert 584, 599, 613 

Galveston Island, Texas 648 

Gansevoort, Colonel 412 

Garfield, Gen. James A 782, 875-878 

Garfield, Mrs. Lucretia R 876, 878 

Garland, A. H 884 



Garrison, William Lloyd . 685 

Gascony 38 

Gaspee, British armed ship 346 

Gates, Sir Thomas 61, 75, 77, 79 

Gates, Gen. Horatio 407, 418, 452, 453 

Geary, John W 745 

Geiger, Emily 487 

Genet, Edmond Charles 555, 556 

Geneva Witchcraft 49 

George I., King 265 

George II., King 267 

George III., King 309, 360, 381, 409, 502 

Georgia 36, 179-188, 768, 828, 843 

Gemiain, Lord George 409, 501 

Germany 45, 858, 887 

Germans 73, 145, 170 

Germantown 145, 402 

Gerry, Elbridge 569, 571, 613 

Gettysburg, Penn 786, 790, 818-821, 862 

Ghent, Treaty of 599, 613, 643 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrev 40 

Gilbert. Raleigh . . ." .100,112 

Giles, William B 565 

Gilmer, Thomas Walker 691 

Gloucester County, Va 69, 145, 224 

Glover's INIarblehead Corps 383 

Goffe, Colonel, regicide 197 

Gold and Silver 27, 719, 720 

Golden Hind, ship 39 

Godyn, Hollander 129 

Gondomar, Count Be 85 

Gooch, William, governor 232, 267 

Goodwin, John 204 

Goose Creek Militia 176 

Gorges, Ferdinando lOP, 112 

Gosnold, Bartholomew 41, 63. 66 

Government Status of Colonies ,506 

Gourgues, Dominic De 38 

Graham, William A 729, 732 

Granganameo, Indian chief 41 

Grand Model, Locke's 165-172, 329 

Graffenreid, Baron De 174 

Grant, Major 299, 314 

Granger, Francis 687, 690, 698 

Grant, Gen. Ulysses S. . . . 782, 783, 785, 786, 
787, 790, 792, 793, 797, 801, 8C3, 806, 
809. 822, 834, 838, 850, 854, 855-871 

Grasse, Admiral Count De 497, 500, 501 

Gravesend Bay 132 

Gray's Elegy 305, 306 

Gray, Capt. Robert 551, 721 

Great Britain, Empire of 11 

Great Meadows 275 

Great Bridge, Virginia 374 

Greenland 17 

Greenwood, English martyr 102 

Green, Thomas 162 

Green, Roger 164 

Greene, Gen. Katlianiel. . 363, 400, 452, 455, 

474, 478, 479, 485 

Green Mountain Boys 370, 410, 418 

Greenback Party 875 

Greece, Slavery in 55 

Greek Church 46,47,48 

Grenau. Salzburgher 183 

Grenville, Sir Richard 40 

Gregory VII., Pontifl" 47, 58 

Grenville. George 333 

Greeley, Horace 732,774,812,862,863 

Greely, Lieutenant 883 

Grey, British general 400, 404, 436, 458 

Grinnell, Henry 731 



Index. 



Urotius, publicist llil 

Gridley, Colonel, engineer 363, 378 

Gudrid, wife of Karlsefne 19 

Guacanagari, Indian chief 32 

Gulf of ]SIexico \ . 16 

Guatemala 36, 898, 899 

Guiana 40, 60 

Guiteau, Charles 877, 878 

Guilford C. H 482 

Guerriere, British frigate 600, 601 

Guadaloupe Hidalgo, Treaty of 718 

Gunboat Defences ' 592, 630 

Guthrie, James 735 

Gwynn's Island 376 

Habeas Corpus, Writ of 164, 861 

Habersham, Joseph 358,368,379 

Hackensack, N. Y 127 

Hadley 196 

Hakluyt, Richard 61 

Hale, Sir Matthew 50, 207 

Hale, Capt. Nathan 383, 384, 464 

Hale, John P 732 

Halket, Sir Peter 280, 282, 301 

Hamilton, Alexander. . . 109, 386, 498, 514, 

540, 542, 559, 584, 588 

Hamilton, English governor 438-440 

Hamct, rightful bey 588 

Hall, U. S. Dist. Judge, La 639 

Hall, Nathan K « 729 

Hampden, John 115 

Hampton, Va 374, 630 

Hampton Roads Conference 807, 837 

Hampton, Gen. Wade 802 

Hanno, of Carthage 17 

Handcock, Indian chief 175 

Hansford, Thomas 228 

Hancock, John 349, 352, 361, 507, 543 

Hamtrauck, Major 548 

Hamlin, Hannibal 767 

Harrison, Benjamin 342, 350 

Harrison, Gen. Wm. H. . . 608, 609, 618-627, 

685, 687, 688 

Harrison, Benjamin, President 888 

Harmer, Brig. Gen 545, 546 

Hartford, Conn 112, 123, 152 

Hartford Convention 635 

Harvey, John, governor . . .* 168 

Harney, Colonel 713 

Hartstene, Captain U. S. N 746 

Hancock, Gen. W. S 875 

Hardv, Admiral Sir Thomas 631, 632 

Harvard University 327, 331, 674 

Harvie, Lewis E 778 

Hawley, Gen. Joseph R 867 

Haverhill 259 

Hayes, Rutherford B 869-875 

Hayne, Isaac 488-^91 

Hayne, Robert Y 667, 669 

Hayti 25, 862 

Hav, George 578 

Hawkins, Sir John 59, 323 

Hazen, William B 857 

Hazelwood, Commodore 405, 406 

Hebrews, people 13, 54 

Heath, Sir Robert 93, 163 

Hell Gate, N. Y 117 

Helwvs, Thomas 119 

Helluland 18 

Hemans, Mrs. Felicia 106 

Henlopen, Cape 129 

Hendrlck, loaian chief 286 



Hendricks, Thomas A 869, 882 

Hennessey, David C. 891 

Henrj% Prince, the Navigator 20, 58 

Henry VII., King 29, 30, 46 

Henry VIII., King 39,46,101 

Henry, Cape 63 

Henrietta Maria 97 

Hennepin, Father Louis 243 

Henry, Patrick 325, 336, 342, 350, 373 

Henry, John, British emissary 636 

Heriot, Thomas 41 

Herjulf, Bjarni 18 

Hervey, Sir John, governor 93 

Hertel, French officer 247-258 

Herkimer, General 411, 412 

Hessians 382, 405, 421 

Hildebrand, Pontiflf 47 

Hill, Col. Edward 2.'0 

Hill, Brig. Gen. John 262 

Hill, Gen. Ambrose P. . . . 785, 788, 789, 804, 819 

Hiram, King of Tyre 13 

Hispaniola 21, 25, 33, 59 

Hoar, Ebenezer R 856 

Holland 62, 125, 132 

Holliman, Ezekiel 119 

Hobkirk's Hill 485 

Holmes, Rep. from Mass 652 

Hooker, Gen. Joseph 787, 788, 791, 818 

Hooker, Thomas 112, 123 

Horican, Lake George 285 

Holt, Chief Justice 50, 203 

Homer, Greek poet 54 

Horse-Neck Stairs 437 

Howard, Colonel, Maryland 476 

Howe, Sir Wimam .... 187, 304, 377, 389, 396 

Howe, Lord 294, 295, 296 

Howe, Gen. Robert 443 

Hornet, U. S. war sloop 604, 615 

Houston, Gen. Samuel 695 

Huguenots 37, 172 

Hudson's Strait 40 

Hudsr.n, Ilonry 82, 125, 129 

Hunt. Thomas 101, 104 

Hunt, Rev. Robert 62 

Hull. Capt. Isaac 600 

Hull, Gen. William 619-621 

Huger, General 449, 478 

Hungary 733 

Hunter, Ro. M. T 807 

Hunter, Gen. David 800, 802, 827 

Hunt, WilUam H 876 

Hughes, Archbishop 824 

Hurons 15, 238-240 

Hutchinson, Anne 113, 116, 117, 128 

Hyde, Edward, governor 170-175 

Hyde, Anne 255 

Iceland 17, 20 

Idaho 892 

Illinois 439, 648 

Imperium in Imperio 47, 916 

Impeachment of Justice Samuel Chase . . 586 
Impeachment of President Johnson .... 843 

Importation of Slaves 322, 523 

Impressment of Seamen 658, 597 

Incas 14, 35 

Indian Characters 15, 189 

Indies 25 

Indians 311-320 

Indiana 644 

Ingham, Sam'l D ' . 666, 668 

Ingersoll, of Connecticut 335 



Index. 



939 



Ingoldsby, Major • . . . . 137 

Ingraham, Capt. Duncan N 737, 788 

Innocent VIII., Pontiff 49 

Insurrection of Negroes 321 

Internal Improvements r)17 

International Copyright 902 



lowf 



698 



Iroquois 15, 43, 236, 238, 210, 246,257 

Iron-clad Oath 857, 874 

Isabella, Queen 23, 24 

Itaiuba, Baron Marcos A. De 859 

Italy 45, 890-892 

Itata, case of the 900-901 

Jack of the Feather , . . 88 

Jackson, Gen. Andrew . . 566, 636, 637, 648- 

,.650, 662, 665, 666-677 

Jackson, Britisli minister 598 

Jackson, Gen. Thomas Jonathan. . 783, 788, 

815-817, 893 

James I., King 46, 60, 88-91, 103, 504 

James II., King 136, 147, 153 

Jamaica 25 

James River 63 

Jamestown 63, 89, 227, 231 

Jamestown Island 495 

Jameson, Colonel 463 

James, Thomas L 876 

Japan, 20, 730, 754 

Japazaws, Indian chief 80 

Jasper, Sergt. William 381, 446 

Java, British frigate 603 

Jav, John, of N. Y 540, 559 

Jav's Treaty ■ . 560, 561 

Jefferson, Thomas. . . 327, 342. 440, 466, 494, 

507, 518, 521, 540, 554, 580, 582-596, 652, 894 

Jefferson's Manual 568 

Jeffries, Herbert 229, 231 

Jesuit Fathers 190, 237 

Jessup, General 628, 673 

Job, patriarch 13 

Jogues, Isaac 238, 239 

John XVII., pontiff 19 

John II., King of Portugal 20, 22^ 23 

Johnson, Gen. Sir William . . 284, 287, 320, 367 

Johnson, Sir John 367,410, 413 

Johnson, Col. Richard M 627, 678 

Johnson, Cave 701 

Johnson, Reverdy 725 

Johnson, Herschel V 766 

Johnson, Andrew 806, 812, 815, 854 

Johnstone, English Coni'r 429, 430 

Johnston, Gen. Albert Sidney 751, 753 

Johnston, Gen. Joseph E. . . . 786, 793, 808, 812 

Johnstown, Penn 888 

Joint High Commission 870, 871 

Jones, Wimberley 358 

Jones, Lieut. David 415-417 

Jones, Admiral John Paul 446 

Jones, Capt. Jacob 603 

Jones, Anson, president 698 

Joseph, the boy 53 

Juarez, President of Mexico. . . . 816, 848, 849 

Juet, Robert, mate •. 120 

Julian, George W 732 

Jumonville, M 275, 276 

Kalb, Baron De 399, 453 

Kan.sas 7..6 

Kansas-Nebraska Act 655, 741 

Kane, Dr. Elisha Kent 731 

Kane, Col. Thomas L 750, 752 

59 



Karlsefue, Thorfinn 19 

Kaskaskia, 111 439 

Kearney, Colonel 710 

Kellogg, Governor 866 

Kemp, Richard, governor 96 

Kemper, General 827 

Kecoughtan, Va 67 

Kendall, George 63, 67 

Kendall, Amos 678 

Kennebec River 100, 370 

Kent Island 156, 160 

Kentucky 544, 545, 577 

Kettle Creek, Ga 444 

Kev, Francis Scott 635 

Kieft, Wilhelmus, governor 127, 130 

Kidil, Capt. William 252, 253 

King William's War 234 

King George's War 235, 268 

Kings, their characters 45, 149, 155, 503 

King's Mountain 470-472 

King, William R 732, 733 

Kirke, Sir David 235 

Kirkwood, Samuel J 876 

Kittanning, Indian town 289 

Knights of Labor 872-874 

Know-Nothing Party 738 

Knyphausen, General 387, 400, 456 

Knox, Gen. Henry .... 377, 403, .530, 531, 540 

Kosciuszko, Tbaddeus 399, 421 

Kossuth, Lajos (Louis) 733 

Koszta, Martin 737 

Kuklux Organization 860-862 

Labrador 17, 30 

Lactantius 24 

Laconia, N. H 112 

Lakes, Northern 16, 607 

Lake George 285, 296 

I^a Fitte, freebooter 640 

Lallemand, Gabriel 240 

Langdon, President of Harvard . .«. .... 364 

Lambert, British general 641, 643 

Lamar, L. Q. C 884 

Lane, Gen. Joseph 766 

Lands, Public 533, 534 

Laudonniere 37 

I^aud, Archbishop 115, 160 

Larrimore, Ca^jtain 226 

Laurens, Henry 428 

Lardner, Dr. Dionysius 683 

Lawrence, Capt. James 604-606 

Lawrence, Bacon's follower 224, 230 

Las Casas 58 

La Salle 242-244 

Laydon, John 87 

Lee, Gen. Charles. . . 290, 361, 375, 380, 387, 

388, 289, 398, 431, 432, 452 

Lee, Richard HeniT 336, 342 

Lee, Henry (Light Horse) . 341, 400, 452, 455, 

464, 481, 486, 558, 574 

Lee, Arthur 393 

Lee, Gen. Robert E. . 712, 761, 786, 809, 817- 

822, 857, 893 

Lee, Capt. Sidney Smith 821 

Lear, Tobias . . '. 543, 548 

Ledvard, Col. William 467- 

Lois'ler, Jacob 136,138,248, 252 

Lelaud, John, farmer 583 

Leland, Dr. John A 861 

Leigh. Benjamin Watkins 671 

Lenni Lenape Indians 15, 144 

Legare, Hugh S 690, 691 



930 



Ittdcx. 



Leon, Ponce De 34 

Leo X., pontiff. 49 

Letcher, John, governor 779, 801 

Levviston, Del 129 

Lewis, Gen. Andrew 232, 376 

Lewis, Capt. Meriwether 551, 586, 721 

Leslie, British general 465, 473, 478 

Lenox, Dulie of 112 

Lexington, Mass 351 

Leyden, Holland 103 

Lief, son of Eric 18, 19 

Lillington, Major 169 

Lincoln, Gen. Benj. . . 413, 423, 444, 450, 500, 821 

Lincoln, Abraham 767,773-814 

I.ineoln, Robert 876 

Little Sarah, The 556 

Little Belt, The 598, 601 

Livingston, Major H. B 410, 461 

Livingston, Chancellor 595 

Livingston, Edward 668 

Locke, John 165 

Locofocos, party name 697 

Loar, Captain 897 

Logan, Gen. Jolm A, .' 882 

Lockwood, Belva A 882 

Lockwood Island 883 

Long Island, N. Y IS, 381, 3S3 

London Company 61, 86, 90, 91, 156 

Longfellow, poet 278 

Longstreet, Gen. James. 787, 788, 791, 801, 819, 821 

Loudon, Earl of 288, 290 

Louiallier, M., of La 039 

Lopez, Gen. Marcisco 730 

Louis XIV., King 245 

Louis XV., King 276 

Louis XVL, King 392,430, 551 

Louisburg 209, 270, 294 

Louisiana . . 243, 584, 585, 599, 636, 768, 828, 

843, 860, 866, 869, 892 

Louis Philippe, King 676 

Louis Napoleon, Emperor.. . . 739, 845, 817, 848 

Lovelace, Col. Francis 136, 149 

Lowndes, William 599 

Loval Hanna 299 

Ludwell, Philip 169 

Ludlow, Lieutenant, U. S. N 605, 606 

Lundy's Lane 628, 629 

Luther, Martin 101 

Lymbry, English spy 84 

Lynn, Mass 115 

Lyon, Matthew, Vt 578 

Lyons, Judge Peter 325 

Lyons, Lord, English minister 845 

Lyttleton, governor S. C 312-316 



Macaulay, historian 

Maclean, Colonel 809, 

Macedonian, British frigate 

Macdonough, Capt. Thomas 611, 

Macomb, Gen. Alexander 610, 

Madoc of Wales 

Madison, James . . . .534,576,584,595,597- 

Macready, W. C 

Mafia, Society of the 

Magnetic Telegraph 

Magruder, Gen. John B 

Magellan, Fernando 

Manhattan Island 82, 

Maltra^•ers, Lord 

Majoriljauks, British major 

Mangum, Willie P 

Mann, A. Dudley 



Manning, Dajiiel 884 

Mandeville, Sir John 20 

Mannahoacs, Indians 68 

Maine 112, 115, 048, 052, 683, 713 

Mauteo, Indian chief 41 

Martha's Vineyard. . 42 

Martial Law 79, 80, 639 

Markham, William 143 

Margravate of Azilia 180 

Marie Antoinette, Queen 392 

Marcy, ^\•illiam L 006, 700, 735 

IMarv, tlie Bloody, Queen .101 

Maryland 113, 156, 157 

Maryland Gazette 162 

Marquette, Jacques 241, 242 

Marion, Gen. Francis 313,452,473 

JIarshall, John 569, 574, 580, 589 

Martin, Luther 577, 587 

Martin, John 63, 71, 76 

Massachusetts 78, 111 

Massawomecs, Indians 68 

Massasoit, Indian chief 108, 110 

Mason, Capt. John 112 

Mason and Dixon's Line 146 

Mason, Capt. John, Conn 192 

Masham, Mrs 202, 264 

Mason, George 473, 516 

Masonry 670 

Mason, John Y 691, 701 

Mason, James M 844 

Marco, Polo 20 

Matoaka (Pocahontas) 70 

Mather, Klchard 202. 203 

]\Iather, Increase 153, 202 

Mather, Cotton 198, 202, 210, 520 

Matagorda, Bay of 243 

Matthews, Samuel, governor 98, 99 

Mayflower, The 103 

Mayhew Family . . .' 191 

Maury, Rev. James 324 

Mawhood, Colonel 394 

Maxwell, Gen. N. J 457 

Maysville Road 607 

Maximilian, Archduke 849, 851 

Iileade, Gen. Geo. G 789, 818, 833, 862 

Mecklenburg, N. C. . . 508 

Meigs, Colonel 397 

Merida, Ruins near 14 

Melendez, Pedro 27, 37, 38 

Medici, Lorenzo De 29 

Mercer, Gen. Hugh .389, 394, 395 

Mexico 13, 35, 658, 713 

Memphis, Tenn 36 

Meredith, William M 725 

McCrea Family 415 

McCrea, Jane 415, 417 

Mcintosh, General 438 

McHenry, James 567, 569 

McLane, l.diiis 668 

Me( lellan, t;en. Geo. . . . 712, 784, 786, 806, 825 

McClelland, Robert 735 

McVeagh, Wavne 876 

McKinley Tariff Act 893 

Meteoric Display 675 

Michigan 676 

Micmacs, Indians 249 

Michilimackinac 318 

Middle Plantation. Va 225 

Milbotirue, of N. Y 137, 138, 148 

Milledge, John 358 

Miller, Col. James 629 

Mills, Roger Q 885 



Index. 



931 



Miller, W. H. H 889 

Milton, John 117 

Milan Decree 502, 598 

Miners' Troubles, Tenu 897 

Minigerode, Lieut.-Colonel 406 

Minnesota 756 

Minuits, Peter 127, 130 

Mississippi 15, 36, 648, 768, 828, 844, 854 

Mississippi River 36, 37, 241 

Missouri 648, 655 

Missoiu'i Compromise . . . 652, 655, 696, 722, 742 

Mobile, Ala 251,266,796, 810 

Modena, I'rincess of. 255 

Modocs, Indians 859 

Mohawks 128, 236, 246 

Mohicans 15, 192, 200 

Molina, Spaniard 84 

Monk, Gen. George 165 

Monk's Corner, S. C 449 

Monarchy 44, 45, 503-513 

Monacans, Indians 67 

Monocacy River 797, 802 

Mouongahela 281 

Monmouth C. II 431, 432 

Monro, Colonel 291 

Monroe, James . . . .390, 564, 581, 599, 623, 

645-661, 721 

Monroe Doctrine ., . 659, 849, 850 

Montcalm, Marquis Do . . 288, 290, 292,297, 

302, 304, 308 

Montgomery, Colonel 314, 316 

Montgomery, Gen. Richard . . 294, 370, 372, 420 

Montana 892 

Jlontt, Jorge, Chilian President 901 

Montezuma, King 35 

Montreal 42, 246, 309 

Moore, James, governor 174, 175, 257 

Montiauo, Manuel De 185 

Montgomery, Sir Robert 180 

Morgan, Va. colonist 88 

Morgan, Gen. Daniel. .409, 421, 424, 475, 476, 558 

Morgan, William 670 

Morgan, Gen. John 785, 787 

Morris, Lewis 140 

Morris, Robert 430, 450, 531 

Mormons, Sect 747, 753 

Morrison, Francis 229 

Morristown, Heights of 396 

Morse, Samuel F. B 692, 862 

Morton, Le^^ P 888 

Mound Builders 15 

Mount Desert, Canada 82 

Mount Vernon 328 

Moultrie, Gen. Wm 380 

Moyses, Count, of Trnnsylvania 64 

Mulberry Island Point . " 78 

Musgrove, Mary 181 

Muskogee Indians 182 

Murray, Wm. Vans 573 

Myer, Albert J 857 

Nansemonds, Indians 72 

Napoleon, Louis 739, 845, 847, 848, 852 

Narragausetts, Indians 108, 197 

Narvaez, Spanish leader 36 

Nash, Thomas, English seaman 579 

Natchez Indians 15 

Natchez, Miss 37 

Nauvoo, City of 749 

Nautilus, East Indian armed ship 616 

Navigation La^vs 216, 234 

Nausites, Indians 104 



Nelson, Thomas, governor ; 494, 498 

Nelson, Captain 71 

Negroes 32, 58, 87, 182, 320, 832, 842, 915 

Netherlands 37 

Neutrality, Policy of 554 

Neutral Ground, The 461 

New Albion 39, 721 

New Amsterdam 126 

Newcastle, Del 143 

New England 41, 101, 593, 594, 635 

Newfoundland 18, 40, 42, 157, 736 

New France 42, 234, 244 

New Haven, Conn 112, 124 

New Hampshire 112, 113 

New Jersey 138 

New Netherlands 126 

New Orleans 266, 639, 643, 890 

New ]\Iexico 27, 35 

New Sweden 130 

Newtown Ecclesiastical Synod 116 

New York 133, 383 

Newport, Christopher 62, 63, 71, 75 

Neyon, De, French otticer 320 

Nicholas v., Pontiff 31 

Nicholas, Robert Carter 342, 350 

Nicholas, Philip Norliorne 578 

Nicholls, Richard 132 

Nicholson, Sir Francis, governor . .136, 155, 260 

Niebuhr, liistorian 13 

Nipmuck Indians ... 195 

Ninety-six, S. C! 314, 487 

Non-Intercourse Laws 594, 597 

Norfolk, Va 72, 374, 375 

Norsemen 18 

North, Frederick, Lord. . .187, 341, 342, 428, 

501, 502 

North Castle, N. Y 389, 403 

Norway 17 

None, Father Anne De 239 

Nova Scotia 18, 43 

Noyes, Salem minister 209, 210 

Nullification 667, 670 

Nurse, Rebecca 206 

Nevada 814 

Nebraska 842 

Nez Perces, Indians 874 

Noble, John W 889 

Nicholls, Gov. F. T 891 

Occum, Rev. Samson, Indian 190 

Ocean Telegraphs 754, 755 

Oconostata, Indian chief 313, 315 

Ocracoke Inlet 41 

Ogden, Captain Aaron 464 

Oglethorpe, Gen. James Edward. . 179, 187, 267 

O'Hara, British general 479, 484, 500 

Ohio 15, 272, 534, 586 

Ohio Company 272, 274 

Ojeda, Alonzo De 29 

Old Dominion, Origin of Title of Va . . . 97, 99 

Old World t^ouditions -12 

Oliver, Mary 203 

Oliverian Plot 217 

Oldtown Creek, N. C 163 

Omnilms Bill 727, 729 

Oneiilrts, Indians 236 

Onondasjas, Indians 236 

O'Neil, Mrs 416 

Ophir 12, 13, 17 

Opachiseo, Indian 81 

Opecaneanough, Indian chief . . 68, 69, 74, 

88, 95, 96 



932 



Judex. 



Oregon 39, 720, 722, 723, 756, 869 

Orders in Coimoil, England . .592, 598, 599, 623 

Ordinance of 1787 534 

Orapaques 69 

Oriskauy 411 

Orinoco River 61 

Osceola, Indian chief 672, 673 

Ostend Manifesto 739 

Oswego, N. Y 284, 289 

Ottawas, Indians 240 

Otis, James 326, 335 

Ould, Col. Robert 833, 834, 835 

Ousamequin, Indian chief 118 

Owen, Allen F 731 

Oxford University 117 

Oxenstiern, Swede 130 

Pace, Richard 89 

Pacific Ocean 12, 13, 34, 35, 61 

Packenham, Gen. Sir Edward . . . 640, 642, 821 

Paine, Thomas 509 

Palmer, Edmund, spy 418, 419 

Palos, Spain 24 

Panama, Isthmus of. 39 

Panama Mission 664 

Paoli, Penn 401 

Paraguay, South America 754 

Paria, South America 29 

Pamunkev River 69, 92 

Paris, Treaty of. 1^, 310 

Parker, Admiral Sir Peter 379 

Parker, Commodore Hyde 443 

Parris, Rev. Samuel 206. 210 

Patroon, Land Tenure 133, 135 

Patton, JohnM 6st 

Patuxent, Md 161 

Paulding, John 462, 405 

Pavonia, N. J 126 

Paulus Hook 455 

Pawnees, Indians 15 

Peace Commissioners, English 429 

Peace Congress, 1801 769 

Pedrarias, Spaniard 35 

Peck, Jared, of N. Y 579 

Peacock, British war sloop 6ii4 

Pelican. British brig 607 

Pemberton, Gen. J. C 790, 822 

Pendleton, Edmund 336,342, 518 

Pendleton, George H 806 

Penn, William 142, 148 

Penn, Admiral William 142 

Penn, Granville Jones 14 1 

Pennsylvania 141, 210 

Pensacola, Florida 638, 639, 649 

Percy, Lord 355, 365, 378 

Percy, George 62, 76 

Pequot Indians 119,192, 194 

Peronneau, Mrs 490 

Perry, Commodore Oliver H 607, 610 

Perry, Commodore Matthew C 730 

Peru 13, 14, 35 

Peruvian Bark 66 

Peters, Samuel 125 

Philadelj.liia 143,145,401,402, 431 

Philip II., King 33,37 

Philip III., King 33,38,84 

Philippine Islands 36 

Phrenicians, The 54 

Persimmon, The 67 

Phihp of Pokanoket, King 194, 1<«) 

Phillips, British general . . . 409, 411, 440, 4(;(; 
fhipps, William, governor 207, 248 



Pet Banks 674, 675, 679 

Pickard, Superintendent 897 

Pickens, Col. Andrew 444, 476 

Pickett, Gen. George 819, 820 

Pierson. Mrs. Helen W 432 

Pierce, Gen. Franklin . . 715, 731, 733, 735- 

746, 856 

Pike, Col. Zebulon 622 

Pike's Peak 709, 902 

Pillow, General 716 

Pirates 252, 255, 658 

Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth. . . 564, 568, 571 

Pinckney, Thomas, of S. C 559, 565 

Pettigrew, General 820 

Pilgrims, title 103, 158 

Pii^ott. Gen. Sir Robert 435 

I'iteairn, Major 353, 366 

Pitcher, Capt. MoUv 432 

Pitt, William, English minister. . .289, 293, 

301, 308, 310, 305, 379, 383, 418, 437 

Pizarro 14, 35, 36 

Plains of Abraham 304, 306 

Plato 19 

Plymouth, England 39 

PlvniDUth Company 61, 100 

Plymouth Rock 105 

Plj-mouth Rock Monument 106 

Pocahontas, Princess, Indian . 70,74, 76, 80, 

82, 181 

Poictiers, British 74-gun .ship 603 

Poinsett, Joel R 664, 678 

Poles, settlers 73 

Point Pleasant 232 

Polk, Col. Thomas 509 

Polk, James K 681,693,698,699-724 

Polk, Gen. Leonidas 782, 804 

Pollock, Thomas, governor. . 175 

Ponce De Leon 34 

Porto Rico 34 

Port Royal, S. C 37, 170 

Port Royal, Canada 43, 82, 235, 261 

Popham, Sir John 100 

Popham, <ieorge 100, 112 

Porter, John, burgess 214 

Pont iae's \\ar 317, 320 

Poor, Colonel 421, 424 

Porterfield, Colonel 453 

Porter, Captain David 610, 613, 658 

Postal Service .330,581, 881 

I'ortutjal 20,23,58 

l\ipe, Roman pontiff 46, 47, 781 

PoiK, (ieueral John 784,826 

Potomac River 69 

Portsmouth, N. H 112 

Powhatan River 63 

Powhatan, King 67,71,73,85 

Potts, John, governor 92 

Potts, Isaac 408 

Population of IT. S 11, 585, 908 

Preble, Commodore Edward 587 

Presbyterians 124, 138, 141, 142 

Preseott, Col. William 363, 364 

Prescott, British general 398 

President, U. S. frigate 598, 613, 614 

Prevost, British general 443 

Prevost, Sir George 610,612, 627 

Princeton College 140 

Praying Indians 191, 195 

Princeton, N. J 394 

I'riileanx, General 302 

rrivilcged Or<lers 515, 517 

I'rivateers, American 612 



Index. 



933 



Princeton, U. S. steamer C91 

Preston, William Ballard 725, 778 

Price, Gen. Sterling 782, 783, 787, 798 

Prisoners of War 53, 834, 835 

Proctor, British general 623, 626 

Proctor, Redfleld 829 

Proclamation of President Jackson .... 671 
Proclamations of Pres. Lincoln . . 828, 829, 830 

Protective Tariff. 656, 664, 885, 893 

Puritan, Origin of Name 102 

Puritan Compact 104 

Puritans, Proper Names 1 09 

Prowlence, R. 1 118, 119 

Providence, Md IGO, 162 

Putnam, Gen. Israel . 286, 295, 355, 365, 379, 

383, 418, 437 

Pulaski, Count 399, 446 

Pyle, Colonel, Tory 481 

Pyuchou, Commissioner 132 

Quakers 95, 120, 121, 141, 214, 370 

Quaker Hill 435 

Quebec 42, 43, 235, 248, 303, 309, 370 

Queen Anne 255, 265 

Queen Anne's War 234, 257 

Queen Esther, Indian 434 

Quincy, Josiah 345 

Rabbi Benjamin, of Tudela .... f ... . 20 

Rahl, Colonel 386, 390, 391 

Raisin River 623, 624 

Raleigh, Sir Walter 40, 60, 61 

Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg 347 

Ramsour's Mills 478 

Randolph, Pe^-ton 336, 337, 342, 349 

Randolph, Edmimd . . . .534, 535, 540, 562, 563 

Randolph, John, of Roanoke 622 

Randolph, George W 778 

Rappahanuocs, Indians 72 

Rappahannock River 69 

Ratcliffe, Capt. John 63, 72, 76 

Rawdon, Lord .... 420, 448, 453, 485, 487, 491 
Ratification of U. S. Constitution . 536, 562, 563 

Rawlins, John D 856 

RajTubault, Cliarles, Jesuit 238 

Rechahecrians, Indians 220 

Red Jacket, Indian chief, r 412, 435 

Reed, Gen. Joseph 430, 450 

Reed, Thomas B 894, 895 

Religious Rights and Errors . 44,48, 158,323, 

521, 855 

Religious Freedom Act 521 

Regulators, N. C 345 

Remigius, Bishop 49 

Reformation. The 48, 101 

Rene, Duke of Lorraine 28 

Reindeer, British brig 613 

Republican Party (old) 567 

Republican Party (new) 746, 766 

Rhett, Robert Barnwell, from S. C 684 

Rhode Island 38, 119, 120, 150, 692 

Ribault, John 37 

Rice 'in South Carolina 177 

Rich, Lord 85, 86 

Richelieu, French Minister • 235 

Richmond, Duke of 491 

Richmond, Va 65, 406, 779, 808 

Riddick, Colonel 441 

Riedesel, Baron 409, 422 

Riedesel, Baroness 422, 425 

Rigdon, Sidney, Mormon 748 

Rising, Swedish governor 130 



Ripley, General 628 

Riverside Park, N. Y 871 

Rives, William C 676, 688, 696 

Ritchie, Thomas, editor 700 

Resolute, English exploring ship 735 

Revere, Paul 352 

Roberval, Lord of. 42 

Robinson, John 103 

Robinson, Col. Beverley ........ 459, 460 

Robbins, Jonathan, Case of . .' 579 

Roanoke Island 41, 783 

Rochambeau, Count Dc 459, 497 

Rodney, Admiral 459, 499, 501, 570 

Rodney, Cpesar A. , Delaware 597 

Rodgers, Commodore John 598 

Rodrigues Canal, La 640 

Rolfe, John 81, 82 

Roman Church 19, 33, 45, 40, 781, 917, 919 

Roque, De La 42 

Rome, Slavery 55, 56 

Ross, British general 632. 634 

Roxbury, Mass 115 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin 395 

Russel, Dr. Walter 71 

Russell, Jonathan 613 

Rusk, Jeremiah M 889 

Rudini, Count, Italian 892 

Rugeley, Colonel, Tory 474 

Ryswick, Peace of 251, 255 

Sable Island 43 

Sacs and Foxes, Indians 263, 672 

Sagadahoc 78, 100 

Sag Uarbor 398 

Salary Grab 864 

Salem, Mass Ill, 206, 211 

Salle, Cavalier Robert De La 242, 244 

Salzburghers 181, 183 

Samoan Islands 887 

San Salvador 24 

San Francisco 39, 720, 730, 856 

San Marino 44 

Santa Anna, Gen. Antonio.., . 695, 707, 846, 848 

Santa Fe 27, 35 

Sandys, Bishop 102 

Samoset, Indian 108 

Sanderson, ^^'illiam 40 

Sandys, George 900 

Saratoga, N. Y 426 

Sassacus, Indian chief 192-194 

Sassamon, Indian 195 

Saybrook 124 

Say-and-Sele, Lord 123 

Savle, William, governor 170 

Savannah, Ga 181, 443 

Scandinavia 18 

Scalawags 8;;8, 843, 800, 865, 872 

Schuyler, Major 137 

Schenectady, N. Y 247 

Schuyler, Peter, N. Y 251, 260, 262 

Schuyler, Gen. Philip. . . 302, 367, 372, 409, 418 

• Scrivener, M 72 

Sclopis, Count Frederick 859 

Scott, Gen. ^\"iufield . . . 622, 628, 704, 706, 

711-718, 732, 772 

Scrooby, Eng 103 

Search, Asserted Right of 690, 591, 614 

Seal Fisheries 889, 890 

Secession 594, 768, 838-840 

Seekonk River 118 

Seminoles, Indians 15, 672-674, 648 

Sedition Laws 576, 583 



934 



Tndex. 



Semmes, Admiral Raphael 780,787,796 

Self-government 44, 522, 855 

Senecas, Indians 236 

Separatists, Puritans 103 

Senat, Father 266 

Serapis, English frigate 446 

Sev-ier, Colonel 470 

Sergeant, John 66 1 

Seward, Anna 464 

Seward, Wm. H. . . . 732, 774, 777, 807, 812, 

845, 850, 853, S62 

Seymour, Horatio 8.) l 

Seddon, James A 7'J7 

Seoville, George 878 

Shaftesbury, Earl of 164, KiS 

Shakamaxou, Penn 1 14 

Shay's Rebellion 523 

Shannon, British frigate 600,605 

Sherwood, Grace 210 

Shelby, Colonel 470 

Sherman, Gen. Wm. T. . . 708, 785, 792, 793, 

794, 795, 796, 798, 804, 805, 807, 813, 877 

Sherman-Johnston Convention 812, 813 

Sheridan, Gen. Philip H 793,797-798,808 

Shippeu, Miss Margaret 458, 463 

Shirley, Governor 277, 283, 287 

Signal Service Bureau 857 

Sillery Wood 308 

Silliman, General 397 

Simcoe, British colonel 466, 494 

Sioux Indians 15, 240, 868, 898 

Silver and Gold 27, 864, 8S5 

Six Nations 15, 175 

Sitting Bull, Indian chief 868, 898 

Slieene, Colonel, Tory 413, 414 

Skelton, Rev. Mr. . 117 

Slade, representative from Vermont . . 684, 685 

Slavery 21, 44, 51, 87, 182, 311, 451, 

552, 823, 826, 829, 855 

Slave markets 51, 67 

Slave traders 57 

Slavery, African 58, 59, 87, 650 

Slavi 57 

Slidell, John 701, 844 

SI oat, Commodore 710 

Sloughter, Henry, governor 137. 138 

Smith, Capt. John ... 63, 64-70, 74, 75, 76, 

81, 101, 105, 156 

Smith, Sir Thomas 75,85 

Smith, Rev. Kiiljili 118 

Smith, Judw, N.Y 125 

Smith, Josliua Hett 4.59,460 

Smith, Gen. Persifer F 714, 715 

Smith, Joseph, Mormon 748-750 

Smith, CalebB 774 

Smith, Gen. Kirby 785, 814 

Smithsonian Institution 683, 684 

Smyth, John 119 

Sneyd, Honora 464 

Social Customs 327 

Socinianisra 211 

Soldiers' Home 828 

Solomon, King .....' 13 

Soderiui, Piere 28 

South American Republics 658, 664 

Southey, Robert, ix)et 17 

Somers, Sir George 61, 75, 77, 78 

Sothel, Seth 109, 173 

Soule, Pierre 728, 739 

Sovereignty of the States 524,529 

Spain 21, 23, 27, 31, 60, 83, 846 

Spalding, Solomon 748 

Specie Circular 679, 680 

Specie Payments 080, 681, 864, 867, 874 



Spanish Succession, War of 256 

Spotswood, Alexander, governor. . . . 261, 266 

Spencer, John C 690 

Spoils Policy 666 

Speedwell, ship 103 

Sprenger, persecutor 49, 208 

Standish, Miles 109, 110 

Stamp Act 335-339 

Stanton, Edwin M 825, 843, 850, 856 

Stalwarts, party 876-878 

Staempfli, Jakob 859 

StaclacduaRock 42 

Stark, (ien. John 295,365,413 

Star Spangled Banner 635 

Star of the West 771 

Star-Route Frauds 879 

Steam Navigation 595 

Steele, Mrs. Elizabeth 479 

Stephens, Samuel, governor 167 

Stepliens, Alex. H 733,807,812,870 

Stein wehr, Brigadier-General. . ". 826 

Stevens, Bishop 179 

Stevens, ThaddeiLS 839 

Steuben, Baron 399, 408, 448, 467, 494 

Stevens, General, Va 453,483 

Sterling, British general 457 

Stewart, Alex. T 856 

Stewart, British colonel 483, 484 

Stewart, Capt. James, U. S. N 614 

Stingray Point 72 

Stirling, Lord 382,431 

Stillwatrr, N. Y 426 

Stone, William, governor 161 

Stoughton, William, judge 207 

Stony Point, N. Y 437, 438 

Stono Ferry 445 

Stonington, Conn 637 

Stockton, Capt. Robert F 691,710 

Stuart, British colonel 491 

Stuart, James Francis Edward 255 

Stuart, Alex. H. H 729,778 

Stuart. Gen. J E. B 784, 788, 789, 790, 793 

Stuvvesant, Peter, governor .... 127, 128, 130 

Strikes. Lalwr 872,886,896-898 

Striiinfrllow, Benj. P 743 

Snsiniehan noes, Indians 68,219 

Sullivan, Gen. John. . . . 363, .382, 400, 434, 435 

Sullivan's Island 380 

Sugar Hill 411 

Suflolk, Va 441 

Sumter, Gen. Thomas 452, 4.54, 474 

Sub-Treasury Scheme 681 

Sutter, Captain 719, 720 

Sumner, Charles 743 

Succession to Presidency ... 885 

Surratt, Mrs " 836 

Switzerland 44, 45 

Swedes and Finns 130 

Swanzey 195 

St. Clair, Gen. Arthur 395, 546, 549 

St. Croix River 43 

St. Croix, Canada 82 

St. Clements' Island 158 

St. George, Sagadahok 100 

St. John's, Florida 37, 38 

St. Lawrence River 42 

St Mary's, Md 158 

St. Augustine 27 

St. Pierre, French commander 273 

St. Luc, French commander 410, 417 

St. Leger, Colonel 410, 411 

St. Simon, Marquis De 497 

St. John, John P 882 

St. Thomas, Spani.sh to\«i 61 



Index. 



935 



Talbott, Captain 777 

Tallapoosa Indians 185 

Talleyrand, French diplomat 468, 570 

Tallmadge, Major 463 

TampaBay 36,37 

Tanev, Roger B., Chief Justice . . . 6GS, 674, 675 
Tarleton, Col. Bannastre . 447, 449, 451, 473-477 

Tartary, Great Cham of 31 

Taxation without Representation. . . . 333-352 

Taxus, Indian chief 249 

Taylor, Gen. Zachary. . . 674, 701, 703, 709, 

723, 725-729 

Taylor, Gen. Dick 791, 799 

Tazewell, Littleton W 686 

Tea, Cargoes of. 342, 343, 344 

Tecumseli, Indian chief 608, 617-627 

Telfair, Edward 358 

Tenacharisson, Indian chief. . . . 271, 273, 275 

Tennessee 15, 346, 564, 779, 839, 840, 841 

Tenure of Office Act 843 

Ternay, Chevalier De 459 

Terra Del Fuego .... 35 

Test Act 157 

Texel, Zuyder Zee 129 

Texas .... 243, 693, 698, 701, 768, 828, 844, 854 

Thames River 626, 627 

Theach, John, pirate 253 

Third Term, precedents against . . 565, 594, 

644 868 

Thirteenth Amendment 837,' 840 

Thomas, Senator, of Illinois 653 

Thomas, Rev. Dr., com'r 859 

Thomas, Gen. Geo. H 795 

Thompson, Gen. Wiley 672, 073 

Thompson, Jacob 747 

Thompson, Waddy 689 

Thompson, Charles, Penn 335 

Thorpe, George 89 

Thornton, Captain, U. S. A 702 

Thurman, Allen G 888 

Ticonderoga 296, 358, 410, 429, 433, 444 

Tilden, Samuel J 869-870 

Time, General R. R. Convention 882 

Tituba. Indian 206 

Tobacco S3, 324 

Toombs, Robert 726, 728 

Tompkins, D. D 657, 660 

Tomochichi, Indian 181 

Tories in America .... 333, 385, 396, 404, 409 

Torquemada, persecutor 208 

Torres, Antonio De 33 

Toronto (York), Canada 627 

Toscanelli, Paulo 21, 23 

Totopotomoi, Indian 98, 2 '0 

Townshend, Charles 334, 339 

Toucey, Isaac 747 

Tracy, Benjamin P 889 

Treasurer and t'ompauy, Virginia 75 

Treat, Governor, of Connecticut 152 

Treatv with Iroquois 236 

Trenton, N. J 390 

Trent, British mail steamer 844 

Tribune, The 863 

Trinidad Island 26 

Troup, Governor of Georgia 663 

Trist, Nicholas P 715, 718 

Tripoli 587, 588 

Truxtun, Capt. Thomas 572, .573 

Trumbull, Colonel 411 

Tryon, Governor 345, 367, 395, 428 

Turkey 45 

Tucker, St. George 534 

Tucker, John Randolph 870 

Tuscaroras, Indians 15, 174, 175 



Twiggs, General 712, 715 

Tybee Island 368 

Tyler, John, governor 373 

Tyler, John 678, 685, 687-698, 769 

Uncle Tom's Cabin 740 

Uneas, Mohican chief 192, 200 

Uuderhill, John 128 

Union Pacific Railroad -^--f— 856 . 

United States, confederated 527-529 >^ 

United States Debt 542,676, 863 

United States, frigate 603 

Universities and Colleges. ... 11, 327, 331 , 595 

Utah 747, 750, 856. 881 

Upshur, Abel P 691, 692 

Utrecht, Treaty of. 263 

Uxmal, Ruins of 14 

Valladond, Spain 26 

Valley Forge 407, 408 

Valley of Wvoming 133 

Valentinianlll 47 

Vanbraarn, Captain 275 

Van Curler, Dutch leader 123 

Van Buren, Martin . . 606, 008, 678-686, 700, 723 

Vancouver's Island 722, 858 

Vanderpoel, Captain 823 

VanDorn, Gen. Earl 783,791 

Van Rensselaer, Killian 133,134, 517 

Van Rensselaer, General 622 

Van Rensselaer, Colonel 622 

Van Twiller, Woutcr 127, 133 

Van Wart, Isaac 462, 465 

Vane, Sir Harry 116 

Vaudreuil, Marquis De 257, 200, 262 

Vaughan, General 420 

Vega, La, Mexican general 703 

Velasco, Alonzo De 84 

Venango, French post 272 

Veracruz 706,711. 847 

Veran, Marquis De Montcalm 288 

Verrazani, navigator 42, 235 

Verplanck, of N. Y 671 

Vespucci, Amerigo 28, 29 

Veto Power 885 

Victoria, Queen 878 

Vilas, William F 884 

Villeinage in Hispaniola 21, S3 

Vinland the Good 18, 19 

Vincennes, French officer 266 

Vincennes, 111 439, 440 

Virginia. 30, 41, 60-99, 233, 779, 828, 844, 854, 857 

Virginius, The 868 

Von Bramen, Adam 19 

Von Reck, Baron 183 

Von Hoist, German publicist 527, 762 

Voluntarv Svstem 48 

Voorhees, D.'W 763 

Vries, De, Dutch leader 129 

Wadsworth, Joseph 153 

Wadsworth, Captain 154 

Waldron, Richard 246 

Wahab, Captain 469 

Waite, Morrison R., Chief Justice . . .86.5,887 

Wales 115 

Walker. Sir Hovendon 262 

Walker, Robert J 698, 700 

Walker, William 753, 754 

Wallace, Sir James 420 

Wallace, Gen. Lew 797, 802, 850 

Wallvs, Samuel, Conn 153 

WalrusTeeth 37 

Wampanoags, Indians 108 



936 



Index. 



Wanamaker, John SS9 

Wanchese, Indians 41 

War, State of. 53 

War of Anglo- American Advance 274 

Warner, Col. Seth 339, 370, 414 

Warren, Dr. Joseph 352, 359 

War of the Revolution 352-502 

War, Second with Great Britain .... 599-645 

Warren, Enslisli commodore 270 

Warren, British admi'-al 623 

Warrinafton, Capt. Lewis 615, 616 

^\'ar with Mexico 700-718 

War <i()vernors 776, 778 

Wasliington, Capt. John 219 

Washington, George . 273, 275, 280, 282, 300, 
312, 329, 362, 366, 390, 392, 395, 401, 404, 
407, 428, 448, 497, 514, 53p, 537, 540-575, 767 
Washington, Col. William. 449, 451, 474, 477, 492 

A\ashl5urne, Elihu B 806, 856 

Washington City 575, 633 

Washington and Lee University 857 

Washington State 892 

Warwicli, Earl of 40, 123 

Watertown, Mass 115 

Wasp, United States sloop of war 603 

Wasp, new United States sloop of war . . . 613 

Waterloo 616 

Waxhaw river , 451 

Wayne, Gen. Ajithony . . 401. 403, 406, 438, 

493, 496, 513 
Wealth of the United States .... 11, 911, 912 

Webb, General 291, 293 

Welles, Gideon 774 

Welsh Language 17 

Webster, Daniel. . . . 667, 683, 687, C90, 691, 728 

West, Thomas, Lord Delaware 75 

West, Francis, governor 92 

West, Ca]it. John . . 93 

West India Company, Dutch 131 

Westminster, Treaty of. 136 

Wesley, John 183 

Weslev, Charles 183 

West, Benjamin 308 

West Virginia 814 

WcyiniHitli, Capt. George 42 

Wliatelv, Archbishop 14 

Wheeler, William A 866, 869 

Wheelwright, John 113, 116 

Whitaker, Rev. Alexander 81, 190 

^^■hitgift, Archbishop 102 

Whiskey Insurrection . 556-558 

White River Valley 36 

Wliiro, <iovcrnor John 41 

"^^'hite Mountains 113 

White, Father Andrew 158,160 

ANhitetield, George 184 

Whiting, Col. Nathan 286 

White Plains 3S5 

Whipple, Commodore 346, 448, 449 

Whitnev, Eli, inventor 551 

Whig I'arty 675 

White, Hugh Lawsou . 678, 688 

Whitnev. William C 884 

Wieklitie, Charles A 690 

Wilford, Captain 228 

Wilcox, General 821 

Williamson vs. Coalter 52 

William;?, Roger 113, 117, 119, 128 

William and Marv 202, 232, 255 

William and Mary College 231, 331, 332 

Williamsburg, Va. 225, 231, 840 

Williams, Eunice 258 

Williams, Col. Ephraim 286 



Willet, Colonel 412 

Wilkinson, Gen. James 423, 627, 628 

Williams, David 462, 465 

Williams, Colonel 470, 472 

Williams, Col. Otho G 480 

Williamson, Scotch Tory 489 

Wilkins, William 691 

Wilkes, Capt. Charles 683,844 

Wilmington, N. C 42, 485 

Winglield, Edward Maria 63, 65 

Winslow, historian 105 

Windsor, Conn 112, 123 

Wethersfleld, Conn 112 

\\'eymouth, Mass 110 

Wiuthrop, John . , Ill 

Winthrop, John, governor 124, 132 

Winchester, General 619-624 

Winder, General 632 

Wethersford, Creek sachem 636-638 

Winnebagoes, Indians 672 

Wilmot Proviso 722, 723 

Winthrop, Robert C. . 727 

Wilson, Henry. 862 

Windom, William 876, 889 

Wirt, William 578, 589, 648 

Wirz, Major Henry 835, 836 

Wire Suspension Bridge, N. Y 881 

Witchcraft 49, 50, 20?-211 

Wise, Henry A GS8, 739, 762-765, 814 

Wisconsin 723 

Wococou Island 41 

Woodford, Colonel 374, 375, 448 

Woodbury, Levi 668, 678, 683 

Wool, General 704, 706, 710 

Worth, General 715, 716, 717 

Wolfe, Gen. James . . 293-295, 302, 304, 305, 

307, 308 

Wooster, General 397 

World's Fair 736, 866, 903 

"\\'right, Silas, governor 135, 681 

Writs of Assistance 326 

Wright, Sir James, governor 379 

A\'rangell Island 880 

Wurtzburg 49 

Wyatt, Sir Francis 80, 89, 92, 93 

Wythe, George 336 

Wyoming Valley 433 

Wyoming ..." 853, 892 

Yale College 124, 327 

Yamacraw Indians 183 

Yancey, Wm. Lo^vudes 830 

Yankee Doodle 355 

Yeamans, Sir John 167, 170 

Yeardley, Sir George 85, 86, 90, 92 

Yellow Fever 874 

Yellowstone National Park 853, 879 

Yemassees, Indians 15, 175, 176 

Yeopim Indians 164 

Yonkers, N. Y 126 

York, Canada 627 

York, James, Duke of 132 

York River 71 

Yorktown, Va . . 69, 497, 501 

Young Women, Marriageable 87, 88 

Young, John, K. Y 135 

Young, I3righam 750, 753 

Yucatan 14, 36 

Yukon River, Alaska 858 

Yusef, Bey 588 

Zollicoffer, Gen. Felix H 783 

Zuniga, Don Pedro De ^ 62 



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